Looking at two of Disney鈥檚 most famous female characters, Anna and Elsa, with a critical eye with 欧美口爆视频 lecturer Shannon Leone

Nov. 22 marks the five-year anniversary of the release of Disney鈥檚 global phenomenon Frozen 2. This film, and the first Frozen, are widely considered some of Disney鈥檚 most progressive works, changing how the studio depicts their female characters.

Many applaud the films for giving young women and girls new and better role models than those previous generations had in Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. However, are Anna and Elsa really that different from the princesses who came before them?

Shannon Leone, a 欧美口爆视频 Boulder lecturer, teaches a popular course in the Department of Women and Gender Studies called Disney鈥檚 Women and Girls.

Shannon Leone, a lecturer at the University of 欧美口爆视频 Boulder who teaches a popular course in the Department of Women and Gender Studies called , notes, 鈥淚f you look at more traditional Disney films, they have encouraged an idea of both girlhood and womanhood that celebrates traditional feminine passivity, the quintessential example being the damsel in distress. With more recent female protagonists, they have become arguably more empowered and express desires outside of romance.鈥�

Yet there still is debate about how the women and girls of Disney are influencing their youngest viewers and fans.

鈥淵ounger children have more choices in who they can align their identities with鈥攃haracters they can celebrate and characters that they can look at with a more critical eye. They have more choices than previous generations,鈥� Leone says.

Some scholars have noted that Disney previously taught young girls that the only pleasure and purpose in life was finding a man to love them鈥攁 message that many women have questioned and rebelled against.

Now, Disney creates 鈥減rogressive鈥� princesses like Tiana from The Princess and the Frog and Moana from Moana, who will appear on screen again Nov. 27 when Moana 2 opens

Something different

One thing that makes the Frozen films鈥攁nd their heroes Anna and Elsa鈥攄ifferent from their Disney predecessors is its focus on love, but not necessarily romantic love.

鈥�Frozen is an example of a film that portrays sisterly love, which unfortunately continues to be rare in Disney films,鈥� Leone says. Most Disney films with a female protagonist are centered around an idea of love鈥攕pecifically romantic love. By focusing on the love shared between sisters, instead of a man and a woman, Frozen and Frozen 2 present a broader picture of love and the things to which girls can aspire, Leone says.

Moana, who has been praised for having a more realistic figure, will return to theaters Nov. 27 in Moana 2. (Image: Disney Enterprises Inc.)

And the film Moana didn鈥檛 have a romantic subplot at all, instead focusing on Moana鈥檚 dreams of exploration. Moana also has been widely praised for having a more realistic figure compared with the impossible dimensions of previous Disney heroines.

It鈥檚 not just the romantic plotlines of Disney films that have changed, but also how the female characters are portrayed in the first place, Leone says. She cites Elsa from Frozen as an important example: a woman who is depicted more like a traditional Disney female villain than a princess.

鈥淓lsa was supposed to be a villain, and having some traces of what would have made her an antagonist in the film actually produces more of a multifaceted human being, which I think young viewers responded to,鈥� Leone explains.

Another notable example is Tiana from The Princess and the Frog, who made history by being Disney鈥檚 first African American princess. Despite breaking down barriers, many critiqued the movie for .

鈥淭he film is self-aware of traditional expectations of beauty in association with the princess type. With that being said, I don鈥檛 want to undermine the significance of that film in its representation of Black American identity,鈥� Leone says, emphasizing that despite its flaws, the movie still made important progress in representation.

While younger generations of little girls may have better role models in the Disney princesses of today, it鈥檚 still important to consider what these movies are teaching young viewers. 鈥淐ontemporary films seem to still have to contend with these racialized and gendered expectations of the damsel in distress and the masculine hero,鈥� Leone says, adding that it's easy to overlook the deeper meanings in Disney movies that children may latch onto.

Did you enjoy this article?  Passionate about women and gender studies? 

Related Articles

In newly published story collection The Rupture Files, 欧美口爆视频 Boulder鈥檚 Nathan Alexander Moore explores identity and community in dystopian worlds

Nathan Alexander Moore was thinking about the end of the world鈥攏ot how to survive the apocalypse or overcome it, necessarily, or even how to fix it, but rather the decisions we make when the world collapses around us.

鈥淲ho do you become?鈥� asks Moore, an assistant professor in the University of 欧美口爆视频 Boulder Department of Women and Gender Studies. 鈥淲hat choices do we make in this new world? How do we understand ourselves, and understand ourselves in community, in the larger context of a world that is ending or starting anew?

鈥淔or me, as someone who loves all things speculative fiction, dystopias are so interesting because these worlds become dystopic because of who the events are happening to. And the largest impacts, in fiction and real life, often happen to people who are marginalized. Dystopia largely impacts people who are Black or Brown, in places that are underdeveloped and underfunded.鈥�

Nathan Alexander Moore, an assistant professor of Black trans and queer studies in the 欧美口爆视频 Boulder Department of Women and Gender Studies, explores issues of identity in her newly published dystopian story collection The Rupture Files.

From that end鈥攐r beginning鈥攐f the world was born , Moore鈥檚 newly published story collection. Touted by publisher Hajar Press as 鈥渟upernatural stories of life in the fissures of disaster,鈥� Moore鈥檚 tales actually plunge deeper into the ruined Earth, with Black and queer and trans characters exploring who they are and who they might become.

鈥淚鈥檓 very aware of all of the history and the many cultural representations that have shaped Black people, and specifically Black queer people,鈥� Moore explains. 鈥淚 feel so much in our culture and in representations in film and television and literature, that Black characters and Black queer characters either become paragons or, on the opposite end, they鈥檙e kind of the worst of the worst, the villains, the despicable ones.

鈥淔or me, it鈥檚 about telling a story about a person who is nuanced. Some will see them as the hero, some as the villain, but at the core they are a person who is learning and growing and struggling. I want to show them鈥攖o show us鈥攁s beautiful, nuanced, complex characters, and that whatever their experience is, it鈥檚 a real experience. To try to be universal would strip us of what makes it interesting.鈥�

Becoming a writer

Moore, who identifies as Black and trans, was a reader before she was a writer, finding motivation to finish her homework so she could crack open an Anne Rice novel. One of the first stories she wrote and shared with other people was called 鈥淢idnight and Nocturnes鈥濃�斺�淚 was using big words,鈥� Moore recalls, 鈥淚 thought I was so cute in high school鈥濃�攁bout a vampire who was turned in ancient Egypt.

