Big Ten Trans Studies Initiative

GWS faculty Toby Beauchamp and Mimi Thi Nguyen, along with Prof. Aren Aizura at the University of Minnesota, were awarded a three-year grant from the Big Ten Academic Alliance to facilitate the growth of trans studies scholarship and pedagogy across the Big Ten campuses. Three annual events held at different Big Ten institutions will bring researchers, teachers, and students together to strengthen intellectual networks and develop cross-campus collaborations that support innovative work in the field of trans studies.

Read more here.

Associate Professor Maryam Kashani

Associate Professor Maryam Kashani was one of three faculty conveners for the second Interseminars Initiative project, funded by a Mellon grant and organized through the Humanities Research Institute.

Titled “Improvise and Intervene, this project challenges scholars to reimagine how scholarly theory and methods are taught and practiced, expanding the possibilities for innovation in interdisciplinary, collaborative research design. The faculty conveners write, "From anti-colonial intellectuals Aime and Suzanne Cesaire’s surrealist games to Ruthie Gilmore’s reminder that 'abolition is life in rehearsal… not a repetition of rules,' we learn that play and experiment are specific strategies towards imagining and practicing liberation."