QUEER THEORY Social Difference Columbia University QUEER THEORY Social Difference Columbia University

Elizabeth Povinelli in Virtual Dialogue with Frontier Imaginaries Founder

The Queer Aqui working group fellow member spoke with Vivan Ziherl at the event hosted by SVA NYC.

The School of Visual Arts New York City recently hosted Professor Elizabeth Povinelli, Queer Aqui, Liberalism's Others, and Borders and Boundaries working group fellow, in a virtual dialogue with Vivian Ziherl, curator and founder of Frontier Imaginaries, for a discussion on how colonial norms and forces “appear,” how curating is implicated, and how social gatherings, exhibitions, images, and forms can rebel. 


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MENSTRUAL HEALTH Social Difference Columbia University MENSTRUAL HEALTH Social Difference Columbia University

Menstrual Health Blog Written by Working Group Fellow

Trisha Maharaj has published a blog that explores the relationship between women’s agency, menstrual practices, and religion within Hindu communities in Trinidad.


Trisha Maharaj is part of the Menstrual Health and Gender Justice working group that aims to cultivate research for the burgeoning field of menstrual studies. Her post in the working group’s blog is entitled “Menstruation and Religion: Women’s Meaning-Making and Agency in the Hindu Community in Trinidad,” which can be found here


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REFRAMING GENDERED VIOLEN Social Difference Columbia University REFRAMING GENDERED VIOLEN Social Difference Columbia University

Virtual Discussion with Fellows from Reframing Gendered Violence Project

Join us Monday, April 5th for a talk moderated by Professor Lila Abu-Lughod with Dr. Nimmi Gowrinathan, author of Radicalizing Her: Why Women Choose Violence.

Virtual Discussion with Fellows from Reframing Gendered Violence Project

On Monday, April 5th, the Institute for Research on Women, Gender & Sexuality (IRWGS) at Columbia will be hosting a virtual discussion of Radicalizing Her: Why Women Choose Violence with the author, Dr. Nimmi Gowrinathan from CUNY. Dipali Mukhodpadhyay will also be present as a respondent. The discussion will be moderated by Professor Lila Abu-Lughod, co-director of the working group Reframing Gendered Violence. The virtual event will run from 4:15pm-5:45pm. 

Register here: tinyurl.com/RadicalizingHerApril5



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INSURGENT DOMESTICITIES Social Difference Columbia University INSURGENT DOMESTICITIES Social Difference Columbia University

Barbara Penner participates in the London Festival of Architecture on “The Fireless Cooker”

From market stalls to the hammer, protest placards to festivals, the third edition of 30 Objects in 30 Days brings together a wonderful collection of individuals and objects as part of LFA 2022. We are asking 30 key figures in the industry to nominate an 'object' that they feel best represents this year’s festival theme of ‘act’ and ‘architecture’ and share a video explaining why. For Barbara's selection she has chosen the fireless cooker. Barbara Penner is Professor in Architectural Humanities at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL.

Media: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i10wkTQ7dgk&ab_channel=LondonFestivalofArchitecture
Organizers: London Festival of Architecture
Working Group Affiliation: Insurgent Domesticities

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REFRAMING GENDERED VIOLEN Social Difference Columbia University REFRAMING GENDERED VIOLEN Social Difference Columbia University

Upcoming Webinar Series By Theory from the Margins

Professor Lila Abu-Lughod will be featured in a virtual project discussing her new book for the Religion and the Global Framing of Gender Violence working group.


Upcoming Webinar Series By Theory from the Margins

Join us Thursday, April 8th at 9:30am EST for a webinar series featuring Professor Lila Abu-Lughod, co-director of the working group Religion and the Global Framing of Gendered Violence, discussing her upcoming book. More details and zoom link to be announced later. The event will also be live-streamed.

Professor Lila Abu-Lughod is the Joseph L. Buttenwieser Professor of Social Science at Columbia University where she teaches anthropology and gender studies. Her book is entitled Gender from the Margins / The Geopolitics of Gender Violence. Read more about Professor Abu-Lughod’s work here


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Social Difference Columbia University Social Difference Columbia University

A Message from the Staff of CSSD: Solidarity With Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities

The Center for the Study of Social Difference expresses solidarity with members of Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities and with the families of those we have lost.

A Message From The Staff of CSSD:

Solidarity With Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities

The Center for the Study of Social Difference (CSSD) is deeply saddened by the recent murders in Georgia and the ongoing attacks of hatred against members of our AAPI communities. We must continue the important work of addressing systemic racism and dismantling white supremacy. We stand in solidarity with the families of those we have lost and all who are mourning.