The vampire wakes at dusk 鈥渁nd she鈥檚 like, 鈥業鈥檓 gonna go eat some people, I鈥檓 hungry.鈥� Then she runs into a vampire hunter, and for the first time she pauses at killing because he has the exact eyes of someone she knew in life. She says, 鈥業 remember when I was human, I loved you. You broke my heart, and I loved you鈥� and it ends with her making a big choice whether she鈥檚 going to live or die.鈥�

Moore wrote it when she was 16 or 17 and submitted to a contest on Facebook and ended up winning third place. 鈥淚t was the first story where I very much remember writing it and thinking, 鈥極K, I think I鈥檓 writing, I think I might be a writer.鈥� And then when I came in third, I was like, 鈥極h, she鈥檚 on her way!鈥� It also helped that I wrote that story when Twilight/True Blood/Vampire Diaries was of the moment, and I was reading all of those books.鈥�

Through graduate school, she focused on creative writing and Black literature and cultures, delving deeper into speculative fiction through a lens of feminism and collective memory. , earned at the University of Texas at Austin, focused on contingency and Black temporal imaginations, and included a chapter titled 鈥淔rom Catastrophe to the Cataclysm: Black Speculations on the Limits of the Anthropocene & the Temporality of Disasters.鈥�

In fact, writing The Rupture Files wasn鈥檛 completely Moore's idea. An editor at Hajar Press saw about writing Black geopolitics through speculative fiction and asked Moore if she wrote her own speculative fiction.

As it happened, there were some people she鈥檇 been living with for a while鈥�

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVaoC1JgHnE&t=680s]

鈥楾he world we鈥檙e living in鈥�

鈥淭he first story (in The Rupture Files) is called 鈥楽equela,鈥� and it鈥檚 about this far-future dystopia where the world is mostly ocean and everything is transient,鈥� Moore says. 鈥淭here were portions (of that story) I had written as series of prose poems, and they had been kind of living in my head. With the other stories, I had characters who weren鈥檛 fully realized鈥擨 had a snapshot, a photograph, they were peering over the fence and I was like, 鈥楬mm, what are you doing?鈥� For a long time, they were thought experiments, and in writing them they became real.鈥�

The story 鈥淪equela鈥� is about a woman named Shalomar, who lives in one of a series of stations in this new ocean world鈥斺�淚 imagine the stations like metallic squids, though I never said it in the story, and they kind of hunker on land and then jump around,鈥� Moore explains鈥攁nd whose job is station archivist. Whatever the station pulls out of the ocean, it鈥檚 her job to analyze it and think about its historical value. As a Black woman, Shalomar had been trying to document Black history before the apocalypse, and after it she discovered that the water wanted her to tell a different story, as did the mermaids.

In a story called 鈥淎shes for Your Beauty,鈥� Moore tells the story of a woman who is the consort (read: food source) of a vampire in a bombed-out, post-nuclear world, who discovers that she has power, and she can make power. 鈥淪o, she has to decide, 鈥楢m I going to stay in this life that鈥檚 very scary and terrible but stable, or burn shit down?鈥欌�� Moore says.

Writing the four stories in The Rupture Files was a different experience from the novel manuscript Moore wrote while earning her master鈥檚.

鈥淚 was thinking about narrative arcs, about character development, who is the main person, whose perspective feels the most interesting,鈥� Moore says. 鈥淚 was balancing the expansiveness of living in a brand-new world that even I didn鈥檛 know all the rules of and also making it containable in short form. It was a steep learning curve but really fun.鈥�

It also, she says, allowed her to more deeply consider the world as it currently is: 鈥淲hat鈥檚 always interesting about dystopias is they are projected as far futures, but any time someone鈥檚 writing a dystopia, they鈥檙e writing about the present鈥攅xpanded and intensified, but the present. Dystopic writing is really about looking out at the world we鈥檙e living in today.鈥�

Top: Background dystopia image by

Did you enjoy this article?  Passionate about women and gender studies? 

Related Articles

A 欧美口爆视频 Boulder poet considers the socioeconomic and political environment of the turn of the 20th century through the history of her own family

Mud, Blood, and Ghosts is not a typical history book.

To write it, Julie Carr delved not just into archives and manuscripts, but also into 鈥�specifically, the story of her great-grandfather Omer Kem, a People鈥檚 Party politician who served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Nebraska between 1891 and 1897. Kem鈥檚 story weaves everything from populism to eugenics to spiritualism, and represents a broader narrative of a particular time, place and people in the American West.

Subtitled 鈥淧opulism, Eugenics, and Spiritualism in the American West,鈥� the book, through Kem, tells the story of how factors as disparate as economic inequity, water scarcity and scientific racism, among many others, shaped the region and the country and still resonate politically and socially today.

Julie Carr, a 欧美口爆视频 Boulder professor of English and chair of the Department of Women and Gender Studies, plumbed her family's history to write Mud, Blood, and Ghosts.

In crafting the book, which was published last year, Carr, a University of 欧美口爆视频 Boulder professor of English and chair of the Department of Women and Gender Studies, blended historical exposition with poetic language, a way of writing that she says is essential for expressing complex emotions. Because of the personal nature of the subject, Carr says, she was interested in speaking from her own perspective in the present as well as from Kem鈥檚 perspective in the past, demonstrating the idea that history is always with us.

In this sense, the reference to ghosts in the title has a double meaning, not just refering to 19th century spiritualists, but how 鈥渨e are haunted by our pasts. They are with us all the time, and they are directing what we do,鈥� Carr says.

鈥淭o acknowledge that is to take responsibility for it, to think, 鈥楪iven all of that, what is my responsibility to the future and to the present?鈥欌��

A farmer鈥檚 populism

Omer Kem was born in 1855 in Hagerstown, Indiana, to an itinerant and largely unsuccessful farmer who often moved his family to find better work. Kem鈥檚 family was ravaged by disease and continuing financial instability, so he set out on his own, ultimately moving to Nebraska. As a young man, he farmed through government programs like the Swamp Lands Act and the Homestead Act, but failed due to infertile conditions. Many farmer settlers in Nebraska were in a similar situation, falling into debt as the seeds they sowed blew away in the hot winds of the region鈥檚 1889-1899 drought.

