Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Health & Society
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Health & Society

Legendary Feminist Gloria Joseph to Visit Syracuse Feb. 29

Tuesday, February 23, 2016, By Rob Enslin
Share
College of Arts and Sciences

Black feminist icon Gloria Joseph is making a rare Central New York appearance with a visit to the Community Folk Art Center (CFAC).

wind_is_spirit_dustjacketOn Monday, Feb. 29, Joseph will read from and discuss “The Wind Is Spirit: The Life, Love and Legacy of Audre Lorde” (Villarosa Media, 2014), from 5-8 p.m. at CFAC (805 East Genesee St., Syracuse). Free and open to the public, the event is sponsored by the Democratizing Knowledge (DK) Collective in the College of Arts and Sciences, and is followed by a reception and book-signing. For more information, call 315-443-8750.

“This is a rare opportunity for students and scholars alike,” says Linda Carty, associate professor of African American studies and sociology and co-director of the DK Collective. “Gloria Joseph is a long-standing feminist whose scholarship and activism have always merged in speaking truth to power—challenging injustice at all levels, whether in the academy or the broader community.”

Regarded as a “living, radical, Black feminist legend,” Joseph has spent more than 60 years confronting the injustices of racism, sexism and homophobia. This struggle underscores much of “The Wind Is Spirit,” a revealing bio/anthology of Lorde, her late partner for more than four decades. Included are poems, essays and reflections by such luminaries as Angela Davis, Distinguished Visiting Professor in Women’s and Gender Studies (W&GS) from 2007 to 2010; scholar-activist Sonia Sanchez; playwright Jewelle Gomez; and activist Assata Shakur.

Lorde, who succumbed to liver cancer in 1992, described herself as a “Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet.” Many of her poems and essays addressed issues of racial injustice.

Chandra Talpade Mohanty, who co-directs the DK/Mellon Summer Institute with Carty, says Joseph’s visit exemplifies the collective’s commitment to fostering a more open, diverse campus.

“This visit is one of many in which we seek to build a more sustainable campus culture that is committed to anti-racist feminist knowledges,” says Mohanty, who also serves as Distinguished Professor and chair of W&GS, as well as Dean’s Professor of the Humanities. “Dr. Joseph’s prodigious body of work and social activism is nothing short of extraordinary. She is a Black feminist icon—someone whose vision and indefatigable spirit are just as palpable today, in her 80s, as they were decades ago.”

Mohanty adds that, at CFAC, Joseph will play the role of a griot, an African storyteller whose “performance” is steeped in history and genealogy.

Joseph is professor emeritus of Africana studies at Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., where she is revered for her cross-cutting pedagogical style, blending scholarship, arts and activism. Her professional career has also encompassed teaching stints in various other secondary, vocational and alternative settings.

A prolific scholar, Joseph is the author of the classic novel, “On Time and in Step: Reunion on the Glory Road” (Winds of Change Press, 2008), and editor of multiple anthologies, including “Common Differences: Conflicts in Black and White Feminist Perspectives” (South End Press, 1999) and “Hell Under God’s Orders” (Winds of Change Press, 1990).

A citizen of the world, Joseph has lived in or traveled extensively throughout North America (particularly the Caribbean), Europe, India and Asia. Amid her travels, she has founded or co-founded various advocacy organizations, including the Che Lumumba School for Truth, the Women’s Coalition of St. Croix (U.S. Virgin Islands), the Sisterhood in Support of Sisters in South Africa and Doc Loc Apiary.

While describing Joseph, Carty references an incident in 1969 when, as an assistant dean of students at Cornell University, Joseph participated in a sit-in in the Office of the President, demanding that the curriculum be made more relevant to the lives of African American students being recruited.

Gloria Joseph, left, and Audre Lorde

Gloria Joseph, left, and Audre Lorde

“Her work resonates deeply with the DK’s mission of decolonizing knowledge in today’s academy by making it more relevant to the local and global realities of neoliberalism and those being impacted most,” Carty adds. “Dr. Joseph continues to teach us how to live as principled ethical beings in these difficult times, and how to love ourselves and each other.”

Joseph earned a Ph.D. in educational psychology from Cornell, where she became the inaugural director of the university’s first institutionalized diversity initiative and served as a professor in the Africana Studies and Research Center.

Her visit is co-sponsored by the Department of African American Studies, the Cultural Foundations of Education Program, the Humanities Center, the Intergroup Dialogue Program, the LGBT Resource Center, LGBT Studies Program, Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration and the Department of Women’s & Gender Studies.

 

  • Author

Rob Enslin

  • Recent
  • Drama Department to Virtually Present New Theatrical Work Inspired by University’s 150th Anniversary
    Saturday, January 23, 2021, By Erica Blust
  • Professor Rahman Awarded Google Grant to Engage Underrepresented Students in Computing Research
    Saturday, January 23, 2021, By Alex Dunbar
  • Special Collections Research Center Launches Latin American 45s Digital Collection
    Saturday, January 23, 2021, By Cristina Hatem
  • VPA Faculty to Present World Premieres at Society for New Music Concert Jan. 31
    Saturday, January 23, 2021, By News Staff
  • ‘Democracy on Trial: Can We Save It?’
    Friday, January 22, 2021, By News Staff

More In Health & Society

‘Trust the Process’ with COVID Vaccine, Emergency Management Director Says

Trust the process. As a 16-year member of the United States Air Force Reserve and now in his job as director of emergency management and business continuity at the University, Joseph Hernon has always followed that philosophy. And that’s why…

Ph.D. Student in Clinical Psychology Works with Non-Profit to Fill Unmet Need in Asian Community

Jin Zhao is a fourth year Ph.D. student working toward his career goal of becoming a practicing psychologist. His qualifying exam project is researching Asian college students and how their experiences of microaggression are related to their attitudes about going…

‘2020 Was Broken and Beautiful. 2021 Needs Grace and Grit.’

The Reverend Brian E. Konkol, Ph.D., dean of Hendricks Chapel, wrote an op-ed for Syracuse.com titled “2020 was broken and beautiful. 2021 needs grace and grit.” The Rev. Konkol leads religious and spiritual life both at the University and across…

Student Gets Dose of ‘Hope, Optimism and Relief’ with COVID-19 Vaccine

Louis Smith was thrilled when he was named valedictorian of his class at Mynderse Academy in Seneca Falls, about 50 miles west of Syracuse. A lifelong Syracuse University sports fan, Smith was ecstatic when he received his acceptance letter from…

Participants Sought for Survey on Information, Preventive Behavior and Disparities in Pandemic Circumstances 

A research team in the School of Information Studies, in collaboration with the University of Texas at Austin and University of Washington, is seeking participants for a survey about information behaviors, risk perceptions and health disparities relating to COVID-19. Participants…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2021 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.