Watch Now! The Cunning of Gender Violence Pt. 3-3 (10/11/23) Book Launch Video Recording through BCRW
The third and final book launch event for for The Cunning of Gender Violence: Geopolitics and Feminism (Duke University Press 2023), originating out of the Religion and Global Framing of Gender Violence Working Group.
This third event was hosted by the Barnard Center for Research on Women, and a video recording of the event, as well as transcripts and more, are available through their website here.
Listen Today! The Cunning of Gender Violence Book Launch Pt. 2-3 (9/14/23) Audio Recording Available Now
Visit the Audio section of our Media tab, or click on the hyperlink, to check out the audio recording from the (9-14-23) Book Launch for The Cunning of Gender Violence (Duke University Press), titled “State Violence is Gender Violence,” hosted by the UC Berkeley Center for Race and Gender.
This publication came out of the work of the Religion and the Global Framing of Gender Violence Working Group at CSSD.
Watch Now! The Cunning of Gender Violence Pt. 1-3 (9/13/23) Book Launch Event Available Here & on Youtube
CSSD has published a recording of "Civilizing Interventions: Humanitarianism and Gender Violence," a book launch event for The Cunning of Gender Violence: Geopolitics and Feminism (Duke University Press 2023), originating from the Religion and Global Framing of Gender Violence Working Group.
This event features scholars and experts crucial to the production of this work, including Jelani Cobb, Lila Abu-Lughod, Nina Berman, Rema Hammami, Sima Shakhsari, Dina M. Siddiqi, and Shenila Khoja-Moolji. It addresses the core question: "What happens when a visionary feminist project is integrated into contemporary world affairs?"
Please click the link here to watch the video recording of this book launch, or click the Video tab in the Header under Media.
The video is also available on our YouTube channel, accessible here.
Matthew Engelke to Become Columbia's New Department of Religion Chair
After six years directing the Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life (IRCPL), Professor Matthew Engelke is set to assume the role of Chair for the Department of Religion at Columbia. As an Extractive Media fellow and long-time affiliate of CSSD, we congratulate Professor Engelke on this wonderful achievement.
To read more on Engelke’s plans for the department and his own work, follow this link to read the entire Columbia News interview.
Lila Abu-Lughod Interviewed by Columbia Journal: "Do Muslim Women Still Need Saving?"
CSSD Interim Director and Joseph L. Buttenwieser Professor of Social Science Lila Abu-Lughod was recently featured in an interview by Mariam Syed at the Columbia Journal to mark the twentieth anniversary of her essay and ten anniversary of her book, Do Muslim Women Need Saving? (HUP 2013).
The article, titled “Do Muslim Women Still Need Saving?: How Lila Abu-Lughod Interprets Today’s Political Reality,” explores the development of Abu-Lughod’s own ideas while also speaking to the relevance of her work in understanding current political dynamics, including the Middle East. Concerns such as the role of Muslim women in liberation efforts and the challenges of feminist activism in addressing gender violence within geopolitical contexts are brought into discussion not only with her own intellectual journey but also that of a rapidly changing world.
Click here to read the article.
RECAP: Extraction Time with Professor Brian R. Jacobson (1/25/24)
On January 25th, the Extractive Media Working Group gathered for a seminar with Caltech Professor of Visual Culture Brian R. Jacobson, who shared a draft of a chapter from his forthcoming book on the historical relationship between art and the oil industry.
Barnard Professor of Anthropology Brian Larkin offered a response to the piece, which was followed by lively discussion amongst the faculty and graduate students in attendance.
CSSD Call for Proposals 2024 (Deadline: March 8)
CSSD CALL FOR PROPOSALS 2024
Submission Deadline: Friday, March 8, 2024, by 9:00 AM
The Center for the Study of Social Difference at Columbia University (CSSD) is an interdisciplinary research center supporting collaborative projects that address gender, race, sexuality, class, and other forms of inequality to foster ethical and progressive social change. The Center’s work has two overarching research streams: “Women Creating Change” and “Imagining Justice.” Learn more about these research streams and the projects within them at socialdifference.columbia.edu.
CSSD brings together faculty in humanities, law, social sciences, medicine, and the arts, as well as artists and practitioners in the New York area and beyond, to investigate problems of social, economic, and cultural inequality. The Center’s working groups challenge the disciplinary divides among the humanities, the arts, and the social sciences by asking not only how historical categories of social difference intersect on the level of identity but also how these categories shape institutions, modes of knowing, acts of representation, and processes of globalization. The Center creates the conditions for scholars, artists, and practitioners to work collaboratively and internationally on problems of common interest and to set intellectual agendas for the future.
The Center welcomes proposals for NEW WORKING GROUPS beginning in Fall 2024.