When Kem ran for and won a seat in Congress, his experiences inspired him to join the populist movement of the time along with many rural farmers and other people living in poverty. The movement was a response to the economic and social conditions of the Gilded Age, according to Carr:

鈥淏oth urban laborers and rural laborers were left in the lurch,鈥� as the former lacked protections like the eight-hour workday and the latter faced unregulated crop prices and railroad rates, among other issues. Meanwhile, with no graduated income tax, the people at the top did not pay more, and there was no significant social safety net at that time.

Mud, Blood, and Ghosts details how factors as disparate as economic inequity, water scarcity and scientific racism, among many others, shaped the American West and the country and still resonate politically and socially today.

鈥淎ll of these things combined with the problem of weather and climate in the Plains states,鈥� Carr says. Many poor farmers had moved to states in the Great Plains region during the mid- and late-19th century following the Homestead Act, but in dry climates, the land couldn鈥檛 produce without massive irrigation. In the South, where climate was not the issue, 鈥渨e鈥檙e looking at a totally different dynamic having to do with the end of Reconstruction, and poverty among Black farmers especially.鈥�

What unites the People鈥檚 Party with today鈥檚 populists might be its criticism of the societal elite, Carr says, 鈥渃oupled with the demand for greater representation in politics. I think a lot of people would say that many contemporary American populists, on the right or the left, are people who for various reasons have not felt included in the political system.鈥�

American eugenics at the turn of the 20th century

Kem also was influenced by the racial segregation and fear of 鈥渕ixing races鈥� that was both commonplace and largely unchallenged for several generations after the Civil War.  Along with large swathes of the American public, Carr says, Kem came to believe in the ideology of , a term coined to describe attempts at increasing the number of people with 鈥渟uperior鈥� mental and physical traits through the human equivalent of selective breeding. It grew, in part, from elements of Charles Darwin鈥檚 theory of evolution, particularly the heritability of traits.

鈥淭he science itself was not very detailed,鈥� Carr explains. 鈥淚t was the beginning of an understanding of how genetics works. That science got married to criminology, ideas around welfare, the problems that came with urbanization, the first wave of the Great Migration and the huge numbers of immigrants coming in during the beginning of the 20th century.鈥�

These major demographic and political changes made some people afraid, especially members of dominant groups, Carr says. Because of the widespread belief that many traits and behaviors were inherited, eugenicists justified ostracizing or marginalizing people who were Black, poor, disabled, criminals and immigrants, insisting they would 鈥渢aint鈥� the gene pool.

鈥淢any people who believed in 鈥榩rogress鈥� believed in eugenics,鈥� Carr says, including those who might be considered left-wing. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 important to say because it points to the ways in which white supremacy and fascistic thinking can bleed into different political mindsets or belief systems.鈥� Even prominent feminists of the time like Margaret Sanger espoused eugenic beliefs, though she never fully bought into forced sterilization as Kem did, Carr says.

The spiritualist movement

In addition to eugenics, Omer Kem believed in spiritualism, a movement centered around the idea that it is possible to communicate with the spirits of the dead. Carr notes in her book that spiritualism was common in Midwest Populist circles as well as among the general public; there were an estimated 5 to 6 million adherents by the 1860s, according to a historian cited by Carr.

A number of scholars document spiritualists鈥� involvement in progressive political causes. For example, the Bland family, Washington, D.C., activists whom Kem met when he moved to the capital after being elected to Congress, were populists as well as the founders of the National Indian Defense Association, a reform organization that opposed the forced assimilation of Native Americans.

欧美口爆视频 Boulder Professor Julie Carr focused on the story of her great-grandfather Omer Kem to explore the history of spiritualism, populism and eugenics in the American West and the United States.

At a dinner that Kem had with the Blands after he had been placed on the House Indian Affairs Committee, the Blands鈥� niece Maggie, a purported medium, described the ghosts of Kem鈥檚 mother and beloved sister Ellen as glowing orbs hovering near his head. This led to a series of encounters with his dead family members, including his son Bert.

Carr suggests that the Blands might have been using their spiritualism as a form of lobbying, as after these encounters with his dead relatives, Kem became very close to the Blands and did, in fact, advocate for their cause in Congress. Later, Kem鈥檚 spiritualism took another turn when he began to 鈥渟ee鈥� a Native American 鈥渟pirit guide鈥� who he believed had entered his body.

Historians understand the prevalence of Native spirit guides differently. Some interpret it as yet another form of removal, reducing Native Americans to spectral presences, while others argue that spiritualists were generally sympathetic toward Native Americans, and sometimes used the 鈥渧oices鈥� of Native spirits to advocate for reforms (though these generally involved coerced assimilation through institutions such as the Indian schools). While this may have been a form of social justice work, it was a distorted one, according to Carr, based as it was on both appropriation and projection.

鈥淚n my great-grandfather鈥檚 case,鈥� Carr says, 鈥渉e started having visions of the 鈥榮pirit鈥� of a 鈥楴ative American healer鈥� entering his body in the 1890s when he was in Congress. He maintained this imagined relationship with this 鈥榮pirit鈥� for the rest of his life. I think there鈥檙e some interesting psychological dynamics going on there, one being a desire to identify with Native Americans because of the way that he understands Indigenous people as having a legitimate right to the land.

鈥淭he other complexity is that, even as he鈥檚 making speeches on the congressional floor advocating for at least some level of Native sovereignty, he is also legislating for the further removal of Native people from land. In that split, you can see a kind of crisis. If nothing else, it has to be a crisis of conscience. Creating for himself, in a sense, an imaginary friend in this spirit guide he calls 鈥楩leet Wind鈥� is a way, I think, to respond to that crisis of conscience. Perhaps this is true of many forms of appropriation and projection.鈥�

Kem鈥檚 鈥渃omplex history of bad and good luck, of power struggles, and of property,鈥� as Carr describes them, highlights how the past haunts the present like a ghost, despite the flaws of its actors. Carr finds stark contrast between the past and the present in the People鈥檚 Party platform: 鈥淭his Republic can only endure as a free government while built upon the love of the whole people for each other.鈥�

鈥淭hough this word love, like the phrase the people, has so often been cheapened, distorted and mobilized for violent ends,鈥� Carr writes, 鈥淚 still want to ask: What if we took them at their word?鈥�

Did you enjoy this article?  Passionate about English? Show your support.

Related Articles

However, 欧美口爆视频 Boulder scholar Lorraine Bayard de Volo notes that electing a female president may not guarantee a more feminist mode of governing

Editor's note: On Monday, Claudia Scheinbaum is the presumptive winner in what is being called a landslide victory.

