For the last sixty years, there has been a consistent pattern of the growth of democratic governments produced by engaged citizens working together in social movements. Often led by diverse women, these social movements won the expansion of civil rights, political participation, and new laws to ensure equality. However, we now face a global rise in authoritarian politics and a rising concern over the future of liberal democracies. This conference brings together scholars to analyze the current moment.

For additional information and to register, please visit: http://www.buffalo.edu/baldycenter/events/conferences/strengthening.html

Conference Event Schedule

Thursday April 11th

Baldy Conference Center, O’Brian 509
Conference Registration Thursday 5:30-6

Building Women’s Movements/Women in Movements Locally: Radical Coalitions in Buffalo
Featured speakers:
Rahwa Ghirmatzion, Executive Director – PUSH Buffalo
Luana DeJesus, Buffalo Anti-Racism Coalition
Win Min Thant, Educator, Community Academic Center,
Andrea Ó Sùlleabháin , Executive Director, Partnership for the Public Good

Friday, April 12th

Harriman Hall Ballroom
Conference registration 9:00-9:30 a.m.

Welcome, 9:30-10:00
Dr. Gwynn Thomas, Associate Professor and Chair, Global Gender and Sexuality Studies
Dr. Errol Meidinger, Director, SUNY Distinguished Professor; Margaret W. Wong Professor; Director, Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy

Panel 1: Radical Coalitions and New Models of Politics: Lessons from Intersectional Movements
10:00 a.m.-12 noon

Dr. Tamar Carroll, Associate Professor, History, Rochester Institute of Technology
Feminist Genealogies: Coalitions for Social Change from the War on Poverty through the AIDS Epidemic,

Dr. Celeste Montoya Kirk, Associate Professor, Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Colorado at Boulder
Guerreras y Puentes: Legacies of Chicana Feminism

Dr. Lina Maria Murillo
Departments of Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies and History, University of Iowa
Institutionalizing Reproductive Justice: Chicanas and Healthcare in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands

Lunch (provided for all participants)
12:00-1:00 p.m.

Panel 2: 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Organizing in/through/from Marginalized Locations: Trade Unions, Rural Agricultural Coops and the Rust Belt

Dr. Victoria Wolcott, Professor and Chair, History, University at Buffalo
Repertoires of Resistance: Social Unionism and Workers’ Education in Interwar America

Dr. Cherisse Jones-Branch, James and Wanda Lee Vaughn Endowed Professor of History, Arkansas State Universtiy
An Agrarian Women’s Movement?”: Race, Gender, and Activism in the Rural Jim Crow South

Dr. Lara Putnam, Professor and Chair, History, University at Pittsburgh
The Ferrykeepers’ Granddaughter: Progressive Women and the Democratic Renewal in Rust Belt and Rural America

Coffee Break 3:00-3:30

Panel 3: 3:30-5:30
Women’s Movements and Protecting and Promoting Democracy: Lessons from a Global Perspective.

Dr. Hannah Britton, Associate Professor, Political Science and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, University at Kansan
“Democracy Stops at My Front Door”: Gender, Justice, and Community in South Africa

Dr. Elisabeth Friedman, Professor of Political Science, Latin American Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies, University of San Francisco
Resistance, Participation, and Alliance: Democracy Lessons from Latin American Feminist and Queer Activism

Dr. Laurel Weldon, Professor of Political Science, Simon Fraser University
Global Trends in Feminist Mobilization: Prospects and Implications for Democracy

Sponsored by the Baldy Center for Law & Social Policy, the UB College of Arts & Sciences departments of Global Gender & Sexuality Studies, History, and English, and the UB Humanities Institute.