Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies

Sona Kazemi, Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies, authored the article "Mobile Immobility: Disability in Contexts of State Violence and Political Incarceration" in Disability & the Global South (DGS) published on Dec. 24, 2024. The concept of mobile immobility serves as an invitation to further trouble disability studies discourses on mobility and immobility. In this article, we theorize what im/mobility means in contexts of political incarceration and violent oppression in the Middle East, as numerous bodies are caught and injured by ableist barriers, borders, carceral institutions, walls and wars. Troubling ableist hierarchies that assume the superiority of mobility, we highlight the many ways that immobility is leveraged towards political mobilization, casting away any clear definitional boundary between the concepts of mobility and immobility. Through a disability studies lens, we unpack mobile immobility by exploring three examples that demonstrate the complexity and nuance needed to theorize im/mobility. First, we enter through the case of a Kurdish political prisoner in 1980s Turkey who became disabled as a result of participating in a hunger strike and two death fasts during his incarceration. We then explore the genre of incarceration ecriture, detailing written and artistic creations produced by political prisoners and survivors in the Middle East, and drawing attention to how inmates mobilize their experiences of immobility towards transformative justice. Finally, we consider the category of kulbars, or illegal cross-border carriers that are at once both forced into mobility and immobility due to extreme poverty and lack of political and social recognition. Through each of these examples, we question what mobility and political mobilization mean in the contexts of state violence, surveillance, authoritarianism, austerity, and borders.

Submitted on: Feb. 17

Shuma Iwai, Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies, authored the article "Advocating for the Civil Rights of Japanese Americans at the Incarceration Camps" in The Journal of American-East Asian Relations published on Dec. 17, 2024 by Brill.

Submitted on: Feb. 2

Melina Packer, Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies, co-authored the book "Feminism in the Wild: How Human Biases Shape Our Understanding of Animal Behavior" and was accepted for publication by MIT Press. Forthcoming in March 2025, "Feminism in the Wild" shows how dominant culture — from sexism and homophobia to racism, capitalism, ableism, and more —has limited the science of animal behavior, and how we can free ourselves from these limited perspectives. The book has already been named one of Ms. Magazine's Most Anticipated Books of 2025. Packer co-authored the book with Dr. Ambika Kamath, behavioral ecologist and evolutionary biologist at University of Colorado Boulder.

Submitted on: Jan. 22

Sona Kazemi, Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies, presented "Woman, Life, Freedom: Redefining Social Justice in a Globalized World" to a full house at the TEDxUWLaCrosse event on Oct. 10 in The Bluffs, Student Union. Drawing from her childhood experiences with the "Morality Police" in Iran and the recent "Woman-Life-Freedom" movement, Kazemi explored the importance of empathizing with the struggles of "Other" people. She emphasized the need to build connections and solidarity movements worldwide. Recordings of Kazemi's presentation will be available on the TEDxUWLaCrosse website. 

Submitted on: Oct. 14, 2024

Sona Kazemi, Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies, authored the article "Mobile Immobility: Disability in Contexts of State Violence and Political Incarceration" in "Disability and the Global South Journal," published on Monday, Sept. 30. The concept of mobile immobility serves as an invitation to further trouble disability studies discourses on mobility and immobility. In this article, we theorize what im/mobility means in contexts of political incarceration and violent oppression in the Middle East, as numerous bodies are caught and injured by ableist barriers, borders, carceral institutions, walls and wars. Troubling ableist hierarchies that assume the superiority of mobility, we highlight the many ways that immobility is leveraged towards political mobilization, casting away any clear definitional boundary between the concepts of mobility and immobility. Through a disability studies lens, we unpack mobile immobility by exploring three examples that demonstrate the complexity and nuance needed to theorize im/mobility. First, we enter through the case of a Kurdish political prisoner in 1980s Turkey who became disabled as a result of participating in a hunger strike and two death fasts during his incarceration. We then explore the genre of incarceration ecriture, detailing written and artistic creations produced by political prisoners and survivors in the Middle East, and drawing attention to how inmates mobilize their experiences of immobility towards transformative justice. Finally, we consider the category of kulbars, or illegal cross-border carriers that are at once both forced into mobility and immobility due to extreme poverty and lack of political and social recognition. Through each of these examples, we question what mobility and political mobilization mean in the contexts of state violence, surveillance, authoritarianism, austerity, and borders.

Submitted on: Sept. 30, 2024