While Americans follow a likely rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential election, it鈥檚 also an exciting and historic election year in the country鈥檚 southern neighbor.

On June 2, Mexico鈥檚 election day, and for the first time in the nation鈥檚 history, a woman will almost certainly win the presidential election.

The election is significant not only for the more than 127 million people living in Mexico, but for the Mexican diaspora and those of Mexican heritage throughout the world, including in 欧美口爆视频鈥檚 Front Range.

Lorraine Bayard de Volo, a 欧美口爆视频 Boulder political scientist and professor of women and gender studies, notes that electing a female president may not guarantee a feminist mode of governing in Mexico.

Lorraine Bayard de Volo, a political scientist and University of 欧美口爆视频 Boulder professor of women and gender studies, has been a scholar of Latin American politics鈥攆ocusing on gender as it interacts with and informs war, revolution, political violence and social movements鈥攕ince her undergraduate studies. She has closely followed Mexico鈥檚 presidential election, noting that even though Mexico trails several of its Latin American counterparts in electing a female president, the event still is historic for a country that has traditionally identified with macho culture.

Bayard de Volo recently spoke with 欧美口爆视频 Arts and Sciences Magazine about what this presidential election could mean for Mexico and for those around the world watching.

Question: How did you become interested in this area of study?

Bayard de Volo: As an undergraduate in the 鈥�80s, studying political science and economics, I was very interested in the various ways in which the U.S. was funding the wars taking place in Nicaragua and El Salvador.

In graduate school, I became increasingly interested in the growing field of gender studies. As a political science PhD student specializing in gender studies, I was able to combine my interests. While studying Latin American politics, particularly war, revolutions and social movements, I was hearing about how women were getting involved, yet there was very little understanding of how gender informed political violence and social mobilization.

I became very intrigued with trying to fill the gap in the research, and I鈥檝e been fascinated by this field of study ever since.

Question: Can you give a quick overview of the upcoming Mexican presidential election?

Bayard de Volo: The Mexican president is in office for a six-year term and cannot run for reelection. Of the three candidates running to take the place of current president Andr茅s Manuel L贸pez Obrador (commonly known as AMLO) when his term ends on Oct. 1, the two leading contenders are Claudia Scheinbaum and X贸chitl G谩lvez.

Scheinbaum represents the Morena coalition, which is a newer party, but also the same party as AMLO, who won in a landslide and still has very high approval ratings. She鈥檚 leading in the polls right now, at least in part due to AMLO鈥檚 popularity. Although she identifies as a feminist, if she were to win, she鈥檇 inherit her predecessor鈥檚 antagonism toward Mexico鈥檚 growing women鈥檚 movement. Scheinbaum鈥檚 experience includes working in the AMLO administration and having served as the Head of Government of Mexico City.

X贸chitl G谩lvez represents the Frente Amplio, the broad front, a coalition party that includes three formerly very powerful parties (and formerly mutually antagonistic parties). She was a senator until her nomination as a presidential candidate and has organized for indigenous rights and also served as mayor in a borough of Mexico City.

Interestingly, it鈥檚 not only their gender identities but also their ethnicities that represent a departure from the norm. Scheinbaum is of Jewish descent while G谩lvez has indigenous roots.

People at an opposition rally in the Zocalo, Mexico City's main square, May 19 to encourage voting in Sunday's presidential election. The sign reads, 鈥淲e are all the same Mexico." (Photo: Ginnette Riquelme/AP)

No matter who wins this election, AMLO will continue to have a lot of influence due to his overwhelming popularity. There are concerns that his political capital could be used to pressure his successor.

Question: To what extent has the rise of Mexico鈥檚 women鈥檚 movement contributed to the likely election of its first female president?

Bayard de Volo: It鈥檚 hard to say. The women鈥檚 movement is just one piece of a much larger puzzle. Many Latin American countries鈥攊ncluding Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Nicaragua, Panama and Costa Rica鈥攈ave already elected female presidents, so Mexico is actually behind the curve in that regard.

Meanwhile, there鈥檚 been a vibrant, burgeoning women鈥檚 movement in Mexico in recent years, which has focused its efforts on reproductive rights and femicide. While efforts were underway to overturn Roe v. Wade here in the United States through two different Supreme Court decisions, Mexico decriminalized abortion within certain parameters.

Although the government has done little to address the high rates of femicide, and despite being a nation known for its macho culture, Mexico鈥檚 government has adopted gender quotas with the goal of achieving gender parity in politics. Right now, 50% of Mexico鈥檚 lower house is female, women are governors in about a quarter of Mexico鈥檚 states and there are some states where women outnumber men in elected office.

The rising women鈥檚 movement might be reflective of increasing acceptance of gender parity, but I鈥檓 not sure it鈥檚 fair to say it鈥檚 had a huge influence on the election. Women in Mexico take many different political positions. There鈥檚 no clear agreement on what constitutes 鈥榳omen鈥檚 interests,鈥� and the election of a female president wouldn鈥檛 necessarily guarantee a more feminist mode of governing.

Question: What can the United States learn from Mexico?

Bayard de Volo: That鈥檚 a hard question because we are such different countries with different electoral systems. It would be very difficult to implement a gender quota in the U.S. because we don鈥檛 have proportional representation. Trying to do something like that here would be controversial, to say the least.  That said, it is interesting that a nation that has been identified as quintessentially macho is prepared to elect a woman.

Top image: left, Claudia Scheinbaum (photo: Gerardo Vieyra/NurPhoto/Getty Images) and right, X贸chitl G谩lvez (photo: from G谩lvez's Facebook)

Did you enjoy this article?  Passionate about women and gender studies? 

Related Articles

Asian Jewish Americans have a double reason to celebrate their heritage in May

May is both  and . Two entirely separate commemorations for two entirely separate communities, right?

Think again. Not only do Asian American Jews exist, but we come from a variety of places and come to Judaism in a range of ways.

Centuries of history

Some Asian American Jews come from long-standing Jewish communities in Asia. The two most famous of these are the  of the Henan Province in China and the .

Samira Mehta is director of the Program in Jewish Studies and an assistant professor of women and gender studies at 欧美口爆视频 Boulder.

Today, the Kaifeng Jews are  to which very few, if any, Chinese American Jews trace their heritage. The community likely arrived in China from India or Persia around 1000 C.E. and probably had about 5,000 people at its peak.

