Health Challenges for the 21st Century: Bad Sugar

The documentary Bad Sugar addresses this vexing question: What happened to the health of the Pima? Along with The Tohono O’odham Indians of southern Arizona, the Pima have arguably the highest diabetes rates in the world – half of all adults are afflicted. But a century ago, diabetes was virtually unknown in their community. Researchers have poked and prodded the Pima for decades in search of a sociological – or more recently, genetic – explanation for their high rates of disease.   Speakers at this event will relate the experiences of the Pima to the current diabetes epidemic in New York City and address efforts currently underway attempting to curtail its proliferation in New York. Participants include: Kimberly Libman, Faculty Food Studies, The New School for General Studies; Rachel Knopf,. Health Educator, The New School; and Lorraine Mongiello, Project Director for the CUNY Campaign Against Diabetes. http://www.unnaturalcauses.org/episode_descriptions.php?page=4
FREE. RSVP to langscience@newschool.edu

Public Health Challenges for the 21st Century: Film and Panel Series

This monthly film and panel series is an extension of the Fall 2009 focus on health disparities. The series begins on February 22, with “Sante: Crisis in Haiti”, which describes health infrastructure in Haiti, the consequences of its collapse, and the efforts of community-based organizations to bring health to the people.

The series continues on:

* March 23 with “Bad Sugar”, which describes the social and biological determinants of diabetes in rural and urban marginalized environments that include NYC and the Pima Native American Reservation

* April 30 with “The Deadliest Disease in America”, which examines the issues of disparities in the U.S. healthcare system based on race using a film screening and workshop model

* May 21 with New School Honorary Degree Recipient Rita Colwell, “Invisible Seas” and “Coming Clean on Sanitation” which demonstrate the need for an interdisciplinary approach to providing clean water through sustainable and appropriate practices for resource poor environments and to prevent the spread of cholera.

These events are co-sponsored by the following programs and departments: Media and Film Studies, Food Studies, and the Graduate Program in International Affairs at The New School for General Studies; Race and Ethnicity Studies, Interdisciplinary Science, and Office of the Dean at Eugene Lang College; Health Education, New School Health Services; and the Office of the Provost.

A full description of each event can be found at the Lang Bio-Health Scoiety website.

Stacey Ann Chin: The Other Side of Paradise

The New School Celebrates Women’s History Month with Staceyann Chin: A reading from her new book, The Other Side of Paradise

March 11, 6:00 pm
Wollman Hall
65 West 11th Street, 5th Floor

Staceyann Chin is a fulltime writer and activist. Recipient of the 2007 Power of the Voice Award from The Human Rights Campaign, the 2008 Safe Haven Award from Immigration Equality, the 2008 Honors from the Lesbian AIDS Project, and the 2009 New York State Senate Award, she identifies as Caribbean and Black, Asian and lesbian, woman and resident of New York City.  Chin was a stock feature on the Peabody Award winning HBO series, Def Poetry Jam. She went on to co-write and perform as one of the original cast members of the ground-breaking, critically acclaimed, Tony Award winning Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway.  Chin is the author of the memoir, The Other Side of Paradise, published by Scribner. Simon and Schuster, Inc.  Join us for a reading by Chin from this new groundbreaking work.

Co-Sponsored by Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts, Office of the Dean, The Office of Intercultural Support and the Office of International Student Services.
Free and open to all.  Please rsvp to LangSpecialProjects@newschool.edu

Putting the Torch to Colorblindness: Race, Riots, and the Limits of Universalism in France and the United States

The HISTORY IN MOTION speaker series presents Thomas Sugrue, professor of History and Sociology at University of Pennsylvania, who will give a talk entitled “Putting the Torch to Colorblindness: Race, Riots, and the Limits of Universalism in France and the United States.”

Dr. Sugrue is David Boies Professor of History and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania and focuses on 20th-century American politics, urban history, civil rights, and race. His first book, The Origin of the Urban Crisis (Princeton, 1996), won the Bancroft Prize in American History and the Philip Taft Labor History Book Award. In 2005, Princeton University Press selected it as one of the most influential books of the past one hundred years.

Location: 80 Fifth Avenue, 5th-floor conference room (529) Admission: Free; no tickets or reservations required; seating is first-come first-served

Contact Information: history@newschool.edu

They Skool: The Anti-Urban Bias In Urban Education

Please join us for a provocative lecture by esteemed education scholar Ron Scapp of College of Mount Saint Vincent.

