Dissent, Democracy & Higher Education: Under Attack

October 22, 2024 | 5:15 pm (EST)

WATCH the EVENT VIDEO

Humanities Building, Room 1006  Stony Brook University

This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Changing Systems of Power, the Humanities Institute, and the Asian American Justice & Innovation Lab and is supported by Mellon’s Affirming Multivocal Humanities Program

Learn how the legal attacks on campus protests and free speech in New York fit into the broader national context. 

Speakers:

Tariq Habash - former DOE employee and first person to resign from Biden administration to protest the US's support for Israel's war on Gaza; Fellow, American Association of University Professor’s Center for Defense of Academic Freedom

Rana Jaleel - Associate Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies and Asian American Studies and Chair of the American Association of University Professors’ Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure

Danny Shaw - Latin American & Caribbean Studies Professor & Ethnographer who was doxed, harassed, fired from CUNY, and detained and interrogated by the FBI and DHS for his pro-Palestine activism

Jonathan Wallace - longtime movement lawyer based in New York doing pro bono work to support faculty and students attacked for their support of Palestinian liberation

Non-Western Marxisms: Towards a South-South Perspective | Lecture by Martín Cortés (University of Buenos Aires)

September 30, 2024 | 12:30 pm - 1:50 pm, Campus Lifetime (EST)

Humanities Building, Room 1008 | Stony Brook University

Sponsored by HISB and CCSP.

This presentation aims to explore the theoretical implications arising from the expansion of Marxism beyond its European origins, particularly in the context of peripheral capitalist societies. It examines the concept of "non-Western Marxisms" and the challenges it poses to Marxism's claims of universal applicability. Building upon previous research on the reception and translation of Marxism in Latin America, the presentation seeks to extend this analytical approach to other non-Western Marxist traditions, including those from the Caribbean, Asia, and Africa. Beginning from the assumption that these "peripheral" Marxisms have made important theoretical contributions in areas such as historical time, the national question, and the political subject, the main goal is to critically interrogate the tendency within traditional Marxist historiography to treat these regional contexts as isolated case studies, rather than as sites of substantive theoretical elaboration with universal implications. More info HERE.

Martín Cortés is a professor of Political Science at the University of Buenos Aires and the author of, among other titles, Translating Marx, José Aricó and the New Latin American Marxism (Brill, 2020).  

"I am not the river Jhelum" | Film screening and Q&A with director Prabhash Chandra

September 23, 2024 | 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Humanities Building, Room 1008 | Stony Brook University

"I'm Not The River Jhelum" is a film that delves deep into the complexities and hardships faced by individuals in Kashmir, primarily through the eyes of its young protagonist, Afeefa. The film seeks to shed light on the various perspectives and realities that exist within Kashmir and across India, touching on sensitive subjects that are both timely and significant.

Voices from Gaza & West Bank: Health Care in Crisis

September 19, 2024 | 5:45 pm - 9:30 pm

MART Auditorium, 1 Lauterbur Dr | Stony Brook University

Join us for dinner and a selection of speakers on the state of healthcare in Gaza and the West Bank amid the ongoing crisis. 

Program Details

- Dr. Syed M. Sayeed presents eyewitness medical accounts from Gaza.

- Steve Sosebee speaks on the efforts of HEAL Palestine.

- Children of Gaza, The Kites Still Fly: photographs by Tom Lewendon.

- Medical evacuee shares experiences from Gaza.

- Q&A with our speakers.

 Registration link  HERE

AI Advocacy Fair

April 30, 2024

Humanities Building Room 1008 | Stony Brook University

Hosted by WRT302 and the Center for Changing Systems of Power.

The goal of the AI Advocacy Fair is to learn more about advocating for causes that matter to our community in the AI age. WRT302: AI and Advocacy delves into the transformative impact of new Generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini. The AI Advocacy Fair explores how these tools reshape our approach to communication and writing and impact our ability to change people's minds and take action on urgent issues like climate change, racial justice, and gender equality.

During Spring 2024 students of WRT302: AI and Advocacy, directed by their instructor, Dr. Matthew Salzano, created a public-facing report identifying major risks and opportunities for social justice advocates seeking to use AI. This report is the result of an undergraduate research collaboration.

Download the “AI and Advocacy: Maximizing Potential,  Minimizing Risk” report here.   