Indian Jews, however, are another matter. In fact, they consist of three separate communities: ,  and the Baghdadi Jews. Each arrived in India at different moments 鈥� with  being the most recent 鈥� and therefore their traditions sometimes differ. For instance, the Jews of Cochin are known for , and the Bene Israel give particular importance .

In 2020, there were about , but almost  and a .

Indian Jewish communities have distinct cultures that come from living in a majority Hindu and Muslim society. Indian American Jewish artist , for example, creates art that fuses her American and Jewish identities with her Indian childhood 鈥� 鈥渋nspired by both Indian miniature paintings and Jewish and Christian illuminated manuscripts,鈥� as the Brooklyn Museum . Figures in her paintings are often blue, reminiscent of Hindu depictions of , and they include images of .

Multiple heritages

Many other Asian American Jews are children of one Jewish parent and one non-Jewish Asian parent 鈥� like , the Korean American rabbi of New York City鈥檚 Central Synagogue. Buchdahl has an Ashkenazi Jewish father, meaning that his ancestors came from Central or Eastern Europe, and a Korean Buddhist mother.

Raised in a synagogue that her Jewish grandparents helped to found, Buchdahl has written and spoken publicly about the pain that she experienced as a teen and young adult when she was the only Asian person in Jewish spaces. At other times, she was not recognized as Jewish 鈥� for instance, by the .

She has also talked about moments when her family blended their heritages. During Passover, for example, the traditional plate for the Seder meal includes 鈥渕aror鈥�: bitter herbs to remind Jews of the pain of slavery. Many families use horseradish, but one year, .

When the rabbi appeared on the PBS program 鈥�,鈥� she talked about the resonances that she sees between Jewish and Korean Buddhist culture, such as respect for elders and education.

It is this type of experience 鈥� growing up the child of an interfaith, interracial marriage 鈥� that sociologists  and  focus on in their 2016 book 鈥�,鈥� the first major study of Asian American Jews.

鈥榊ou鈥檙e Jewish?鈥�

Other Asian American Jews were adopted into Jewish families, most of whom are white and Ashkenazi 鈥� an experience studied by . Many families raising Asian American Jewish children face challenges that are shared with other transracial adoptive families, such as adoptive parents not knowing much, at least initially, about their child鈥檚 culture of origin.

A Jewish man lights a lamp inside the Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue in Mumbai, India, after restoration work in 2019. (Photo: AP/Rajanish Kakade)

Some challenges, however, are more unique, such as the reality that Hebrew School and Chinese School are often at the same time. In fact, in my hometown when I was growing up, they were at the same time and in the same place, such that there was a Hebrew School-Chinese School car pool 鈥� but also such that no one could participate fully in both programs.

In addition, Asian Jewish adoptees and other Jews of color face assumptions from many white Jews that Jews of color  or are converts. Usually, children adopted into Jewish families do undergo a formal conversion. They grow up in Jewish homes, as familiar 鈥� or not 鈥� with Jewish traditions as people born into Judaism.

Converting to Judaism

Some Asian American Jews are adult converts to Judaism, like SooJi Min-Maranda, the Korean American executive director of , a movement that trains and ordains Jewish leaders from a range of Jewish backgrounds. So am I, a half-South Asian scholar of American Jewish religious history.

I usually do not look for ways to combine my Indian heritage and my Jewish religious life, but every now and then I find myself doing so 鈥� as at Hanukkah, when I have , and , when I have imagined making the holiday鈥檚 signature booths out of Indian bedspreads.

As with all people who choose to live Jewish lives, Asian Americans convert to Judaism for many reasons. After conversion, we often find ourselves fending off the assumption that either we are not Jewish or that our conversions were motivated exclusively by marriage.

In fact, there are enough Asian American Jews out there that several organizations serve them. For instance, the  鈥渃ultivates connection, belonging and visibility for Asian American Jews.鈥� They host Seders and Friday night Shabbat events for Asian American Jews, along with a range of other programming. Other organizations, such as , founded by Chinese American Jewish activist Yoshi Silverstein, address a broader range of the Jewish community but carefully include and make space for Asian Jewish experiences.

Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Jewish American Heritage Month come every May. They offer us a moment to remember that both of those communities are far more diverse than one might initially imagine, that they overlap, and that in their overlap, there is truly amazing diversity.

Samira Mehta is director of the Program in Jewish Studies and an assistant professor of women and gender studies at the .

This article is republished from  under a Creative Commons license. Read the .

Related Articles

In newly published chapter, 欧美口爆视频 Boulder researcher Celeste Montoya demonstrates how social movements have influenced Latina legislative leadership in 欧美口爆视频

Betty Benavidez strove to improve access to better education in her west Denver neighborhood. She worked in her local schools and founded action centers, belonged to the Hispanic Education Leadership Program and the West High School PTA, and was district captain for the Democratic party to mobilize Mexican-American voters.

When she was elected to the 欧美口爆视频 General Assembly in 1970, her occupation was

Benavidez was considered one of the madres del movimiento鈥攎others of the movement鈥攊n not just her Westside neighborhood, but in Chicana involvement in 欧美口爆视频 politics. She was the first Latina elected to the 欧美口爆视频 General Assembly, which happened during a turbulent time in not only 欧美口爆视频 politics, but in shifting gender roles and social movements focused on racial and ethnic identity.

In for the recently published , Celeste Montoya, a University of 欧美口爆视频 Boulder associate professor of women and gender studies, demonstrates how social movements and community activism have played a vital role in shaping Latina legislative leadership in 欧美口爆视频.

欧美口爆视频 Boulder researcher Celeste Montoya studies Latina political involvement and how social movements have influenced it.

Even though 欧美口爆视频 has one of the largest and oldest Latino populations in the United States and Hispano legislators were elected to territorial legislatures even before 欧美口爆视频 was a state, representation was slow growing.

Benavidez was the first Latina state legislator in 欧美口爆视频, but through the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, the number of Latinas in office remained low. In 2018, however, nine Latinos were elected to the legislature, joining five others already in office and creating the largest Latino caucus in 欧美口爆视频 history. Nine of the 14 were Latinas and eight of the women had been elected for the first time.

