Open House March 13-20, 2023
10:30 - 11 am Music Building Courtyard -- Open House Week Kick Off! Drop by for free coffee and pan dulce, and socialize with WGSS students, faculty and staff.
11am - 12:30 pm in Music A129 and on Zoom
“If Black women were free…”: The State of Black Feminism with Barbara Smith
Co-sponsored with the Ethyle R. Wolfe Institute for Humanities at Brooklyn College.
The panel takes its inspiration from the Combahee River Collective Statement’s observation that “If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression.” We will gather in Music A129 to watch and discuss the panel as it is livestreamed from New York City.
Speakers:
Zinga Fraser, Professor of Africana Studies and Women's and Gender Studies Program; Director of the Shirley Chisholm Project on Brooklyn Women's Activism, Brooklyn College
Alethia Jones, Distinguished Lecturer, CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies
Barbara Ransby, LAS Distinguished Professor and John D. MacArthur Chair in the Departments of Black Studies, Gender and Women’s Studies, and History at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; Director of Social Justice Initiative; University of Illinois at Chicago
Barbara Smith, Independent scholar-activist, co-founder of the Combahee River Collective and Kitchen Table: Woman of Color Press, and 2022-23 Hess Scholar-in-Residence at Brooklyn College.
Moderator: Rosamond S. King, Interim Dean, School of Humanities and Social Sciences and Professor of English, Brooklyn College
Register in advance for this webinar using this link: https://brooklyn-cuny-edu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYoceuvqjIqGNHjlQCkjKk1ysxjXyz1PX_C
Recorded, online, public access webinar with CART live transcriptions and ASL interpretation.
This event is part of Brooklyn College's Hess Scholar-in-Residence Program. For more information about 2022-23 Hess Scholar-in-Residence Barbara Smith, click here. For the full calendar of 2022-23 Hess Week events featuring Barbara Smith, click here.
Ann Garry and Sharon Bishop Endowed Lecture in Feminist Philosophy: Andrea Pitts, "Latina/x Abolitionist Feminisms: Incarceration, Agency, and Coalitional Politics"
Co-sponsored with the Department of Philosophy, Philosophy Student Club, Department of Chicana(o) and Latina(o) Studies, and Center for the Study of Genders and Sexualities.
Drawing from interdisciplinary fields such as Latinx studies, feminist theory, and critical prison studies, this presentation foregrounds the historical and contemporary work of U.S. Latina/x writers and activists to examine how each offers philosophical contributions to abolitionist feminist frameworks. The talk will thereby address published writings by Latina/x feminist authors, as well as materials from Latina/x activists from the 1960s until today whose philosophical praxis can be gleaned through their interviews, archival documents, and print media.
Speaker: Andrea Pitts is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and their research interests include Latin American and U.S. Latinx philosophy, critical philosophy of race, feminist philosophy, disability studies, and critical prison studies. Andrea is author of Nos/Otras: Gloria E. Anzaldúa, Multiplicitous Agency, and Resistance (2021), and co-editor with Mark Westmoreland of Beyond Bergson: Examining Race and Colonialism through the Writings of Henri Bergson (2019) and Theories of the Flesh: Latinx and Latin American Feminisms, Transformation, and Resistance with Mariana Ortega and José M. Medina (2020). Andrea also co-organizes, along with Perry Zurn, the Trans Philosophy Project, a professional and research initiative dedicated to supporting trans, nonbinary, and gender variant philosophers.
This event will also be live-streamed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IlGfKQMuB4
Wednesday, March 15 4:30-6 pm
Gather in the Music Building Courtyard to meet WGSS faculty, staff, and students, and participate in a button-making workshop and a ribbon-cutting ceremony to welcome our new Department.
Date/Time: Thursday, March 16th 3pm-4:30pm PST
Location: Recorded, online, public access zoom webinar with CART live transcriptions along with ASL and Spanish interpretation. Recording to be uploaded on Cal State LA Arts and Letters YouTube.
Title: “Tierra Madre: Indigenous Women and Ecofeminism with Dr. Jessica Hernandez, Ph. D. (Binnizá & Maya Ch’orti’)”
Description:
Through intersectional decolonial and Indigenizing storytelling, Dr. Jessica Hernandez, Ph.D. (Binnizá & Maya Ch’orti’) author of book Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science, will share more about her journey to and through academia as an intersectional displaced Indigenous woman scientist and the ways she learns from the wisdom Indigenous women, lands, and waters. Through case studies, historical overviews, and stories that center the voices and lived experiences of Indigenous Latin American women and land protectors, Dr. Hernandez makes the case that if we’re to recover the health of our planet–for everyone–we need to stop the eco-colonialism ravaging Indigenous lands and restore our relationship with Earth to one of harmony and respect. Through this webinar, participants are invited to reflect about the ways we can support decolonization and Indigenizing movements that center Indigenous women.
Dr. Jessica Hernandez (Binnizá & Maya Ch’orti’) is a transnational Indigenous scholar, scientist, and community advocate based in the Pacific Northwest. She has an interdisciplinary academic background ranging from marine sciences to environmental physics. She advocates for climate, energy, and environmental justice through her scientific and community work and strongly believes that Indigenous sciences can heal our Indigenous lands.
Webinar co-hosts and co-sponsors:
Dr. Pau Abustan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies
Dr. Gabriela Valenzuela, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Chicanx Latinx Studies, Latin American Studies, Central American Studies Committee
This event is part of WGSS Open House Week, which will run from March 13-20, 2023.
Register in advance for this webinar using this link: https://calstatela.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_mYAaLfYkR1ePju8Az9EvVg
Putting Class Back into Intersectionality
Co-sponsored with the Ethyle R. Wolfe Institute for Humanities at Brooklyn College of CUNY.
This webinar explores the proposition that the Combahee River Collective’s radical vision of intersectional politics has been undermined by the de-centering of its anti-capitalist analysis and politics.
Introductory remarks by: Alejandra Marchevsky, Inaugural Chair and Professor, Department of Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies, Cal State Los Angeles
Speakers:
Robin D. G. Kelley, Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History, University of California—Los Angeles, and Brooklyn College Hess Scholar-in-Residence (2001-02)
Barbara Smith, Independent scholar-activist, co-founder of the Combahee River Collective and Kitchen Table: Woman of Color Press, and Hess Scholar-in-Residence at Brooklyn College (2022-23). For more information about Barbara Smith, click here.
Moderator: Joseph Entin, Professor of English and American Studies, Brooklyn College
Register in advance for this webinar using this link: https://brooklyn-cuny-edu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMvcOuprT0qHdU-mYxRTxk4pTete12UxCPT
Recorded, online, public access webinar with CART live transcriptions.