Location:

Hirshon Suite, 55 West 13th, 2nd Fl

Admission:
Free; no tickets or reservations required; seating is first-come first-served

Urban educators and students face a constellation of known challenges, but they also teach and learn under circumstances that are informed and influenced by a less acknowledged “anti-urban bias” that pervades school systems across the country. Cultural critic Ron Scapp will focus on the New York City school system to argue that even some advocates of urban public schooling – including many self-identified education reformers, the Department of Education and even the United Federation of Teachers – play into this dynamic. Scapp will provide a theoretical and historical context for this bias and then make some connections to a number of initiatives and behaviors that result from this problematic understanding and conceptualization of things “urban.” In formally identifying this bias, Scapp’s research begins an important dialogue to define this pervasive bias and to understand the needs in urban education that persist unmet because of it.

**This event is open to the public, and we encourage you to share this information with fellow colleagues, friends, and associates.**

Please send any questions to langeducationstudies@newschool.edu.

No Longer in Exile: The Legacy and Future of Gender Studies at the New School

No Longer in Exile: The Legacy and Future of Gender Studies at the New School
Friday, March 26 (6:00-9:00 p.m.) and Saturday, March 27 (all day), 2010

Theresa Lang Community and Student Center (55 West 13th Street)
No registration necessary

The New School invites you to No Longer in Exile: The Legacy and Future of Gender Studies at the New School, Friday, March 26, from 6:00-9:00 p.m. and all day Saturday, March 27 at the Theresa Lang Center, 55 West 13th Street.  This exciting event is a celebration of the return of Gender Studies to The New School and an exploration of what the community wishes from this new undertaking.

Leading scholars in the field, along with the New School faculty and students, explore the rich institutional and intellectual history of the interdisciplinary field of Gender Studies and speculate about the directions this study might take us in the future.

Panelists include:

• Nancy Fraser, Professor of Political Science and Social Science at The New School for Social Research
• Mary Hawkesworth, Editor of SIGNS and Chair of Women’s Studies at Rutgers University
• Susan Faludi, Author of Backlash and The Terror Dream
• Bonnie Thornton Dill, Professor and Chair of the Women’s Studies Department and Program and Director of the Consortium on Race, Gender, and Ethnicity at the University of Maryland
• Valerie Smith, Woodrow Wilson Professor of Literature and Director of the Center for African American Studies at Princeton University
• Judith Halberstam, Professor of English, American Studies and Ethnicity and Gender Studies at University of Southern California
• Ann Cvetkovich, Author of Mixed Feelings and Professor and Co-chair of the LGBTQ/Sexualities Research Cluster at the University of Texas

Inspiring Women, an exhibit, will be on display during the conference in the suite adjacent to the Theresa Lang Center. The exhibit will then move to Adam & Sophie Gimbel Design Library (2 West 13th Street, 2nd floor) from March 29-May 31, 2010.

Conference participants include:

Elaine Abelson	Neil Gordon
Marianna Assis	Judith Halberstam
Carolyn Berman	Mary Hawkesworth
Cheryl Buckley	Joseph Heathcott
Ximena Bustamante	Randi Irwin
Julie Chaparro	Ferentz LaFargue
Hazel Clark	Maria Pia Lara
Ann Cvetkovich	Michelle Leve
Katie Detwiler	LM Ling
Bonnie Thornton Dill	Laura Liu
Jon Dimond	Bonnie McEwan
Kate Eichhorn	Layli Phillips
Elizabeth Ellsworth	Lisa Rubin
Suzanne Esposito	Ann Louise Shapiro
Chelsea Estep-Armstrong	Valerie Smith
Susan Faludi	Ann Snitow
Silvia Fernandez	Ann Stoler
Nikol Alexander Floyd	Zhou Suiming
Nancy Fraser	Alexandra Wagner
Dina Georgis	Howell Williams

Down By the River: Symposium Schedule

RSVP Here
Down By The River: Race and Environmental Justice Organizing and Policy

2009 Undergraduate Symposium on Ethnicity and Race

Friday, November 20 2009

Eugene Lang College, The New School for Liberal Arts

Whether responding to harsh effects of toxic-dumping in Birmingham, Bronzeville or Brooklyn, activists, community members, and politicians have often regarded race and ethnicity as crucial factors in the research and analysis produced to combat unjust environmental practices. . In light of these efforts, Eugene Lang College’s Ethnicity and Race Program presents Down By The River: An Undergraduate Symposium on Race and Environmental Justice Organizing and Policy.

Breakfast 9am – 10am

66 W. 12^th Street Room 510

Opening Remarks: 10:30am

Ferentz Lafargue, Directory Ethnicity and Race Program, Eugene Lang College, The New School for Liberal Arts

10:45 – 11:45

Panel I: Making Policy, Making Money, Making Community

Alyse Y. Serrell

Can Becoming a Farmer Be the New American Dream?

Edlira Qatipi

Healthy Food Markets For the South Bronx.

Aminta Kilawan

Policy-Making, Money-Making, and Community-Shaping: Can the three exist together?

