"Life In Marvelous Times" Conference & Screening of Criminal Queers

Coming up this week (please distribute to interested lists and parties):

“Life In Marvelous Times”: Cultural Work in the Racial Present
Conference, University of Washington, Seattle
Thursday - Friday, May 14 - 15, 2010
http://www.raceknowledgeproject.org/

Situating these times within ongoing local and global histories of decolonial struggle, this conference explores how cultural work and cultural workers help to comprehend, re-think, and transform the racial present. Events include the following:

• Performances by Amber Flame, Ananya Dance Theatre (Minneapolis), Dean Spade (Seattle U.; Sylvia Rivera Law Project), Cristien Storm, and many more
• Presentations by the Prisoners Education Network, the Black Student Union, the Philippine United Students Organization (PUSO), and others
• Workshops and panels by cultural workers, scholars and activists from near and far

Special Events:

Thursday, May 13, 2010 - 6:00 PM Kane 210
Keynote address by Vijay Prashad (South Asian History & International Studies, Trinity College), "Ends Don't Meet Where the Arms Can't Reach: Looking to DuBois to Bring Imperialism Back to American Studies"

Friday, May 14, 2010 - 8:00 PM HUB Auditorium
A special screening Criminal Queers, followed by a conversation with the filmmakers

Criminal Queers visualizes a radical trans/queer struggle against the prison industrial complex and toward a world without walls. Remembering that prison breaks are both a theoretical and material practice of freedom, this film imagines what spaces might be opened up if crowbars, wigs, and metal files become tools for transformation. Follow Yoshi, Joy, Susan, and Lucy as they fiercely read everything from the Human Rights Campaign and hate crimes legislation to the non-profitization of social movements. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with directors Eric Stanley and Chris Vargas. Presented by The Race/Knowledge Project and the Queer+Public+Performance working group as part of the Life in Marvelous Times conference.

Race & Culture in these Marvelous Times Conference @ UW

“Life in Marvelous Times: Cultural Work in the Racial Present,” a conference and community dialog event

Keynote Address: Vijay Prashad, May 13th, 6pm, Kane 210 UW, Seattle Campus
Conference: May 14th, 9:00a.m-5:00pm, UW HUB, Seattle Campus
Film Screening: Criminal Queers, May 14th, 7:00pm, UW HUB Auditorium
All events are free and open to the public

Seattle, WA, May 13th-14th—The University of Washington’s Race/Knowledge Project presents, “Life in Marvelous Times: Cultural Work in the Racial Present,” a free conference and community dialog event open to the public.

Vijay Prashad, author and professor of International studies at Trinity College, gives Thursday evening’s keynote address, “Ends Don’t Meet Where the Arms Can’t Reach: Looking to Du Bois to Bring Imperialism Back to American Studies.” Friday features a full day of presentations by local and
national activists, cultural workers and scholars with performances by Amber Flame, Dean Spade, Cristien Storm and Ananya Dance Theatre. Closing the conference will be a screening of Criminal Queers, a film exploring a radical transgender and queer struggle against the prison industrial complex.  Co-presented by the Queer + Public + Performance research group, the filmmakers will be in attendance for a post-screening discussion.

The conference takes inspiration from the 2009 single, “Life in Marvelous Times” in which Mos Def declares that “we are alive in amazing times.”  The song suggests that we be amazed and marvel at how “basic survival requires super heroics,” at “revelations, hatred, love and war,” and at “delicate hearts” and “diabolical minds.”  Taking this cue from Mos Def, this event will marvel at the crisis, the beauty, the apathy, and the critical potential of our “marvelous times.”  The presenters will explore how cultural work and cultural workers help to comprehend, re-think and transform the racial present.
The Race/Knowledge Project is sponsored by the Simpson Center for the Humanities at the University of Washington. More information is available at www.raceknowledgeproject.org

Life in Marvelous Times is also sponsored by Associated Students of the University of Washington, The Center for South Asian Studies, Student Activities and Union Facilities, University of Washington English Department, Q-Center, University of Washington Department of Women Studies, Queer+Public+Performance, The Hilen Fund, The Center for Global Justice at Seattle University, Korematsu Center for Law and Equality at Seattle University, and Access to Justice Institute at Seattle University.