Discuss “SLAUGHTER = LAUGHTER?”

Upon entering Carnegie Mellon?s campus this fall, students have been confronted with a curious change in the campus landscape: A flashing red neon sign tops the Purnell Center, alternating between the words ?LAUGHTER? and ?SLAUGHTER.? The sign causes one to stop and think, if just for a second, because many students are not likely to have given thought to the fact that two such seemingly opposite concepts can be so close in their linguistic structure. Although the sign provides a rather powerful artistic message on its own, it is only one of several works dealing with the question of authenticity and cultural identity in ?A Fiction of Authenticity: Contemporary Africa Abroad,? an exhibition featuring 11 of today?s leading African-American...