The Nation features piece from Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
A speaker from the Center for the Study of Social Difference’s anniversary symposium writes about the 2019 Women’s March.
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Princeton professor in the department of African American studies and speaker at CSSD’s ten year anniversary symposium, discussed mass movements in relation to the third anniversary of the Women’s March in a recent article for The Nation. The article discusses the recent divisions in the organization of the Women’s March and their underlying tensions.
The Nation article is linked here.
A full length video of Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor’s participation in the CSSD anniversary symposium can be found here along with all other panels from the symposium on our YouTube channel.
Rebecca Traister pens “Don’t Give Up on the Women’s March” in The Cut
A panelist at the Women Creating Change five year anniversary, Traister discusses the most recent Women’s March in a new article.
Good and Mad author and panelist at the Women Creating Change five year anniversary celebration and roundtable event, Rebecca Traister addressed the continuity of the Women’s March in a recent article for The Cut.
The full article can be found here.
For a review of the Women Creating Change anniversary click here.
Introducing Inga Winkler, Director of Menstrual Health Working Group
Inga Winkler, Lecturer at the Institute for the Study of Human Rights and Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Human Rights Program at Columbia University, was featured on the recently launched blog periodsatcolumbia.com.
Inga Winkler, Lecturer at the Institute for the Study of Human Rights and Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Human Rights Program at Columbia University, was interviewed for the blog periodsatcolumbia.com, which was recently launched to highlight the achievements of Menstrual Health and Gender Justice, one of the newest Center for the Study of Social Difference working groups
In the interview, Dr. Winkler discusses how the Menstrual Health and Gender Justice working group is bringing an interdisciplinary perspective to the study of menstrual health, as well as the long term goals of the working group. She said part of their work involves broadening the discussion to include societal norms and stereotypes surrounding menstruation. You can read the full blog post here.
Menstrual Health and Gender Justice working group launches new blog, Periodsatcolumbia.com
The Center for the Study of Social Difference (CSSD) working group Menstrual Health and Gender Justice launches a new blog.
CSSD working group Menstrual Health and Gender Justice launches a new blog.
The site will feature news, events, research, publications, and reflections by working group members and others in the field of menstrual health and gender justice.
The Menstrual Health and Gender Justice working group seeks to further the nascent field of menstrual studies. The working group puts particular emphasis on critically evaluating the current state of research, advocacy and programming, with interest in examining whose voices are being represented in the field, which actors shape the dominant narrative, whose voices are marginalized, what the gaps are, and how interdisciplinary collaboration might help remedy some of these gaps.
Click here to access the blog.
Pedagogies of Dignity Working Group Hosts Workshop at Lenfest
On September 30th the CSSD working group Pedagogies of Dignity held a workshop bringing together formerly incarcerated students, educators, and activists to discuss prison education.
On September 30, 2018 the CSSD working group Pedagogies of Dignity supported a workshop at Columbia’s Lenfest Center for the Arts, the second such workshop of the Center for New Narratives in Philosophy. The workshop brought together formerly incarcerated students, academics, prison educators, and activists to discuss the benefits of prison education as well as challenges associated with it. The event was hosted by Christia Mercer, Gustave M. Berner Professor of philosophy at Columbia University and Project Director of the working group.
The Pedagogies of Dignity working group has been working with educational staff at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) to organize a series of mini-courses available to men of the MDC. These courses have been attended by over 140 men since February. A full recap of the September 30th workshop can be read here on the CSSD blog.
Professor Lydia Liu Writes Review in Artform
Co-director of working group Bandung Humanisms, Lydia Liu, discusses contemporary Chinese artist Xu Bing’s exhibition “Thought and Method”
Wun Tsun Tam Professor in the Humanities, and co-director of the CSSD Bandung Humanisms working group, Lydia Liu describes artist Xu Bing’s Beijing retrospective multimedia exhibition as both “transformative” and “executed with disciplined craftsmanship”. She goes on to write that, “The tension between sensory stimulation and intellectual rigor is one of the works' strongest animating forces, leading to a sequence of revelations about the place of 'truth' in moments of suspended sensory certainties."
Professor Liu’s review can be found here.
More on “Xu Bing: Thought and Method” can be read here.
Student Reflects on Max Haiven’s New Book and the Updated Caribbean Syllabus
Columbia College student Arianna Scott reflects on a recent event held by CSSD working group Unpayable Debt.
On October 10th the CSSD working group, Unpayable Debt, held an event to launch Max Haiven’s new book, Art After Money, Money After Art, as well as the second edition of the Caribbean Debt Syllabus.
Following the event, Columbia College student Arianna Faria Scott wrote a reflection in which she shares the impression made on her by Haiven’s ideas. In addition, she shares her perspective on debt in the Caribbean drawing on her experience in Guyana growing up in a family descended from indentured laborers. Her full reflection can be read here on the CSSD blog.
