WSRC Events
November 6, 2023
5:00om - 6:00pm EST
Liberman Miller Lecture Hall at the WSRC, 515 South Street, Waltham, 02453
A conversation between Professor Harleen Singh, Director of the WSRC and Professor Faith Smith as they discuss the challenges and rewards of work, scholarship, immigrant lives, and more. Professor Harleen Singh is also the Senior Associate Provost for Faculty and Global Affairs and a professor of Literature, South Asian Studies, and Women's Studies. Alongside these administrative roles, Harleen also pursues her work as a scholar and author in Feminist Theory, Postcolonial Literature and Theory, Colonial Studies, music, film, and the novel from India. Join us for an evening sure to be filled with wit, insight, and intellect as you also learn more about the Brandeis community.
Reception to follow.
November 14, 2023
2:00pm - 4:00om EST
Liberman Miller Lecture Hall, WSRC, 515 South Street, Waltham, 02453
Organized and moderated by Brandeis Assistant Professor Brandon Callender, this session will host speakers Ashlee Blackwell, co-writer and producer of Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror and founder of Graveyard Shift Sisters, and Justin Philip Reed. writer and musician, and author of the hybrid collection With Bloom Upon Them And Also With Blood: A Horror Miscellany. By uniting artists and scholars working in and across black, feminist, and queer studies, it will discuss what survival and assault look like across different social locations and aesthetic traditions.
Reception to follow.
December 12, 2023
2:00pm - 4:00om EST
Liberman Miller Lecture Hall, WSRC, 515 South Street, Waltham, 02453
Organized by Brandeis professors Harleen Singh and Faith Smith, this session will host speaker Jyoti Puri, Simmons University. It will grapple with the conjoined Anglo-colonial histories of South Asia, the Caribbean, and South Africa from the moment of emancipation (1834) in Victorian England to independence, apartheid and beyond (1947, 1962, 1991 and more).
Reception to follow.
Past WSRC Events
Photo Credit: Brandeis Press
October 25, 2023
5:30pm start
Liberman-Miller Lecture Hall, Women's Studies Research Center, Brandeis University, 515 South Street, Waltham, MA 02453.
Author and journalist Diane Dimond will be in conversation about her newest book with Ann Silvio, Brandeis Associate Professor of Journalism and past producer of Sixty Minutes. The state-run guardianship system, called conservatorship in some states, is largely unregulated, ill-understood, and increasingly populated by financially motivated predators. We're Here to Help tells the human stories behind the headlines and shows how to avoid the risks of voluntary or involuntary guardianship.
Reception and Book Signing to follow.
Event co-produced by the Brandeis University Press and co-sponsored by the Brandeis Journalism Program and Legal Studies Program.
Book Overview
The state-run guardianship system, called conservatorship in some states, is largely unregulated, ill-understood, and increasingly populated by financially motivated predators. Just how guardianship works and its real-life effects remained a mystery to most until the very public case of pop star Britney Spears. It suddenly became clear that those conscripted into the system lose all their civil rights in the process. Currently, there are an estimated 1.5 to 2 million Americans under court control, but no one can say for sure how many are affected because no government entity keeps track of citizens who have lost the right to determine their own fate.
Established in the late 1800s, the guardianship system was designed to assist the most vulnerable citizens: the elderly and the physically or intellectually disabled. While guardianship has been beneficial to many “wards of the court,” this little-understood process can be a judicial rollercoaster from which there is seldom an escape, and which often leads to financial devastation for the ward. Each year, fifty billion dollars belonging to wards are placed under the control of court appointees, tempting bad actors. As investigative journalist Diane Dimond discovers, the number of exploitive and abusive guardianship cases nationwide demands our urgent attention.
Explosive and compelling, We’re Here to Help tells the human stories behind the headlines and shows how to avoid the risks of voluntary or involuntary guardianship.
October 24, 2023
Tuesday, October 24, 2023
12:15pm - 2:00pm EST, hybrid event
This event will take place in the Glynn Amphitheater (G4) in the Heller Schneider Building.
