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‘Clicktivism’ moves civil rights forward in a new generation

Experts say Black activism today takes place in digital spaces where young African Americans share stories and invoke conversation about their struggles with friends and strangers. According to David J. Leonard, associate professor and chair of the Department of Critical Culture, Gender, and Race Studies, social media has its place in activism just as traditional forms of activism commonly associated with the Civil Rights movement.

“Activism and organizing are the basis of change; change comes through what [W.E.B.] DuBois described as ceaseless agitation. There are many different tools that are used to engage in this work,” Leonard said. He points to the information shared in social media about Trayvon Martin, the “online mobilization” to Jena 6, and the execution of Troy Davis, as examples of when Black youth use social media to create conversation.

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Women Are Not Men: A New Freakonomics Radio Podcast

Jennifer Schwartz
Jennifer Schwartz

In honor of National Women’s History Month, Freakonomics rebroadcast an exploration of several ways that “Women Are Not Men.” It looks at how the gender gap is closing, and how it’s not. Examples include the gender gap among editors of the world’s biggest encyclopedia, and the “female happiness paradox.” WSU associate professor of sociology Jennifer Schwartz talks about one of the biggest gender gaps out there: crime. Which begs the question: if you’re rooting for women and men to become completely equal, should you root for women to commit more crimes?

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Driving spirit, fiery rhetoric: Top MLK speakers at WSU Jan. 22, 29

Two dynamic civil rights speakers will highlight WSU’s annual Martin Luther King celebration on Jan. 22 and 29. WSU faculty are invited to incorporate the presentations into spring semester class curricula.

King described speaker Diane Nash as the “driving spirit in the nonviolent assault on segregation at lunch counters.” She led that sit-in movement, coordinated the 1961 freedom ride from Birmingham, Ala., to Jackson, Miss., helped organize the 1963 march on Washington, and was appointed by President John F. Kennedy to a national committee that promoted passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Speaker Michael Eric Dyson has been named one of the 150 most powerful African Americans by Ebony magazine. He has published two books about King, and his Making Malcolm: The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X (1994) was named one of the most important African American books of the 20th century. He “can rock the classroom and the chapel alike,” said a reporter in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

More about MLK events at WSU

Jan. 27-31: Humanities Week looks at scholarship, influence

Three free, public presentations will highlight Humanities Week presented by the WSU Humanities Planning Group.

Guest speakers from Duke and Michigan State universities will join WSU faculty in covering a range of topics, including:

  • “Is a Little Pollution Good for You? How the Humanities Can Contribute to Science and Policy”
  • “Four Glimpses of Scholarship in the Humanities: A Roundtable”
  • “Cosmopolitan Humanities”
  • “Empathy and Religious Diversity”

Get more details and a list of events

Exploring citizenship in Asian American women’s lit

Pamela Thoma, Critical Cultures, Gender, and Race Studies
Pamela Thoma

Pamela Thoma, associate professor in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender, and Race Studies, published a new book exploring the conditions of cultural and political belonging for Asian American women depicted in popular fiction.

Asian American Women’s Popular Literature; Feminizing Genres and Neoliberal Belonging examines the ways Asian American female writers address various family and financial pressures on women to reconcile the demands of work, motherhood, and consumer culture.

Read more about Thoma’s book