Events

 Upcoming Events

GWSS Chair Statement against Anti-Asian Hate

The Department of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies condemns the continued violence directed at Asian people in the United States, most recently exemplified by the shooting deaths of six Asian American women in the suburbs of Atlanta on Tuesday, March 16, 2021.  We view this violence as a misogynist, anti-Asian hate crime produced by the larger heteromasculinist culture of white supremacy and ultra-nationalism propagated by the American right-wing and the culture of policing that reinforces their views: namely that Asian and other migrant women in the low-wage workforce are disposable and exist only to satisfy the immediate needs of white men--whether it is their need for caring touch or their need to kill.  We stand in solidarity with Asian communities in their grief and outrage and are prepared to support the Asian American community, including Asian women’s advocacy organizations like Red Canary Song,  Stop AAPI Hate, and NAWAWF in all ways that we can. 

GWSS faculty reject any notion that anti-Asian violence in the U.S. is a recent phenomenon, however, we recognize that the escalation of and media attention to anti-Asian violence has increased as a result of the previous administration’s designation of Covid-19 as the “Chinese virus”, and the continued anti-Asian, anti-Black, anti-Muslim, and anti-immigrant discourses that circulate heavily on the internet and right-wing media outlets like Fox News Channel, Breitbart, and NewsMax. 

Our faculty are committed to informing University of Minnesota students, staff, and faculty colleagues about the intersections between anti-Asian violence and anti-Blackness how these are magnified by the nativism of American policy that dehumanizes people of color and demonizes Muslims, countries like Iraq, and the movement for Palestinian liberation. Towards this end, please read Prof. Jigna Desai’s Response to AntiAsian Hate, along with educational media resources provided by Prof. Sima Shakshari. 

Yang Song: Fly in Power

“Antitrafficking Rhetoric and the Making of Global Apartheid” by Nandita Sharma

2021 GWSS Colloquium Series Black People Healing for Justice & Liberation Fierce Resolve in Times of Crises

In the 21st century, black feminists have seeded and led some of the most important social movements against the ascendency of fascism now raging across the United States. These movements include prison abolition, Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, and De-Funding the Police. Black women have been integral to the practice of American democratic ideals. Black women, like Maria Stewart, were the first in the United States to speak publicly and unequivocally in defense of the enslaved and to advocate for the civil and political rights of female-bodied people. Black women’s political organizing in organizations like SNCC was central to the overthrow of racial apartheid in the South, the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the passage of the Voting Rights Acts of 1965. In 2020, Black women, like Stacy Abrams, have secured several undeniable checks against right-wing extremism by helping to secure electoral victories in swing states like Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, and Nevada.  Now more than ever, it is time to listen to Black women!

Listen!

The Department of Gender Women and Sexuality Studies is hosting a Colloquium Series that features black healing justice writers, practitioners, and community organizers. This lecture series will explore basic themes that are central to our survival:

(1) Black feminist and black queer praxes and healing modalities to care for mind, body, and spirit in times of political crises.

(2) How black feminist/queer people have created mindfulness practices to resist anti-Blackness in interpersonal, professional, and academic life and what can these practices teach us as we strive to bring peace and justice to our own bodies and communities

(3) How community somatics can restore resilience and resolve in a culture of denial, fear, ambition, greed, and willful ignorance.

(4) How to connect the wisdom of Black feminist/queer ancestors to knowledge-making practices in the community and in academic spaces.

Confirmed Speakers

Pamela Ayo Yetunde ( February 5, 2021)

Dr. Joi Lewis (March 5, 2021) 

Prentis Hemphill (April 23, 2021)

Amana Brembry Johnson (October 8, 2021)

Cara Page (Friday, September 17, 2021)

...and stay tuned for more!

For more information please email us at gwss@umn.edu