Inga Winkler Speaks about Menstrual Health with Devex
Inga Winkler, director of the working group Menstrual Health and Gender Justice, speaks about improving menstrual health management and research.
Inga Winkler, lecturer in political science at Columbia University and project director of the Center for the Study of Social Difference working group Menstrual Health and Gender Justice, spoke with Devex about menstrual health management and research. She stated that often the development sector focuses on quick fixes without addressing broader social issues related to menstruation.
Winkler and other individuals interviewed for the article call for a broader recognition of menstrual health challenges and more detailed research. The full article can be read here.
Professor Ed Morales Writes a Follow-up on Hurricane Maria in the New York Times
About a year after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, Unpayable Debt working group faculty fellow Ed Morales revisits the humanitarian crisis still affecting the people of the island.
About a year after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, the Center for the Study of Social Difference’s Unpayable Debt working group faculty fellow, Ed Morales, revisits the humanitarian crisis still affecting the people of the island.
The article highlights the difficulties Puerto Ricans continue to face as well as their resilience in rebuilding in the wake of the hurricane. It also addresses the persistent healthcare crisis and debt affecting the island.
To read the full NYT article click here.
For Morales’ piece on Hurricane Maria last year, click here.
Center for the Study of Social Difference Featured In The Record
The Center for the Study of Social Difference (CSSD) is highlighted in the university's monthly newspaper The Record on its tenth anniversary.
A recent article by Columbia University newspaper The Record highlights the Center for the Study of Social Difference (CSSD) and its decade long commitment to supporting research on the effects of gender, race and other areas of inequality in a global context. The article describes the center as a "home for faculty from across the University to collaborate on interdisciplinary projects that come up with creative, progressive solutions to those problems."
The article, which is published in the tenth anniversary year of CSSD and the fifth anniversary of CSSD initiative Women Creating Change, features comments from current CSSD Director Marianne Hirsch, who discusses the importance of asking questions in a global comparative frame and collaborating closely with Columbia’s Global Centers.
The newspaper also highlights the Center's 10th Anniversary symposium, "What We CAN Do When There’s Nothing to Be Done: Strategies for Change," featuring discussions about protests and social movements, migrants and refugees, and the role of the arts in political activism.
Read the full article here.
Professor Jack Halberstam featured in Places Journal
Jack Halberstam, director of CSSD working group Queer Theory: Here, Now, and Everywhere, writes on the interplay between art, architecture and the trans* body, in Places.
Professor Jack Halberstam, director of Center for the Study of Social Difference (CSSD) working group Queer Theory: Here, Now, and Everywhere, publishes “Unbuilding Gender: Trans* Anarchitectures In and Beyond the Work of Gordon Matta-Clark” in Places Journal.
Professor Halberstam explores the interplay between art, architecture and the trans* body and discusses the impact of Matta-Clark’s art and its legacy to young trans* artists.
Click here to read the full article.
CEO and CSSD Leadership Council Member, Davia Temin, highlighted by Bloomberg
Davia Temin, through her company, Temin and Company supports the #MeToo Movement through the creation of a database of documented perpetrators.
Davia Temin, a member of CSSD’s Women Creating Change Leadership Council and founder and CEO of Temin and Company, a boutique management consultancy, was recently featured in Bloomberg for her ongoing efforts to support the #MeToo movement. Temin and her all-female staff are responsible for what they refer to as “the index”, a database of individuals previously documented as perpetrators of sexual misconduct, violence and abuse.
To read the Bloomberg article click here.
To learn more about the Women Creating Change Leadership Council click here.
Dean Carol Becker's "The Gesture" on the CSSD blog
Read the full introduction to a panel that featured artists Ricardo Dominguez, Sama Alshaibi, Miya Masaoka, and Saidiya Hartman at CSSD’s What We CAN Do When There’s Nothing To Be Done conference.
Carol Becker, Dean of the School of the Arts at Columbia, gave the prelude to the roundtable discussion “Arts of Intervention” at the September 28, 2018 anniversary conference of the Center for the Study of Social Difference (CSSD), “What We Can Do When There’s Nothing To Be Done: Strategies for Change.”
The panel introduced by Dean Becker included the artists Ricardo Dominguez, Sama Alshaibi, Miya Masaoka, and Saidiya Hartman.
Click here to read the full text of her speech.
Women Creating Change Celebrates 5th Anniversary
The Women Creating Change program at the Center for the Study of Social Difference celebrated five momentous years on Thursday, September 27th at the Penn Club, NYC.
