Globalizing Your Curriculum
This episode features audio recorded during a February 2009 lunch discussion co-sponsored by the Center for Teaching and the Global Feminisms Collaborative. The discussion was part of the Collaborative’s ongoing brown-bag series. You’ll hear the opening remarks made by the four panelists at that discussion: Tiffany Patterson, Associate Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies and American Studies; Terry Spetalnick, Lecturer in Sociology; Greg Barz, Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology and Anthropology; and Centurio Balikoowa, a Ugandan musician and Chief Recordist at the Global Music Archive. The panelists were introduced by Brooke Ackerly, Associate Professor of Political Science and GFC Principle Investigator, and Lyndi Hewitt, a graduate student in sociology and GFC fellow.
Environment and gender justice -
linked paths to social justice
The 'Global Feminisms Collaborative' held a workshop entitled 'Social and Environmental Justice: Perspectives for and from Global Feminisms' on April 24-25, 2008. The workshop began with a public lecture from Srilatha Batliwala. The title of the talk was 'Environment and Social Justice: Linked Paths to Gender Justice'.
From our participation with academics and activists in venues including three World Social Forums, one Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID), and other smaller conferences, we saw a need for thinking more about why and how collaboration between academics and activists can strengthen both social justice work and research. Over and over again activists and academics regret the lack of opportunities available for sustained intensive dialogue from which action, not just insights emerge.
The purpose of holding the workshop was to create an opportunity for these local and global feminist activists to have an intensive and sustained conversation on the important issues confronting feminists working on the environment today. The agenda was organized around key questions and participants were invited to share their own expectations and wishes for the meeting. How do we bring feminist expertise and knowledge into contemporary environmental activism? How do we educate donors about what this would mean? What research agenda could academics pursue that would support this work?
The participants for this workshop were Srilatha Batliwala from the Hauser Center for non-profit organizations at Harvard University (with decades of experience in gender, development and sustainability), Joni Seager (feminist geographer) from Hunter College, Lorena Aguilar from the World Conservation Union (also with decades of experience in gender, development and sustainability), Mary Judith Ress from Conspirando (an eco-feminist movement organization), Shana Griffin from the New Orleans Women's Health and Justice Initiative (founded in New Orleans after the public hospital closed leaving women in her community without affordable health care) and Loretta Ross from SisterSong (a network of Women of Color health initiatives that is launching its reproductive and environmental justice movement initiative this summer).
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