Cornell Minority Studies summer seminar deadline 1/15

The Fourth Annual Future of Minority Studies (FMS) Summer Institute
July 28 – August 8, 2008
Seminar: THINKING TRANSNATIONALLY: FEMINIST VISIONS

Seminar Leaders: Beverly Guy-Sheftall (Spelman College) & Chandra Talpade Mohanty (Syracuse University)
Seminar Description:  Over the past several decades, feminists around the world have variously and successfully transformed lives, communities, and institutions. Nevertheless, questions of social and economic justice, identity and self-determination, psychic and social decolonization, and solidarity and alliance-building across class, race, sexual and national borders, remain at the heart of feminist work. This seminar explores interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks for addressing the above issues, focusing directly on the challenge academic researchers face to “think transnationally” without losing sight of localcontexts and issues.

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Help a NY Teacher, House on Mango Street

MALCSistas, if you have advice or referrals for this teacher, please add a comment below or drop me a note (susana@malcs.net).  Thanks! hello my name is leah and i’m a 1st year teacher in NY. I’ll be starting (soon) a unit on HOUSE ON MANGO STREET and was wondering if you had any ideas for … Read more

Diss fellowships: WomStu at UCSB

Two positions to begin July 1, 2008

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA WOMEN’S STUDIES PROGRAM DISSERTATION SCHOLARS TEACHING FELLOWSHIPS 2008-2009

The Women’s Studies Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara invites applications for two fellowships for the academic year 2008-2009. Applicants must be advanced to candidacy and expect completion of the dissertation during the term of residence. Women’s Studies Dissertation Scholars will teach one undergraduate course and present one colloquium.

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Undocumented Nursing Mother Torn From Baby…

Federal immigration agents were searching a house in Ohio last month when they found a young Honduran woman nursing her baby. The woman, Saída Umanzor, is an illegal immigrant and was taken to jail to await deportation. Her 9-month-old daughter, Brittney Bejarano, who was born in the United States and is a citizen, was put … Read more

The Disasters of Border Crossing

By Rosalinda Fregoso Piedad’s father was a border crosser who died the year she turned 15. She was watching television on the morning her uncles appeared with news of his death, and much later she would be tormented by the day of his return. “My father’s corpse arrived in a cardboard package tied with plastic … Read more

Rest in Peace, Yolanda Retter

A memorial to celebrate the life of pioneer Latina lesbian activist and beloved MALCS historianyolandaretter1.jpg Yolanda Retter Vargas will be held at Metropolitan Community Church in West Hollywood on September 29th.

Yolanda passed away from cancer at her home in Los Angeles on August 18, 2007, after a short illness which stunned family and friends.

An activist and scholar, Yolanda was a major force in the early L.A. lesbian movement as a fierce advocate for lesbians of color. In her last two decades Yolanda became a highly-educated and much sought after librarian, archivist and editor.

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AAUP report on academic freedom in the classroom

The intellectual independence and integrity of higher education’s classroom faculty have been under attack for some time—by the press, by conservative commentators, and by politicians. The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is convinced that it is time to take back the classroom on behalf of academic freedom. In a clear and carefully reasoned historic new report, we counter these attacks and lay out the principles of responsible college pedagogy. The full report, Freedom in the Classroom, is available in the September–October issue of Academe , our journal of record, and online.

The report differentiates instruction from indoctrination. It addresses demands for “balance” in the classroom and offers a very specific and limited disciplinary rationale for the relevance of balance. It argues forcefully that college instructors have the right—and, some would argue, the responsibility—to challenge their students’ most cherished beliefs.

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