Signed,

The Staff of CSSD

Paige West, Director

Catherine LaSota, Executive Director

Ayah Eldosougi, Program Coordinator

Fahmida Hussain, Business Officer

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PACIFIC CLIMATE CIRCUITS Social Difference Columbia University PACIFIC CLIMATE CIRCUITS Social Difference Columbia University

CSSD Director Featured in New York Times Article

Paige West, former co-director of the Pacific Climate Circuits working group, calls attention to the relationship between biodiversity decline and colonialism.

Paige West, anthropologist and current director of Columbia University’s Center for the Study of Social Difference, was quoted in a New York Times article published this week titled “There’s a Global Plan to Conserve Nature. Indigenous People Could Lead the Way.” In the article, Professor West highlights the extent to which contemporary climate change and worsening biodiversity is linked to vestiges of colonialism. Paige West was a co-director of the former group Pacific Climate Circuits: Moving Beyond Science, Technology, Engineering and Economics, a CSSD working group in which researchers utilized historically-bound and socioeconomic frameworks to create solutions around climate change in different regions.

Read the full NYT article here and learn more about Paige West’s work here.

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Social Difference Columbia University Social Difference Columbia University

CSSD Stands in Solidarity With Graduate Workers of Columbia University

As the staff of CSSD, we support graduate workers' right to withhold their labor as part of the collective bargaining process.

CSSD Stands in Solidarity With Graduate Workers of Columbia University

As the staff of the Center for the Study of Social Difference (CSSD), we express our solidarity with all students affiliated with CSSD who are members of the Graduate Workers of Columbia University (GWC-UAW Local 2110). We support the graduate workers’ right to act on the vote of the overwhelming majority of the bargaining team and to withhold their labor as part of the collective bargaining process. As fellow employees of this university, we urge the administration to conclude the bargaining process fairly and expeditiously.

Signed,

The Staff of CSSD

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DIGITAL BLACK ATLANTIC, RURAL URBAN INTERFACE Social Difference Columbia University DIGITAL BLACK ATLANTIC, RURAL URBAN INTERFACE Social Difference Columbia University

Brent Hayes Edwards Spotlighted for “Quarantine Collages”

The New York Times art critic listed Professor Edwards’s Instagram as one of five art accounts to follow.

A New York Times art critic listed Professor Brent Hayes Edwards’s Instagram account as one of five to follow for his indispensable “quarantine collages.” Read the full article here.

Edwards teaches English and comparative literature at Columbia, and was a member of CSSD’s former working groups The Digital Black Atlantic and The Rural-Urban Interface: Gender and Poverty in Ghana and Kenya, Statistics and Stories.

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Social Difference Columbia University Social Difference Columbia University

Co-director of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity interviewed by US News

Executive Committee member Karl Jacoby spoke about the legal battle between the Apache Tribal members and US Forest Service.

Historian Karl Jacoby, co-director of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity and member of the CSSD Executive Committee, was interviewed in US News about a legal challenge brought by Apache tribal members against the US Forest Service to prevent a parcel of land from becoming a copper mine. Professor Jacoby also wrote in Public Books on the United States' 19th-century frontier wars and more recent imperialist conflicts.

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GEOGRAPHIES OF INJUSTICE Social Difference Columbia University GEOGRAPHIES OF INJUSTICE Social Difference Columbia University

Anupama Rao will be moderating a discussion on the Dalit Panthers and Literary Insurgence

This talk is a part of the Understanding Systemic Racism: Art and Politics series hosted by the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society at Columbia University.

Anupama Rao, co-director of the Geographies of Injustice working group, will be moderating a discussion on The Dalit Panthers and Literary Insurgence as part of the “Understanding Systemic Racism: Art and Politics” series hosted by the Institute of Comparative Literature and Society. Featured guest speakers include Suraj Yengde (Harvard University) and Yogesh Maitreya (Panther’s Paw Publication).


To learn more about Professor Anupama Rao’s work at CSSD visit the Gender & the Global Slum and Reframing Gendered Violence working group pages.

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QUEER THEORY Social Difference Columbia University QUEER THEORY Social Difference Columbia University

Queer Aqui Working group fellow featured in the Hawai’i Contemporary Art Summit

Elizabeth Povinelli and the Karrabing Film Collective screened a visual essay for the conference



Anthropologist Elizabeth Povinelli, Queer Aqui, Liberalism's Others, and Borders and Boundaries working group fellow and collaborators the Karrabing Film Collective were among the featured artists who participated in the 2021 Hawai'i Contemporary Art Summit. The program explored the theme for Hawai‘i Triennial 2022, Pacific Century – E Ho‘omau no Moananuiākea. On February 11th, Professor Povinelli and the Karrabing Film collective shared a visual essay on toxic sovereignties, reclamation, and the stakes of staying connected to ancestral places, titled: The Jealous One (2017).