The Women Creating Change program at the Center for the Study of Social Difference celebrated five momentous years on Thursday, September 27th at the Penn Club, NYC. Speakers included President Lee C. Bollinger, A’Lelia Bundles, Rebecca Traister, Nina Berman, Aly Neel, Margo Jefferson. The focus of the event was on Telling Women’s Stories and Creating Change. The group discussed current events as well as stories of abuse and resistance.
Click here to read more.
Click here to view photos from the event.
Professor Mae Ngai featured in The Washington Post
Mae Ngai co-authored a piece in The Washington Post on how a proposed policy by the Trump administration might affect impoverished immigration populations.
Historian Mae Ngai joined with other three historians to co-author a piece for The Washington Post on how Trump administration policies may punish immigrants for making use of social services such as food stamps, Medicaid, CHIP, and energy assistance programs.
If approved, the new policy would effectively deter legal immigrants from using public benefits for which they are eligible, lest they later be denied a green card or be removed.
Professor Mae Ngai moderated the “Crossing Borders: Refugees, Migrants, Stateless Lives” panel at the CSSD anniversary symposium.
Click here to read the article.
Professor Frances Negrón-Muntaner speaks with NPR
Frances Negrón-Muntaner co-director of the working group Unpayable Debt and Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, spoke with NPR One year after Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico.
Frances Negrón-Muntaner co-director of the working group Unpayable Debt and Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, spoke with NPR One year after Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico.
As rebuilding efforts continue, they discuss how identity has changed on the island and explore questions of status, economic resilience and activism at the ground level.
Click here to listen to the interview.
A Student Response to What We CAN Do When There’s Nothing To Be Done
Mayte López, PhD student in Latin American, Iberian, and Latino Cultures at The Graduate Center, CUNY, writes a response to the tenth anniversary symposium of the Center for the Study of Social Difference (CSSD).
Mayte López, Graduate Teaching Fellow in the PhD Program in Latin American, Iberian, and Latino Cultures (LAILaC) at The Graduate Center, CUNY, writes a response to the CSSD tenth anniversary symposium “What We Can Do When There’s Nothing To Be Done,” for the Center for the Study of Social Difference (CSSD) online blog.
Lopez reflects on recent events and how the phrase “What we can do when there’s nothing to be done,” proposed by the Center for the Study of Social Difference (CSSD) during our 10th Year Anniversary Conference becomes even more meaningful in the current political climate.
Click here to read the full post.
Professor Frances Negrón-Muntaner publishes an article called "Our Fellow Americans" in Dissent Magazine
Co-director of CSSD working group Unpayable Debt questions terminology use in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
Co-director of CSSD working group Unpayable Debt questions terminology use in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
Professor Frances Negrón-Muntaner, co-director of CSSD working group Unpayable Debt publishes an article, titled “Our Fellow Americans,” examining why calling Puerto Ricans “Americans” will not save them from the current challenges they face. Her article discusses the rhetorical explosion of the use of the phrase “our fellow Americans” to refer to Puerto Ricans in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria and raises the question of why the sudden adoption of this phrase.
Click here to read the article.
CSSD Recognizes the 61st Birthday of Imprisoned Activist Osman Kavala
Participants and attendees gathered at the conclusion of CSSD’s anniversary symposium to send wishes to Anadolu Kültür Executive Board Chair and activist Osman Kavala.
Attendees of the anniversary symposium of the Center for the Study of Social Difference (What We CAN Do When There’s Nothing To Be Done) were among artists, activists, journalists and family members in Istanbul and London wishing imprisoned Turkish activist Osman Kavala a happy birthday on September 28, 2018. Kavala, the Executive Board Chair of Anadolu Kültür, referred to as the Soros of Turkey, has been incarcerated in Turkey since the first of November last year after being arrested in October of 2017 at İstanbul Atatürk Airport. His arrest has garnered international indignation, with many calling for his immediate release.
CSSD symposium audience members, panelists, and organizers alike stood below a picture and birthday message of Kavala that read, “Osman Kavala has taught us what we can do when there’s nothing to be done.” This was in addition to participant support of a statement entitled #WhatWeCanDo released at the close of the conference listing the resolutions of the symposium to advance social justice.
Read more about birthday greetings sent to Osman Kavala here.
Professor Bernard Harcourt Co-Signs Letter to the US Senate
Professor Bernard Harcourt joins over 2,400 law professors around the country opposing Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
Professor Bernard Harcourt was one of 2,400 law professors to have signed on to a letter to the US Senate saying that Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh displayed a lack of judicial restraint at his Senate hearing.
Harcourt was quoted in a number of venues, including the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, commenting on the letter, stating that Brett Kavanaugh "did not display the impartiality and judicial temperament requisite to sit on the highest court of our land."
Professor Bernard Harcourt moderated the “Facing the Present, Imagining the Future” panel at the Center for the Study of Social Difference anniversary symposium.