Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Faculty Interest Group
Red Washburn
Fall 2021 Meetings
September 29, 2-3PM
October 20, 3-4PM
November 17, 3-4PM
The Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Faculty Interest Group is still using Zoom for our critical discussions. This year we are focusing on indigenous history and rights. We are using Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s work, Not a Nation of Immigrants: Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and supplemental teach-in videos. The WGS FIG has been well-attended and supported.
The first meeting we discussed Dunbar-Ortiz’s lecture about her book, Not a Nation of Immigrants:: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNMZaZHNNqk We focused on unpacking histories of immigration that do not offer critical perspectives on settler colonialism and genocide. We talked about the psychology of violence in knowledge production, as well. In particular, we addressed ways to decolonize our curriculum in WGS and in our classes.
The second meeting we discussed Chapter 4: “Continental Imperialism.” We talked about the politics of place and space. We also discussed practical implications for indigenous women-led land return using Sogorea Te Land Trust: http://bcnm.berkeley.edu/events/22/history-theory/3998/a-conversation-with-the-sogorea-te-land-trust We spent much time exploring ways to support/ give back land in addition to re-centering genealogies of resistance in our research and pedagogy. We discussed possible civic engagement projects. We talked much about time – how to address past inequalities in the present.
The third meeting we discussed creating more intellectual spaces to address difference and power. We spent much time brainstorming how to make our WGS curricula reflect our critical questioning of colonialism as it intersects with sexism, racism, classism, cissexism, heterosexism, abelism, etc. We talked about ways to cover indigenous histories as well as make our WGS syllabi more transnational. We also shared our ideas for next semester’s events, future internships, and other pedagogical and scholarly projects.
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