Cheri Gurse to Present at Upcoming NWSA Conference

Cheri Gurse, PhD, teaching faculty in the BA in Liberal Studies Program at Antioch University Santa Barbara, will be presenting at the upcoming annual National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA) conference. The conference, Just Imagine. Imagining Justice: Feminist Visions of Freedom, Dream Making and the Radical Politics of Futures, will take place November 8-11, 2018, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Gurse, with co-presenters Kathie Gillet, PhD and Jenny Johnson Riley, PhD Candidate, will be giving a presentation titled, “Inviting Interrogation: Beyond Fragility.” They will be addressing “the privilege of whiteness” and how it affects white scholars and activists as they take on multifaceted issues involving race, gender, and class. “Although white women will never be free of these blind spots, it is possible to develop the skills to participate in radically new possibilities. Inviting interrogation beyond fragility employs critical empathy and embodies learning. Moving beyond fragility is the work that white feminist scholars must do to be part of the broader conversations.”

The objective of this workshop is to provide a platform for “reframing whiteness as an oppressive mythology,” and recognizing racial privilege as a result of socialization and colonized education. Gurse and her colleagues will discuss how they have invited the interrogation of whiteness and turned it on themselves for the explicit purpose of catalyzing change in educational environments and learning spaces, followed by interactive and group participation. Cheri welcomes hearing from AU colleagues who are interested in the subject (cgurse@antioch.edu).

Visit the NWSA website for more information.