In 2024-25, our fourth and final year, Insurgent Intersections explores the theme “Healing from Global Anti-Blackness.” This theme returns us to our initial concern with the responses to the protests of 2020 and the larger problem of anti-Blackness. We wanted to challenge the corporate statements and poorly thought out DEI programs from that year to, instead, draw from the strategies and knowledge crafted by Black people over centuries of navigating a world designed to commodify and consume Black life. Some of the questions we hope to explore through this theme include:
- What practices did our ancestors develop to cope with the realities of anti-Blackness? How can we learn from and apply the lessons of our ancestors to further achieve healing?
- How can we create spaces for Black individual and collective healing?
- How can the lessons learned from Black experience translate into concrete policy and community actions?
- How do imagination and freedom dreaming contribute to Black healing?
This exploration will culminate in an full-day, in-person symposium on February 28, 2015, centered on "Healing from Global Anti-Blackness". The symposium will include panels, workshops, collaborative art projects, and a final dance reception with a DJ. The keynote address will be given by Dr. Brittney Cooper. Lunch and refreshments will be served.
