Josef Sorett Publishes HuffPost Piece on Black Churches and Social Activism

Josef Sorett, member of CSSD's Executive Committee, Assistant Professor of Religion and African-American Studies and Associate Director of the Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life, Columbia University, just published a blog entry in HuffPost Black Voices called "Faith in a New Black Future."

Sorett writes stirringly about the rich, prophetic tradition of black churches, something that figures significantly in the activism of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Even though Christian communities in general are frequently tainted by a history of gender exclusion and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, various black clergy have provided valuable leadership within the current BLM movement that features many black women and queer-identified individuals at its forefront.

While black churches display all the "fundamental constraints and possibilities that define the human condition," Sorett describes their prophetic quality as a "mode of cultural critique and social engagement and, more significantly, a means for imagining and energizing new possible futures."

Read the full post here.

Premilla Nadasen Publishes Article on the Clinton Administration's Criminalization and Racialization of the Poor

Premilla Nadasen, project co-director for CSSD's working group Social Justice After the Welfare State and Visiting Associate Professor of History at Barnard College, recently published an article in Jacobin Magazine explaining how the Clinton Administration simultaneously criminalized and racialized poverty by enacting two extremely detrimental policies.

President Bill Clinton's "systematic overhaul of federal policy...led to the criminalization of the welfare poor," writes Nadasen, citing the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which allocated billions of dollars for prison construction and intensified police surveillance.

Similarly, the 1996 welfare reform act reduced welfare rolls by drawing on stereotypes of black women and families being bound to a culture of poverty, charges Nadasen.

"In an era of market worship, those who couldn’t demonstrate self-reliance or independence were identified not only as unworthy of assistance, but as a potential threat to the core institutions of American society," concludes Nadasen.

Read the full article here.

Rachel Adams Publishes Huffington Post Article on Disability Literacy for Children

Rachel Adams, CSSD director, director of the "Future of Disabilities Studies" working group, and Columbia English and American Studies professor, recently published an article in Huffington Post about building disability literacy in children.

"Literacy means not just knowledge, but fluency and comfort with those whose bodies and minds are different from the norm," writes Adams, who also says that "disability literacy will be essential to the educational and work environments of the future."

Adams goes on to list eleven everyday activities with children that are useful for promoting understanding, comfort, and respect toward people with disabilities.

Read the article here.

Marianne Hirsch on "Democracy Now" Defends Turkish Academics

Photo by Daniel Loick.

Democracy Now broadcast a clip of Marianne Hirsch, CSSD member and Columbia Professor of English and Comparative Literature, speaking on January 29, 2016, at New York University about state and university actions against academics in Turkey.

Representatives from Amnesty International, Scholars at Risk, the Research Institute on Turkey, GIT-North America, Turkish and other U.S. academics and activists spoke out at the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies against the investigation, detention, and firing of scholars who initiated a petition asking the government to end curfews in the Kurdish regions of Turkey. View the clip at 8:37 here and the article here.

"The international outcry against these state and university actions against academics in Turkey, the multiple petitions that have been signed by thousands of academics around the world, and have spawned numerous solidarity actions such as this one, attest to the gravity of these (official) acts," said Hirsch in the clip.

"I am here to express my shock and dismay at this attack on academic freedom and freedom of expression," said Hirsch. "Signing a petition is a basic right to free speech and needs to be protected by our universities and our governments, and so must the freedom to demand peace at times of conflict. These are fundamental rights that are at the cornerstone of liberal education and free academic inquiry," she said.

The press conference was also covered by Turkish daily Zaman and the website Cihan.

Days earlier, CSSD also signed on to a petition drafted by Scholars at Risk calling on the Turkish government to stop all threats against the signatories of petitions who are exercising their basic rights of free speech.

Premilla Nadasen's "Household Workers Unite" Draws Positive Reviews in Feminist, Trade, Mainstream Press

Strong reviews from feminist, trade, and mainstream press for Premilla Nadasen's Household Workers Unite: The Untold Story of African American Women Who Built a Movement.  Nadasen is Associate Professor of History at Barnard College and co-director of CSSD's working group on Social Justice After the Welfare State.

Deesha Philyaw in Bitch Magazine wrote that Household Workers Unite is the story of "the help" helping themselves while Kirkus Reviews claimed, "Valuable for its recovery of a largely neglected piece of labor history, particularly one in which race, class, immigration, and gender intersect, this work may prove most useful as a how-to guide for those looking to effect change in the landscape of the new economy."

In The American Prospect, Rachel Cohen wrote that "Nadasen’s book is a powerful reminder that 20th century activism, led by some truly incredible women, has helped to make our present-day victories possible."

Ms. Magazine's Michelle Chen wrote that "Nadasen’s account comes at a particularly relevant moment. Domestic-worker activism is experiencing a renaissance today, as housekeepers, nannies and other care workers campaign for labor protections like overtime pay and paid sick leave."

Sara Catterall wrote in Shelf Awareness that "Nadasen overturns the popular image of African American domestic workers in the mid-20th century as passive caretakers and victims. Instead, she shows that they redefined domestic work as a profession deserving decent pay, proper training and respect, and built influential local and national labor organizations. Household Workers Unite adds a significant contribution to the history and ongoing discussions of labor organization, feminism and civil rights."

Purchase the book here.