How SUNY Benefits from Prison Labor: A Teach-in

March 25, 2024 | 4:30 pm

Humanities Building Room 1006 | Stony Brook University

Join the conversation with academics and activists on how SUNY benefits from prison labor. 

Speakers

Robert Chase (Associate Professor, History, Stony Brook University)
Wilfredo Laracuente (Community Organizer)
Patrice Nganang (Professor, Africana Studies, Stony Brook University)
Rosemary Rivera (Executive Director, Citizen Action of New York and The Public Policy and Education Fund)

This event is organized by 13th Forward, the Center for Changing Systems of Power, Citizen Action of New York, and United University Professions, and supported by Mellon's Affirming Multivocal Humanities program. 

To learn more and for additional resources, click HERE. 

Academics Under Attack: A Faculty First Responder Workshop

March 4, 2024; 5:00 pm 

Online

Faculty First Responders monitors the right-wing media ecosystem to track targeted harassment of higher education workers, to defend workers’ academic freedom and free speech rights, and to support workers targeted by the right-wing media. Learn about the causes and consequences of right-wing attacks on higher education workers, how to protect and defend yourself from attacks without curtailing your academic freedom, and about available resources for higher education workers facing targeted harassment, and advice on how to effectively respond to attacks. 

Sponsored by the Center for Changing Systems of Power and supported by Mellon’s Affirming Multivocal Humanities program.

Casa Común/Communal House | Collaborative Art Exhibition

February 8-22, 2024 

Melville Library, North Reading Room | Stony Brook University

"Casa Común/Communal House" is a collaborative art project that confronts the atrocities of the war in Colombia and gives healing, reconciliation, and hopes for a peaceful future through the handcrafted work of victims.

Co-sponsors: The Latin American and Caribbean Studies Center | Department of Sociology | Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Department of Hispanic Languages and Literature | The Humanities Institute at Stony Brook University.

OPENING RECEPTION: February 8, 2024; 6:00 pm (Food & drinks will be served!)

To learn more about Casa Común  here

Sir Run Run Shaw Lecture Series: "Künü: A Space for Dialogue" | Documentary film screening and conversation with Francisco Huichaqueo

February 9, 2024; 4:00 pm 

Charles B. Wang Center Lecture Hall 1 | Stony Brook University

"Künü" by Mapuche filmmaker Francisco Huichaqueo, is a documentary that captures the collaborative efforts of 80 Mapuche communities to reclaim part of their ancestral lands from a large transnational forestry company in Chile, in the Araucanía-Loncoche region. "Künü" documents the creation of a space for difficult dialogue between groups with a long history of mistrust and power imbalances but at the same time focuses on the perspective of exercising the ancestral and political self-determination of local Mapuche communities.

Francisco Huichaqueo is a filmmaker, artist, curator of memory garments, and a professor at the University of Concepción. His films have been showcased in various Chilean and international venues, including the Mother Tongue Film Festival at the Smithsonian, ImagineNATIVE in Toronto, Museo Reina Sofía, and the 11th Berlin Biennale.

Co-sponsors: The Latin American and Caribbean Studies Center | Department of Sociology | Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Department of Hispanic Languages and Literature.

War is not the answer: A teach-in on peace and human rights

November 16, 2023; 4:00 pm 

Humanities Building Room 2001 (Poetry Center) | Stony Brook University

Learn about how the occupation and violence in Palestine and Israel are affecting communities.

Speakers

Noura Farouk (Founder of Mothers4Justice, organizer, published writer, doula birth worker, and oral history archivist)

Farrah Mozawalla (President of the Asian American Institute for Research and Engagement)

Ruth Sergel (Artist, director, writer, interactive technology designer, and creator of Chalk and Voices of 9.11)

Bringing Human Rights Home: The work of human rights cities | A talk with Jackie Smith

November 1st, 2023; 4:00 pm 

Humanities Building Room 1008 | Stony Brook University

Jackie Smith’s research focuses on how globalization impacts people and communities, and how social movements for the environment, health, and economic justice have advanced transformative struggles. She has documented long-term trends in transnational social movement organizations and coalitions, and connections between global politics and activism in cities and communities. Smith is currently engaged in participatory research with Pittsburgh and national human rights organizers. She is also engaged in work to connect municipalities with United Nations human rights work.