鈥淚 think there were a lot of similarities between 2018 and what was happening in the early 鈥�70s鈥攎ultiple social justice movements, people of multiple marginalities starting to take leadership,鈥� Montoya says. 鈥淔or many of these women, they鈥檙e thinking about the overall wellbeing of their community and that they need to give their community a voice at this state level.鈥�

Montoya further explains that Latina legislative leadership is shaped by their experience and understanding of their social positioning鈥攊ncluding race, gender, class and sexuality鈥攚hich is influenced by social justice movements and translates to legislative practices.

Montoya recently answered questions about this topic, and a portion of that exchange follows:

Question: There鈥檚 not a lot of scholarship looking at Latinas in 欧美口爆视频 politics; how did you get into this area?

Montoya: Truthfully, my research initially was on women鈥檚 human rights on a global perspective. I wasn鈥檛 exposed to a lot of professors who studied Latino politics and I didn鈥檛 know there was such a thing you could study. As a grad student, I got involved in the Latino caucus at one of the western conferences and I met all these scholars, a lot of them from California, who are studying Latino politics. Even though my research was in a different area, I kept getting pulled into research areas focused on gender and race in politics.

I鈥檓 a Latina from southern 欧美口爆视频, and I didn鈥檛 see a lot written about Latinas in 欧美口爆视频 politics鈥攖he literature was more focused on Latinas in Texas and California, maybe Florida. But as I got to reading about the Chicano movement in 欧美口爆视频, looking beyond Denver and Pueblo at what was happening in the rest of the state, I was finding these amazing stories of women鈥檚 leadership. In a lot of the writings, women often were a footnote to men鈥檚 stories, but the more I dug into it, I was finding that what was happening in 欧美口爆视频 fit into larger stories of what Latina leadership looks like nationally.

I think that women have such a different path to leadership because in many ways, the traditional paths had been closed to them, and that鈥檚 especially true for women of color.

Question: Since they were historically blocked from traditional paths to leadership, what are the paths that Latinas who entered 欧美口爆视频 politics have been taking?

Montoya: Some of patterns we see with women and with people of color in general are that a lot of the reasons they鈥檙e running for office are very community-based. They have experiences where they keep hitting walls in terms of seeing what is possible and figuring, 鈥業f I was in the statehouse, I could make the change.鈥�

There鈥檚 a pattern of seeing that need for advocacy and voice, but not so much in terms of having a political agenda. So many were like, 鈥楾hat was never the plan, it just sort of happened, I鈥檓 surprised that I鈥檓 here, but I鈥檓 just focused on doing this work now.鈥� There鈥檚 not often this agenda of, 鈥業鈥檓 going to use this as a springboard to run for the Senate.鈥� It鈥檚 more, 鈥業鈥檓 here to help my community and do the best I can while I鈥檓 here.' Some of them had to be talked into running for office, often multiple times, and often didn鈥檛 see themselves as qualified.

Question: It seems that Latinas who run for state office deal with a double whammy of racism and sexism.

Montoya: Some of the Latinas I talked with, when I鈥檇 ask them about discrimination they鈥檇 experienced, many of them went right to talking about racism first. I don鈥檛 think it was because they thought the racism was worse than the sexism, but because the sexism is so normalized and pervasive. Some of them talked about addressing it, but others took more of a 鈥減ick your battle鈥� approach, especially when the sexism came when working within the community.

Question: You mention in your chapter that Latinas in 欧美口爆视频 politics have represented multiple marginalities but also worked at the intersection of multiple social movements. Betty Benavidez was in the wave of the Chicano movement and the women鈥檚 rights movement, for example. What are some ways that social movements have prepared Latinas for office?

Montoya: I think one important way is helping them see that their experience is just as valid, if not more valid, than the conventional path of you go to law school or business school, although there are definitely some of them taking those routes. Social-justice movements have helped people recognize that representation is supposed to be about the people and the communities. These women of color are able to say, 鈥榊ou can get better policy from people who have experienced these challenges.鈥�

But that鈥檚 been a hard narrative to share because of women of color鈥檚 tendency to, in some ways, self-select not to run or participate in a system that they don鈥檛 see themselves as being qualified to join. We also are having that message reinforced systemically, these perceptions that Latinas鈥� experiences are not valid or good enough.

 

They were coming from their communities, they were involved in their communities, and that guided the legislation.鈥�"

 

One of the things that鈥檚 been interesting, too, is a lot of things that Latinas have succeeded at once they were in office may not have seemed big at the time. Things like Laura DeHerrera introducing car-restraints-for-babies legislation that鈥檚 law now, Latina legislators introducing policy for pay equity and smoking bans in public places and prison reform, policy to address the numbers of Hispanic children dying from strep throat. They were coming from their communities, they were involved in their communities, and that guided the legislation.

Question: There鈥檚 a lot of hope that the 2024 election cycle will see a lot of Latina representation among candidates for local and state office. Do you think that鈥檚 true, or is there still hesitation to run?

Montoya: We鈥檝e found that in Hispanic communities, there鈥檚 sometimes some worry about the airing of dirty laundry. It鈥檚 sort of this attitude of, 鈥榃e know these are problems within our community, but if we talk about them too much, that invites more intervention that could be worse than the problem itself.鈥� There鈥檚 sometimes a fear the attention could introduce new forms of oppression.

We also see with Latinas this question of how do they maintain legitimacy within the community as they鈥檙e working to maintain legitimacy within political institutions. It鈥檚 interesting to see Latinas who were community organizers first and the ways they try to achieve that balance. They still really want to be in service of the community and at same time be effective within political institutions. An interesting theme has been just how tired a lot of them get from all of this, the challenges within and outside institutions.

So, my feelings are really mixed (about the 2024 election cycle). I鈥檓 hearing some good things and there are some amazing initiatives going on, organizations trying to do community outreach, legislators trying to do outreach and mobilization. Some of the momentum that was part of getting Trump out of office is still there, but will it influence who ends up making it on slate and how it mobilizes people? I think that鈥檚 what鈥檚 uncertain.

Latinos still have the lowest voter turnout, and we see in 欧美口爆视频 the districts that are seen as red are more likely to be ignored even though those votes still count in bigger elections. It鈥檚 interesting to see where the money has flowed. But I think that is starting to change. People are starting to see the need to move beyond the notion that Denver Latino politics are 欧美口爆视频 Latino politics and really put effort into going to Latino and Hispanic communities outside the Denver metro area, learning how they understand themselves, what their needs are. This is so important. If not, we will continue to miss opportunities, to lose voice and representation.