Who is eligible:
Please note that working groups must include (but are not limited to) Columbia and Barnard faculty.
Most, but not all, CSSD working groups are led by two co-directors. At least one co-director must be Columbia or Barnard faculty and proposals must be submitted by one or more faculty members in one of Columbia's schools and/or Barnard.
We will also review working group proposals from graduate students with ABD status working in partnership with Columbia and/or Barnard faculty.
CSSD accepts proposals from all schools of Columbia and Barnard, including but not limited to Arts & Sciences, CUMC, School of the Arts, Columbia Law School, School of Journalism, and GSAPP, with preference given to groups working across schools and/or disciplines.
CSSD seeks projects that align with the mission of “Women Creating Change” or “Imagining Justice” and favors proposals from an interdisciplinary core working group (usually 5-8 people, not all of whom need to be affiliated with Columbia or Barnard). The Center encourages and facilitates international collaborations. Center support is seed money to enable working groups to get off the ground; it is the expectation of the Center that all projects will also seek
additional funding.
Amount of award:
Funding is for $35,000 over two years, with the possibility of applying for a third more public- facing year and an additional $10,000, contingent on working group interest and the availability of Center funds.
How CSSD working groups function:
Center projects typically run for two to three years. Every working group proceeds in accordance with the needs of its particular research interests, but in general, many groups tend to proceed as follows:
In year one the working group generally concentrates on focused project development, including the consolidation of a regional or international working group, exploratory seminars, and guest lectures or workshops. Year two involves the most intensive intellectual work, featuring regular working group meetings and the active participation of fellows and affiliates. Year three, if granted, is often dedicated to planning and disseminating the project’s work through a conference, the publication of conference proceedings and/or edited collections of working group scholarship, or the online publication of syllabi or other curricular materials.
Please note: CSSD does not function simply as a grant-making institution. Our active working groups create the CSSD community. Funds are administered directly by CSSD staff for the duration of the working group’s involvement with the Center, and it is expected that one (co- director) from each active working group sit on the CSSD Executive Committee. Each working group must hire a graduate student coordinator who serves as the point of connection between the CSSD staff and the working group.
Current and past working group projects include “Afro Nordic Feminisms,” “Geographies of Injustice,” “Menstrual Health and Gender Justice,” “Migrant Personhood and Rights,” “Motherhood and Technology,” “On the Frontlines: Nursing Leadership in Pandemics,” “Prison Education and Social Justice,” “Queer Theory: Here, Now, and Everywhere,” “Reframing Gendered Violence,” “Refugee Cities,” “Recovery,” “Unpayable Debt,” and “Women Mobilizing Memory.” Please review our website for detailed descriptions of all our projects and for additional information about the Center.
Use of funds:
Project directors may use CSSD project support budgets at their discretion. However, budgets typically include the following:
course relief for a project director (one course per year for two years, alternating in the case of co-project directors; specific terms to be negotiated by the individual project director with the director’s home department and/or center/institute);
stipend for one graduate student assistant required to be responsible for program support;
working group meeting lunches and/or breakfasts;
limited support for visiting scholars, public conferences, and publications.
CSSD project funds are modest, and we do not support honoraria or stipends paid to core working group members. Honoraria may be offered to event speakers or special guests from outside Columbia. CSSD encourages projects to include at least one public event per year (one model is to invite a guest collaborator with the group to give a public talk). Project directors must be willing to collaborate in the Center’s fundraising efforts and be prepared to work with the Center to seek additional funding sources.
How to apply:
Project proposal narratives should not exceed five double-spaced pages. They must include a project description and a detailed work plan for group meetings, public events, and the dissemination of project research. Proposal narratives should also describe a plan for soliciting and adjudicating applications for working group membership from the wider University community and any anticipated curricular or pedagogical outcomes of the proposed project.
Please also include, in addition to the above:
a short CV or bio for each tentative working group member – e.g., one paragraph summary bios (indicate if participation has been confirmed)
proposed budget (please use the provided budget template)
Staff are available to discuss potential projects with colleagues who are thinking about proposing them, and sample CSSD project proposals are available by request. Please write to the Faculty Director, Lila Abu-Lughod, at la310@columbia.edu and/or the Associate Director, Kasheba Marshall, at km2803@columbia.edu with any questions as you develop your proposal. We encourage you to contact us before submitting your proposal. Complete proposals should be emailed to CSSD at km2803@columbia.edu by Friday, March 8, at 9:00 AM, with the subject line CSSD Proposal. The CSSD Executive Committee will select the winning projects. All applicants will be notified by April 01, 2024.
CONTACT
Center for the Study of Social Difference Columbia University
1200 Amsterdam Avenue
767 Schermerhorn Extension, MC 5510 New York, NY 10027
(212) 854-7090
socialdifference@columbia.edu
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