Menstrual Health Working Group Publishes Report on Developments at the UN
Working group director Inga Winkler and working group fellow Sydney Amoakah co-authored a recent piece in Impakter on how menstruation has been spotlighted at the UN in the last year and where we can go from here.
CSSD working group Menstrual Health and Gender Justice has published a report in Impakter highlighting the work the UN has done related to menstruation in the past year and what more is left to do. The publication was co-authored by Menstrual Health working group director and Lecturer in Human Rights at Columbia University, Inga Winkler, and Sydney Amoakoh, Human Rights MA candidate and working group fellow.
In the article they address the key role governments play in advancing the discussion around menstrual health, noting that they are are uniquely positioned to normalize discussions on menstruation in the international community and amongst their own populations. The need for continued collaboration between different groups and sectors was also highlighted.
Read the full report here.
For more from the Menstrual Health and Gender Justice working group visit their blog.
Menstrual Health Working Group Fellow Participates in the UN 63rd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women
Lauren Houghton took part in an all female panel on menstruation entitled, “Access to Menstrual Health as a Public Service: The Lived Experiences of Women and Girls.”
Lauren Houghton, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and fellow in CSSD working group Menstrual Health and Gender Justice, participated in the panel “Access to Menstrual Health as a Public Service: The Lived Experiences of Women and Girls.” The event took place as part of the 63rd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). The panel stressed the importance of looking at the many menstruating women and girls who belong to marginalized groups, and their lived experiences with menstruation both in and outside of the home.
During the event Dr. Lauren Houghton gave insight on exactly how States and other actors can go about achieving change through the social normalization of menstruation. She stressed that policy-makers should avoid viewing providing menstruation products as quick fixes to more complex menstrual health issues.
A full recap of the panel can be found on the Menstrual Health working group blog.
Anupama Rao Delivers Franke Lecture at Yale
Co-Director of CSSD working group Geographies of Injustice, gave a talk entitled “Social Abstraction, Historical Comparison: Thinking Caste, Race, and Gender in the Time Capital.”
Anupama Rao, Associate Professor of History at Barnard and co-director of CSSD working groups Geographies of Injustice and Reframing Gendered Violence, delivered a talk entitled “Social Abstraction, Historical Comparison: Thinking Caste, Race, and Gender in the Time Capital” at Yale University. It was part of the Franke Lecture Series.
Anupama’s work explores the relationship of caste and political culture. Her book The Caste Question theorized caste subalternity, with specific focus on the role of anti-caste thought (and its thinkers) in producing alternative genealogies of political subject-formation.
You can read more about the lecture and her work here.
Unpayable Debt working group co-director Delivers Keynote Lecture
Frances Negron-Muntaner gave a lecture entitled “The ‘Valor y Cambio’ Project: Practicing Art, Narrative and Just Economies in Puerto Rico,” at the Pratt Institute’s Digital Spatialities Workshop.
Frances Negron-Muntaner, Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia and co-Director of CSSD working group Unpayable Debt, delivered the keynote lecture at Pratt’s March 26 Digital Spatialities workshop. The event brought together scholars pursuing research on social media phenomena within the US and globally.
Frances’ keynote was entitled “The ‘Valor y Cambio’ Project: Practicing Art, Narrative and Just Economies in Puerto Rico,” and was inspired by her current community currency project in Puerto Rico, and her extensive experience as an activist, writer, filmmaker, curator, and educator.
You can read more about the workshop here.
For more on the social currency project “Valor y Cambio,” click here.
Check out photos from the Unpayable Debt working group’s closing conference here.
J.C. Salyer Honored by Arab-American Family Support Center
J.C. Salyer, former co-director of CSSD working group Pacific Climate Circuits, was recognized for his dedication to Brooklyn’s Arab-American community and his work to strengthen cross-cultural ties.
J.C. Salyer, Assistant Professor of Human Rights at Barnard and former co-director of CSSD working group Pacific Climate Circuits, was honored by the Arab-American Family Support Center as well as by the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams. Professor Salyer is also co-director of the new CSSD working group Migrant Personhood and Rights: Crises of Recognition to be launched in the September of 2019.
His dedication to Brooklyn’s Arab-American community and his work to strengthen cross-cultural ties was recognized during the annual Arab-American Heritage Celebration at Brooklyn Borough Hall on Thursday, April 4th.