Did you enjoy this article?  Passionate about women and gender studies?

Related Articles

In her recently published book, Samira Mehta offers insight into a lesser-known, but nevertheless hurtful, type of racism 

It鈥檚 2016, Pennsylvania, and , who would later become an associate professor of women and gender studies and director of the Program in Jewish Studies at the University of 欧美口爆视频 Boulder, is having dinner with an old friend.

He asks about her experiences during the election, as he, like many people, has become worried about the xenophobia stirred up by the Trump campaign. How鈥檚 that been for her? 

Short answer: not great. 

The daughter of a white mother from Illinois and a father from India, Mehta has twice been spat on at her local grocery store and told to 鈥済o home.鈥� (Home, by the way, is Connecticut, where Mehta was born and reared.) 

Samira K. Mehta, an associate professor and director, explores the intersectionality of religion, culture and gender, including US family politics.

Yet although such flagrant acts of racism are scary, Mehta tells her friend, they aren鈥檛 the kind of racism that really hurts her. The kind that really hurts her, she says, is 鈥渢he racism of people who love me.鈥� 

Now Mehta has published a book exploring this topic, The Racism of People Who Love You: Essays on Mixed Race Belonging, which takes a first-hand look at the challenges of mixedness and encourages discussion of a kind of racism that is sometimes overlooked, under-addressed or misunderstood.  

Usually, when we think about racism, Mehta says, we think about big historical moments. We think about the 鈥淯nite the Right鈥� rally in Charlottesville, Virginia; about Los Angeles police officers brutally attacking Rodney King; about Rosa Parks being told to give up her seat on the Montgomery, Alabama, bus; about John Lewis being beaten on the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma, Alabama. 

鈥淲hat鈥檚 much harder to talk about and think about are moments of racism that you encounter in relationships where you love the other person and they love you,鈥� says Mehta. 

The racism of people who love you is a subtler, more elusive form of racism, Mehta explains, and one that can be especially challenging for mixed-race individuals. Mehta herself has endured it on many occasions.

One example concerns the very friend she was having dinner with in 2016. 

Years earlier, she was flying out to visit him, she recalls, 鈥渁nd I got searched really aggressively by TSA, and it was invasive. I got pulled out of the line and had to take off clothes, and I was worried. And my friend was like, 鈥業f, by searching people who look like you, they keep everyone safe, this is just an inconvenience.鈥欌��

Another example involves Mehta鈥檚 maternal aunt. At a family get-together, Mehta was wearing Indian clothing, and so her aunt decided to ask her, 鈥淪o, are you super ethnic now?鈥� 

Neither Mehta鈥檚 friend nor her aunt was deliberately being racist. In fact, they鈥檙e the kind of people who鈥檇 vehemently disavow racism. 鈥淭hese are people for whom being liberal, or maybe even being progressive, is really central to their identity,鈥� Mehta says. 

Yet it鈥檚 precisely this tension between who the person is and what the person says that can make the racism of people who love you so difficult to address. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 really hard to talk to people about these things, because to them they鈥檙e one-offs; to them they鈥檙e little things,鈥� says Mehta. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 necessarily recognize what they鈥檙e saying or doing as indicative of a larger power structure.鈥� 

Plus, Mehta says, 鈥渘obody wants to see themselves as a racist,鈥� especially when that person is someone close鈥攁n old friend, for instance, or a family member鈥攁nd especially nowadays, when charges of racism feel extremely high stakes.   

鈥淲e鈥檝e got a sort of one-drop rule of racism in the United States, where, if you do one racist thing, the distance between you and someone who would burn a cross on someone鈥檚 front lawn collapses. It鈥檚 the worst thing you could say to somebody,鈥� says Mehta.

This then creates a Catch-22 for those suffering from the racism of people who love them: 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 say anything, you lose the friendship because you let them go off and be racist. And if you do say something, you run the risk of losing the friendship because you just called your friend a racist.鈥�

Put bluntly, either lose the friendship or lose the friendship. 

But Mehta has a way around this dilemma, one she drew from the work of , a feminist, activist and educator known for her work in women鈥檚 rights, reproductive justice and anti-racism, and a cofounder of . 

Ross distinguishes between two modes of confronting racism: . 

"The Racism of People Who Love You" by Samira Mehta investigates the complicated challenges within mixed-race families and relationships. 

With calling out, Ross says, 鈥淵ou think somebody has done something wrong, you think they should be held accountable for it, and you think they should be punished for it.鈥� 

Calling out is an opportunity to shame, says Ross. It鈥檚 done out of anger. And for that reason, she believes it is ineffective. 鈥淲ith this approach, you鈥檝e guaranteed one thing. With this blaming and shaming, you just invited [the person accused of racism] to a fight, not a conversation.鈥�

Calling in, however, is basically the same as calling out, but 鈥渄one with love,鈥� says Ross. It is not an opportunity to shame but an invitation to change. It promotes conversation, not fighting. 

It鈥檚 the difference between volubly condemning someone at the Thanksgiving table and asking them to a private chat on a walk after dinner. 

When it comes to the racism of people who love you, says Mehta, it鈥檚 calling in, not calling out, that鈥檚 the thing to do. 

And that is one thing she hopes her book helps readers do. She hopes it helps those who鈥檝e experienced racism from the people who love them, as well as those who鈥檝e committed such acts of racism, find a healthy way to discuss that racism. 

But Mehta is also quick to admit that these conversations don鈥檛 always create the desired outcome, which leads one to wonder, as her audience members often do at her book talks, when to forgive a person for his or her racism and when to cut that person off? 

鈥淗ow you make that judgment call is really individual,鈥� Mehta says. 鈥淚t depends on what's going on in your life. It depends on how much you need that person. I do not think it鈥檚 a good idea to cancel the people you love for things that they do that hurt you, but I also don鈥檛 think you should be a doormat who is willing to be hurt forever.鈥� 

There is a balance to strike, in other words. Care should be taken. 

But, ultimately, Mehta believes in people鈥檚 ability to be and do better, as long as they鈥檙e given the chance. 

鈥淚f you cancel people, they never grow and change. But they can grow and change when you call them in and offer them love.鈥�

Did you enjoy this article?  Passionate about women and gender studies?

Related Articles

Celeste Montoya, hailed for her work to advance diversity, equity and inclusion, reflects on DEI initiatives and current political challenges

Celeste Montoya, associate professor of women and gender studies at the University of 欧美口爆视频 Boulder, is one of four people honored for making significant contributions to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) across the university鈥檚 four-campus system.