This session will undertake a comparative discussion about the logics of settler colonial genocide and sexual violence against Native and enslaved Black women with regards to the delineation of citizenship. It will lay bare the foundational inequities facing Black, Indigenous and other marginalized people that must be addressed in order to eliminate violence and other residuum of slavery and settler colonialism. This session is organized and moderated by University Professor and PI Anita Hill. Speakers for this session are Sarah Deer, University Distinguished Professor at the University of Kansas, and Crystal Feimster, Associate Professor of African American Studies, American Studies and History at Yale University.
Remote registration sign-up.
October 18, 2023
4:30 - 5:30pm EST, In-Person and Virtual
Liberman Miller Lecture Hall, WSRC, 515 South Street, Waltham 02453
Professor of Fine Arts Sheida Soleimani will talk about The Banner Project, her work that is currently at the MFA Boston, in conversation with Brandeis Professor Harleen Singh. This will be an interesting conversation about the histories, art, politics, and stories that build the life of an artist and teacher. Reception to follow.
October 7, 2023
NIIKSOKOWAIKS My Relatives
Saturday, October 7, 2023, 5:00pm-7:00pm
Opening by Larry Spotted Crow Mann (NIPMUC)
Dance Offering/Showing of a work-in-process by Evangelina Macias (Amskapi Pikuni Blackfeet, A’Aninin Grosventre)
Please join for an evening of dance and community connection. We will begin with an opening of space by Larry Spotted Crow Mann (Nipmuc) followed by a dance offering/showing of work in process "Niiksokowaiks My Relatives" by Evangelina Macias (Amskapi Pikuni Blackfeet, A'aninin GrosVentre). This showing is the early development of "Niiksokowaiks My Relatives", a work that investigates lineage, embodied histories, and land/body relationships. The evening will conclude with time for observation shares and conversation over light refreshments. Light refreshments will be provided.
Update to Location: Due to uncertainty around the weather, the event will be held in the inclement weather location in the MERRICK THEATER 205 on campus. Please see images below. Signs will be posted at the old location, and in the Spingold Theater. https://www.brandeis.edu/theater/spingold-map.html
Parking: The nearest parking lot to the event site is the Theater lot. Please see image below and see the Brandeis Public Safety site to obtain a visitor parking pass.
Free event at Brandeis University.
September 21, 2023
Thursday, September 21, 2023
10:45 am - 12:15 pm Eastern Time (US)
Hybrid In-Person Event and Zoom Webinar (Registration Required)
Rapaporte Treasure Hall, Goldfarb Library, Brandeis University
**Co-sponsored by Brandeis Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Department of Politics, Women's Studies Research Center and International Global Studies Program.
Invitation to a luncheon event with Kristina Lunz, activist and founder of the Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy, and Dr. Sonja Kreibich, German Consul General to the New England States on Thursday, September 21 at 10:45am.
On 1 March 2023, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock presented Germany’s first-ever Guidelines for a Feminist Foreign Policy. Safeguarding women’s and marginalized group’s rights, representation and access to resources has thus become a cornerstone of German foreign policy.
Kristina Lunz, author of “The Future of Foreign Policy is Feminist” will read a brief excerpt from the book and explain the concept, and Consul General Sonja Kreibich will share from her experience implementing the Guidelines.
About the Speakers
Kristina Lunz is the Co-CEO of the Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy (CFFP) and bestselling author of "The Future of Foreign Policy is Feminist”, Forbes "30 under 30," Ashoka Fellow, Atlantik Brücke Young Leader, Handelsblatt/BCG "Vordenker*innen 2020," Focus Magazine's "100 Women of 2020." She's an Advisory Group Member for Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Goalkeepers Initiative on the SDGs. With extensive experience, she holds dual master's degrees from the Universities of College London & Oxford. Featured regularly in (inter)national media including Vogue, Spiegel, and The Guardian, Kristina was the face of the Giorgio Armani campaign “Crossroad” for female empowerment.
Dr. Sonja Kreibich is a German career diplomat, currently serving as Germany’s Consul General to the New England States. Her earlier postings include three years as Gender and Human Rights Expert at Germany’s Mission to the UN in New York.
Photo Credit: Image by rorozoa on Freepik
September 27, 2023
September 27, 2023, 7:00pm start
This program will have automated captions and is hosted via Zoom webinar. Registration is required.