The full press release can be read here.
For more on the Pacific Climate Circuits working group check out their webpage.
Stay tuned for more on new working group Migrant Personhood and Rights, launching September 2020!
J.C. Salyer is an anthropologist and a lawyer whose work focuses on law and society, immigration law, and social justice. He is also the staff attorney for the Arab-American Family Support Center, a community-based organization in Brooklyn, and runs the organization’s immigration clinic. His current research focuses on migration, disruption, and displacement related to climate change in the southwestern Pacific.
Rachel Adams named as 2019 John Simon Guggenheim Fellow
Former CSSD Director Rachel Adams selected for the 2019 Guggenheim Fellowships
On April 9, 2019, the Board of Trustees of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation approved the awarding of Guggenheim Fellowships to a diverse group of 168 scholars, artists, writers, and scientists. Appointed on the basis of prior achievement and exceptional promise, the successful candidates were chosen from a group of almost 3,000 applicants in the Foundation’s ninety-fifth competition.
Rachel Adams, former CSSD Director and co-director of CSSD working group, Precision Medicine: Ethics, Politics and Culture, was among 168 scholars, artists, writers, and scientists in United States and Canada selected for the 2019 Guggenheim Fellowships.
CSSD sends a heartfelt congratulation to Rachel Adams on the award of this prestigious Fellowship.
Since its establishment in 1925, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has granted more than $360 million in Fellowships to over 18,000 individuals, among whom are scores of Nobel laureates, Fields Medalists, poets laureate, members of the various national academies, and winners of the Pulitzer Prize, Turing Award, National Book Award, and other significant, internationally recognized honors.
Chris Bobel Discusses Menstruation with The Washington Post
CSSD working group Menstrual Health fellow addresses the flaws in current menstrual health programs in a recent article.
Chris Bobel, Associate Professor of Women and Gender studies at University of Massachusetts Boston and fellow in the CSSD working group Menstrual Health and Gender Justice, talked with The Washington Post about what more needs to be done to improve menstrual health programs. The conversation centered around the information in her new book, The Managed Body: Developing Girls & Menstrual Health in the Global South.
She addresses the need to look beyond menstrual products as the sole approach to menstrual health education as we expand the discussion surrounding periods to include topics such as ways to combat stigma and necessary cultural shifts.
The full article can be read here.
Join the Menstrual Health working group in welcoming Chris Bobel for a book talk on her recently released book The Managed Body: Developing Girls & Menstrual Health in the Global South.
Menstrual Health Working Group Fellow Debunks Menstruation Myths in NPR
Chris Bobel spoke with NPR about her recent book The Managed Body: Developing Girls & Menstrual Health in the Global South.
Chris Bobel, Associate Professor of Women and Gender studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston and fellow in the CSSD working group Menstrual Health and Gender Justice, recently spoke with NPR about her new book, The Managed Body, as well as common myths surrounding menstruation.
In the article she discusses the stigma and negativity related to periods in low and middle income countries as well as how well-meaning activists are misguided by misconceptions about menstrual health.
RGFGV Co-director Delivers Lecture at the University of Alberta
Professor Lila Abu-Lughod delivers lecture for distinguished series on human rights at the University of Alberta
On February 4, former CSSD director and co-director of Religion and the Global Framing of Gender Violence (RGFGV) working group, Professor Lila Abu-Lughod delivered a lecture at the University of Alberta Visiting Lectureship in Human Rights series. Professor Abu-Lughod's talk entitled, "Is the War on Muslims a War on Rights?” questions the use of military invasions in the name of defending Muslim women’s rights and how proliferating security measures for surveillance and management of Muslims in the name of protecting human life have confronted those who value the ideals of human rights with troubling questions.
Lila Abu-Lughod is the Joseph L. Buttenwieser Professor of Social Science at Columbia University where she teaches anthropology and gender studies. A leading voice in the debates about culture, gender, Islam, and global feminist politics, her award-winning books and articles have been translated into 14 languages.
The University of Alberta Visiting Lectureship in Human Rights is envisioned as one of the preeminent annual events held at the University. Individuals or organizations that have made an outstanding contribution in the field of human rights and human rights protection are invited to deliver a major public lecture in Edmonton.