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TOWARD AN INTELLECTUAL Social Difference Columbia University TOWARD AN INTELLECTUAL Social Difference Columbia University

Farah Jasmine Griffin to Deliver Virtual Lecture at Hollins University

The co-director of the Toward an Intellectual History of Black Women working group will discuss the singer and activist Billie Holiday

Farah Jasmine Griffin, co-director of the Toward an Intellectual History of Black Women working group, will deliver the virtual lecture "Returning to Lady: A Reflection 'In Search of Billie Holiday,'" as part of the Hollins University Dee Hull Everist Visiting Speaker Series. This online event will take place Thursday, February 25th at 7:30 PM.

To connect to the event you must reach out by 3:00 pm EST the day of the event, email the event name, your name, phone number, and, if different, the name on your Zoom account to creative.writing@hollins.edu.


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ENGENDERING THE ARCHIVE, REFRAMING GENDERED VIOLEN Social Difference Columbia University ENGENDERING THE ARCHIVE, REFRAMING GENDERED VIOLEN Social Difference Columbia University

Engendering the Archive Working Group Fellow was a guest on The Dean's Table

Mabel O. Wilson, Engendering the Archive Working and Reframing Gendered Violence working group fellow, spoke with Columbia University Dean of Social Science Fredrick Harris on his podcast, The Dean's Table. Professor Wilson spoke about how she decided on becoming an architect, reflected on her work which explores the history of Black exhibitions and museums, and shared insights into scholarship and practices of race, space, and culture.

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ENGENDERING THE ARCHIVE, REFRAMING GENDERED VIOLEN Social Difference Columbia University ENGENDERING THE ARCHIVE, REFRAMING GENDERED VIOLEN Social Difference Columbia University

Mabel O. Wilson interviewed by Washington Post

Mabel O. Wilson, Engendering the Archive Working and Reframing Gendered Violence working group fellow was interviewed by The Washington Post. She spoke about the racial injustice of rioters attacking the US Capitol without consequence, while Black Americans peacefully protesting police violence have been regularly met with outsized force.

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PRECISION MEDICINE Social Difference Columbia University PRECISION MEDICINE Social Difference Columbia University

Maya Sabatello featured in the Research Ethics & Compliance – Film Discussions series

The Director of the Precision Medicine Working Group will be discussing the science fiction film “Gattaca, on March 8th from 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm.

Maya Sabatello, Director of the Precision Medicine Working Group, will be featured in the Research Ethics & Compliance – Film Discussions series. Professor Sabatello, Arthur Caplan, and moderator Shawna Benston will be discussing “Gattaca,” a science fiction film concerning genetics, eugenics, reproductive technologies, and genetic discrimination. This event is co-sponsored by The Precision Medicine: Ethics, Politics, and Culture Project. This event will be held online via Zoom. Register here.

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QUEER THEORY Social Difference Columbia University QUEER THEORY Social Difference Columbia University

Queer Aqui Co-Director Authors New Book

Jack Halberstam’s Wild Things: The Disorder of Desire (2020) is published by Duke University Press.

Jack Halberstam, co-director of the Queer Aqui working group, recently published the new book Wild Things: The Disorder of Desire (2020). In the book, Professor Halberstam offers an alternative history of sexuality by tracing the ways in which wildness has been associated with queerness and queer bodies throughout the twentieth century.

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GEOGRAPHIES OF INJUSTICE Guest User GEOGRAPHIES OF INJUSTICE Guest User

CSSD Media Fellow Awarded Open City Fellowship by The Asian American Writers' Workshop (AAWW)

As an AAWW fellow Jessica Jacolbe will report on Asian diasporic and Muslim communities in New York City.

Geographies of Injustice Media Fellow, Jessica Jacolbe has been named a 2021 Open City Fellow by The Asian American Writers’ Workshop. During her nine month fellowship Jessica will be reporting on Asian diasporic and Muslim communities in New York City, specifically writing arts and culture stories and reporting on the Flushing and Woodside neighborhoods in Queens.

For a full list of AAWW 2021 Margins and Open City Fellows click here.

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CSSD Director Honored as One of 50 Explorers Changing the World

Paige West is highlighted by Forbes as one of 21 women to receive this recognition.

Paige West, Director of the Center for the Study of Social Difference and Claire Tow Professor of Anthropology, was named as one of 50 honorees who are changing the world by the Explorers Club. This designation honors Professor West's years of work in conservation and biodiversity, and collaborations with indigenous communities. She is one out of 21 women to receive this honor and is highlighted by Forbes.

Read the full Forbes article here.
See the full list of the Explorers Club 50 here.
Learn more about Professor West’s work at CSSD through her past working groups:
Reframing Gendered Violence
Pacific Climate Circuits: Moving Beyond Science, Technology, Engineering, and Economics

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