Moderator: Dr.  Christina Greer, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Fordham University

12:00pm – 1:00pm

Panel II: Engineering Community Revival

Hiram Arnaud

Looking Beyond Academia for Solutions to City Development Problems

Ian Christie

Overcoming Racial Microaggression:
 Structured Dialogic Design at the Intersection of Urban and Environmental Politics

Kathryn Tipora

Engineering the Revival of Communities: A Historical Analysis of Two South Bronx Expressways and a Critical Look at the Future of These Spaces

Moderator, Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, Author, Green Deen: What Islam Teaches about Protecting the Planet

Lunch 1:00pm – 2:00pm

2:00pm – 3:00pm

Panel III: Mobilizing Hunts Point

Jillian Sesenton

Mobilizing the Residents of Hunts Point

Margaux Weeke

The Political Tactics of Charter School Development in Hunts Point

3:00pm – 5:00pm

Workshop: United Puerto Rican Organization of Sunset Park (UPROSE)

“Our People, Our ‘Hoods, Our Future: Youth Organizing for Climate Justice in NYC”

Reception: Wollman Hall, 65 W. 11^th Street 5^th Floor

5:30pm – 7:00pm

2009 Lorraine Hansberry Reading

Detroit 2000 By Brian Tucker

Brian Tucker’s Detroit 2000 is a provocative meditation on Global Warming.

Sponsored by:

Eugene Lang College: Dean’s Office; Environmental Studies; Ethnicity and Race Program, Office of Special Projects; Fordham University; and the Applied Research Center (ARC).

Is Inequality Making Us Sick

Is Inequality Making Us Sick?
Wednesday Sept 9
6:00pm- 8:00pm
Theresa Lang Student Center, 55. W. 13th Street

Just ADDED: Screening of President Obama’s Health  Care Address to Congress will follow panel discussion.

A special screening and panel discussion of the PBS series “Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? “ In response to recent reports highlighting the escalating and disproportionate rates of disease in low-income communities, leading scholars will explore the role that social determinants of health play in this ever-increasing health gap. Invited speakers include Alondra Nelson, Associate Professor of Sociology, Columbia University; Samuel K. Roberts, Associate Professor of History, Columbia University; and Ferentz Lafargue, Assistant Professor of Literature, and Ethnicity Studies, Lang College, The New School for Liberal Arts.

Copies of Dr. Roberts’ book Infectious Fear Politics, Disease, and the Health Effects of Segregation will be available for purchase and signing immediately following this presentation.

This event is sponsored by Lang College’s Interdisciplinary Science; Race and Ethnicity Studies Programs, along with University Environmental Studies, and The Graduate Program in International Affairs.

2009 Call For Papers

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO OCTOBER 24th

Call for Papers:

Down By The River

2009 National Undergraduate Conference on Ethnicity and Race

November 20 – 21 2009

Eugene Lang College, The New School for Liberal Arts

Whether responding to harsh effects of toxic-dumping in Birmingham, Bronzeville or Brooklyn, activists, community members, and politicians have often regarded race and ethnicity as crucial factors in the research and analysis produced to combat unjust environmental practices. Such work is arguably derivative of research methods associated with Ethnic Studies and the discipline’s long-standing association with social justice movements.

Recognition of these connections continues being advanced by events such as 2008’s Green For All conference, a gathering that sought to fuse together the long histories of movements for Civil Rights, Environmental and Racial Justice in the United States. In light of these efforts, Eugene Lang College’s Ethnicity and Race Program invites papers for, Down By The River, the 2009 National Undergraduate Conference on Ethnicity and Race. This year’s conference seeks paper and panel submissions exploring how race and ethnicity have been factored into environmental-research, and school and community environmental-organizing and/or design.

Potential presentation topics include but are not limited to the following:

Ethnic Studies & Environmental Studies:

How do various branches of Ethnic Studies inform our understanding of key issues in Environmental Studies•

Environmental Justice: How do communities of color shape their own roles in Environmental justice movements•

Race, Ethnicity and the Green Economy: How will “green-collar” workforces service communities of color •

Environmental Movement and The Long Civil Rights Movement What are the historical connections between the environmental movement and various iterations of civil rights movements• Contemporary examples of connections between these movements •

Please send a 1-page abstract to ethnicityrace@gmail.com.

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO OCTOBER 24th:

While not required, an accompanying letter of recommendation from a faculty member or advisor familiar with your work is encouraged.

Panelists whose proposals are accepted will be notified in mid-October. Proposals that are accepted will be placed in either a formal panel or a roundtable discussion. Individual and collaborative design or poster-proposals are also sought for this conference. Students submitting design or poster presentations must still submit an abstract outlining the projects scope and nature of presentation.

All presentations will range between 10-15min in length.

Sponsors Include: Eugene Lang College Deans Office • Environmental Studies Program• Gender Studies Program• Literary Studies Department• RENEW School • Urban Studies Department• Applied Research Center (ARC)• •••••••