In the last three years, Latinx and Latine have become increasingly popular substitutes for gender-non neutral words such as Latino and Latina and for the neutral but dichotomous Latin@. The words Latine and Latinx are thought to be more inclusive for speakers who are LGBTQ or gender non-conforming. Indeed, Latinx circulated in LGBTQ communities long before it gained broader usage. At the same time, the prominence of the word Latinx has generated backlash. Members of the Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies community at UK have considered replacing the word Latino with something else. Indeed, informal communications over the past two years have used both Latinx and Latin@ in place of Latino.  LACLS is proposing a panel that would explore the scholarship and identity politics surrounding the issue and lay the groundwork for a potential change to LACLS’ official name.

Alaka Wali, Curator, North American Anthropology
in the Science and Education Division of The Field Museum

Photo Credit: Erielle Bakkum

Alaka was the founding director of the Center for Cultural Understanding and Change from 1995- 2010.  During that time, she pioneered the development of participatory social science action research and community engagement processes based in museum science to further access of museum resources for excluded communities.  Before joining the Museum, she worked with Dr. Leith Mullings to document the consequences of structural racism on black women’s reproductive and social health in Harlem, N.Y. 

Currently, she curates the North American collection, comprised largely of material culture of Native Americans from the late 19th century to the present and works closely with colleagues to implement environmental conservation programs that privilege economic and cultural autonomy for politically marginalized people in both Chicago and the Amazon regions of Peru. Her research focuses on the relationship between art and the capacity for social resilience. Alaka was born in India and maintains strong ties to her birth homeland.

The Dimensions of Political Ecology Conference—or DOPE—is organized and hosted by the Political Ecology Working Group (PEWG). PEWG is an interdisciplinary group of graduate students at the University of Kentucky. Since its inception in 2010, this student-organized conference has become one of the largest, most highly regarded international forums for critical discussions at the intersection of ecology, political economy, and science studies.

Every year, the Anthropology Graduate Student Association (AGSA) invites an outstanding anthropologist from outside the university to give a public talk as part of our Distinguished Lecturer Series. For 2020, we are pleased to host Dr. Khiara Bridges, Professor at the University of California at Berkeley School of Law and former Associate Dean of Equity, Justice, and Engagement at Boston University.

Khiara M. Bridges is a professor of law at UC Berkeley School of Law. She has written many articles concerning, race, class, reproductive rights, and the intersection of the three. Her scholarship has appeared or will soon appear in the Harvard Law Review, Stanford Law Review, the Columbia Law Review, the California Law Review, and the Virginia Law Review, among others. She is also the author of three books: Reproducing Race: An Ethnography of Pregnancy as a Site of Racialization (2011), The Poverty of Privacy Rights (2017), and Critical Race Theory: A Primer (2019). She is a coeditor of a reproductive justice book series that is published under the imprint of the University of California Press.

Date: Oct 8, 2019 (Tuesday)

Light Lunch Reception: 11:15am-12:15pm, Multipurpose Room, WTY Library

Panel: 12:30-1:45pm, UKAA Auditorium, WTY Library

Evening Reception: 5-7pm, Lyric Theater 

As part of the Year of Equity programming, this panel brings together organizers, activists, and healthcare providers from national organizations red states to discuss challenges, approaches, and perspectives in advancing reproductive justice. Centering on the experiences and leadership of women, trans, and non-binary people of color, this panel will present latest community research, initiatives, and advocacy on reproductive justice.

Panelists, in alphabetical order, include: 

• Kelli Goode, Trans rights activist, artist, and cultural writer
• Dr. Nikia Grayson, Director of Midwifery Services, CHOICES
• Oriaku Njoku, Executive Director and Co-founder, Access Reproductive Care-Southeast
• Jessica Roach, Executive Director and Founder, ROOTT  
• Cherisse Scott, CEO and Founder, SisterReach
• Ondine Quinn, MSW, Sexuality Educator and Board Treasurer, Kentucky Health Justice Network

In addition to the Year of Equity, this event is co-sponsored by the departments of Anthropology, Gender and Women Studies, Sociology, and Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies; the Office of LGBTQ* Resources, the Center for Health Equity Transformation, the Center for Equality and Social Justice, Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health, the National Advocates for Pregnant Women, and Kentucky Health Justice Network.