Artist Arghavan Khosravi has stated, “I occupy an in-between space, familiar to many immigrants.” As an Iranian artist living in America, her work reflects her lived experience, dwelling within a rich liminal space between identities. This cultural hybridity provides a nuanced perspective, which serves the creative process and allows for new spaces of belonging.
Join Khosravi and acclaimed author Marjan Kamali for an exploration of the Iranian diaspora through visual and narrative storytelling. Moderated by Shahla Haeri, Professor of Anthropology at Boston University, this virtual conversation will investigate the dual consciousness experienced by Iranian immigrant women and how their work shifts cultural dynamics of power and privilege.
ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS
Shahla Haeri is a Professor of Anthropology and a former director of the Women's Studies Program at Boston University (2001-2010). Dr. Haeri is one of the pioneers of Iranian Anthropology and has produced cutting-edge ethnographies of Iran, Pakistan, and the Muslim world. Her landmark books include her classic ethnography, Law of Desire: Temporary Marriage, Mut’a, in Iran (1989/revised edition, 2014; Syracuse University Press), translated into Arabic and reprinted frequently, highlighting the tenacious but secretive custom of temporary marriage in Iran; No Shame for the Sun: Lives of Professional Pakistani Women (2002/2004; Syracuse University Press), making visible lives of educated and professional Muslim women. Her latest book, The Unforgettable Queens of Islam: Succession, Authority, Gender (2020; Cambridge University Press), is among the handful of books on Muslim women and political authority. The book foregrounds the extraordinary lives and legacies of a few remarkable women sovereigns from across the Muslim world who have worn the crown in medieval Muslim societies or been elected to the office of Prime Minister or President in contemporary ones. Dr. Haeri’s academic and creative oeuvre includes producing and directing the documentary Mrs. President: Women and Political Leadership in Iran (2002), which focuses on six women presidential contenders during the 2001 Iranian presidential election. She is the recipient of many fellowships, grants, and postdoctoral fellowships.
Marjan Kamali is the award-winning author of The Stationery Shop (2019; Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster), a national bestseller, and Together Tea (2013; EccoBooks/HarperCollins), a Massachusetts Book Award finalist. She is a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship recipient. Kamali holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of California, Berkeley, a Master of Business Administration from Columbia University, and a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from New York University. Born in Turkey to Iranian parents, Kamali spent her childhood in Turkey, Iran, Germany, Kenya, and the United States. She is currently a Scholar in Residence at the Women’s Studies Research Center at Brandeis University.
Arghavan Khosravi is the 2023 Ruth Ann and Nathan Perlmutter Artist-in-Residence. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, with shows at the FLAG Art Foundation, New York; the Orlando Museum of Art, Florida; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Yinchuan, China; Newport Art Museum, Newport, Rhode Island; and Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Massachusetts; among others. Khosravi is a 2019 recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation’s Painters & Sculptors Grant and a 2017-18 recipient of the Walter Feldman Fellowship.
This program is held in conjunction with Arghavan Khosravi: Black Rain, on view August 3 – October 22, 2023 at the Brandeis Rose Art Museum, Waltham, MA, and is supported by the Ruth Ann and Nathan Perlmutter Artist-in-Residence Award Fund.
Audio storytelling can be used as a tool for education and social change, and its popularity has exploded in recent years with the rise of podcasting.
Over this past academic year, the WSRC was proud to present "The Second Half: 40 Women Reveal Life After 50," a solo exhibition in the Kniznick Gallery by American photojournalist, portrait photographer and author Ellen Warner, co-sponsored by Brandeis University Press. Over the course of 15 years, Ellen Warner interviewed and photographed women from different cultures about life after age 50 — from an author and translator in Connecticut to a sacred healer in Indonesia, a doctor in Saudi Arabia, a retired cook in Antigua and the first French woman TV anchor.
To further the conversation, listen in as a team of Brandeis journalism students share recent interviews with women and non-binary people aged 50+ who speak about the wisdom, resiliency and joy of the second half of life.
One of the interviewers is Brenna Pearlstein, a third-year student at Brandeis University studying Health: Science, Society, Policy and minoring in journalism. Originally from New York, Brenna is studying abroad in Sydney, Australia. Another interviewer is Jillian Brosofsky, a 22-year-old Brandeis senior studying journalism and psychology. She was born in Rhode Island.