Last month, 欧美口爆视频 President Todd Saliman announced the President鈥檚 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Awards, which also recognized one program.

Montoya, who is the faculty director of the Miramontes Arts & Science Program, studies race and gender in U.S., European and global politics and has published extensively on topics such as gender violence, voting rights, political representation and social movements. 

Celeste Montoya holds a PhD in political science and a graduate certificate in women, gender, and sexuality studies from Washington University in St. Louis.

Her current research examines Latina leadership in 欧美口爆视频, a project that is of both personal and professional interest to this southern 欧美口爆视频-born professor. 

Montoya recently answered five questions about her work, the status of DEI initiatives nationwide, and the challenging climate that exists. The interview follows:

Question: You hold three degrees in political science and a graduate certificate in gender studies; what drew you to focus your research, teaching and service on diversity, equity and inclusion? 

Montoya: I remember growing up and seeing a lot of disconnect between the way I thought or was taught things were supposed to be (in terms of fairness and equality) and the way that they were. Whether they were things that I experienced firsthand because of my gender, race-ethnicity or class, or things that I witnessed or learned about from others, I think I鈥檝e always been curious to better understand these disconnects, but also to find ways to address them. 

I see my research, teaching and service all as ways to both better understand and address inequality and oppression, and to lessen the distance between what could/should be and what is. 

Question: DEI initiatives seem to have been embraced by many universities, although different institutions might choose different strategies to advance diversity, equity and inclusion. In your view, are there 鈥渂est practices,鈥� meaning features of a university DEI structure that make it more likely to succeed? 

Montoya: I think my biggest frustration with DEI (in any institutional setting鈥攆rom governments to higher education) is that so much of the change is rhetorical. It is relatively easy to state a commitment to DEI (although even that is being challenged in some states). It seems much more difficult to commit resources, build capacity, coordinate efforts, and establish accountability. 

While I鈥檓 heartened by a lot of the work that鈥檚 currently being done, I think we have a long way to go. 

Question: One of your research foci is intersectionality. To what extent do you think this concept is well understood within and beyond the university? And to the extent it is not well understood, how can that lack of understanding be corrected? 

Montoya: There are definitely a lot of misunderstandings about intersectionality, both within and outside of academic settings. As the term has been mainstreamed or institutionalized, it has become more disconnected from its origins in social movements, where those at intersectional of multiple marginalities challenged single-axis (race-only, gender-only, class-only) understandings of oppression that often excluded or overlooked their experiences and sought to combat oppression in all its interconnected, interlocking forms. 

I think of and use intersectionality as a framework for better understanding how something might impact those who are differently situated. I also see it as a way of creating inclusive communities. Some people misunderstand intersectionality as divisive, of dividing us into smaller and more finite identities/groups. But intersectionality can also allow to delve into the messiness of our lived realities, that while we may differ along some dimensions, we may find commonality upon others.   

Question: Journalists from around the country have reported on attempts in some state legislatures to restrict DEI programs at colleges and universities. What do you make of such efforts, and how should experts in DEI respond? 

 

We are definitely in a precarious moment of our history, but not an unprecedented one. There have always been differences in how people understand and approach structural inequalities 鈥� whether to recognize, ignore, combat or uphold them. How engaged the political parties (either of them) have been on these types of issues has and continues to vary."

Montoya:  We are definitely in a precarious moment of our history, but not an unprecedented one. There have always been differences in how people understand and approach structural inequalities 鈥� whether to recognize, ignore, combat or uphold them. How engaged the political parties (either of them) have been on these types of issues has and continues to vary. 

What is particularly alarming about this moment is that several state legislatures have decided to cut off any sort of deliberation or debate about inequality. It is an alarming attack on academic freedom, and a devastating blow to higher education. 

If education holds the potential to be the great equalizer of society, then shutting down the ability to even speak about, let alone address, the inequalities within it, is a tragedy. I think a lot of DEI experts are already aware of the ebbs and flows of governmental and institutional support, and to never take anything for granted. If ever there were a need for speaking up and showing solidarity, now is the time.   

Question: You鈥檝e won a dozen awards for your teaching, research, service, mentorship and more. What reaction do you have to being recognized for your work in DEI?

Montoya: I think everyone likes to be recognized for the work that they do. But I don鈥檛 do the work for the recognition; I do the work because it needs to be done and because I feel the responsibility to do it. 

I鈥檝e been given a lot of opportunities because of the sacrifices made by others, by my family, by my community, by the generations who came before me. I feel like it is my responsibility to use whatever talents and resources I have to do the same for others鈥攖o pay it forward. 

If I can make someone鈥檚 path a little easier where I can, then the work is worth it. I hope that these awards can bring attention and resources to the work being done and that which could/should be done. 

Related Articles

欧美口爆视频 Boulder professor is concerned that the focus on individual responsibility for health and wellness鈥攅specially during health crises like the COVID pandemic鈥攐verlooks underlying causes as to why minorities generally had worse outcomes than the overall population in the U.S. Ideas to be discussed in next Let鈥檚 欧美口爆视频 Well seminar

In the days since COVID-19 first became a pandemic in the United States in 2020, researchers and health care professionals developed a series of guidelines associated with getting vaccinated, masking, handwashing and social distancing, as well as making lifestyle changes, to reduce the risk of dying or becoming seriously ill from the disease.

Those guidelines were well-meaning, but at the same time they generally are focused on 鈥渂iomedical individualism鈥� (how the virus is transmitted and what the individual could do to reduce their risk) to the exclusion of understanding why certain segments of the population, particularly racial and ethnic minorities, were at much greater risk of being harmed by COVID-19, according to Maisam Alomar, University of 欧美口爆视频 Boulder professor in women and gender studies. Part of her research focuses on race and gender policies of medicine and rehabilitation.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not that masks or vaccines aren鈥檛 important,鈥� says Alomar, acknowledging that the politics around COVID-19 can be polarizing. However, at the same time, 鈥減art of what I鈥檓 suggesting is that we need to be moving away from our almost exclusive focus on biomedical individualism in our understanding of wellness 鈥� to try to understand that group wellness is not just the sum of individual behaviors or the biological mechanisms by which the virus can infect someone.鈥�

Maisam Alomar is an assistant professor in women and gender studies. Her research lies mainly in the areas of disability studies, cultural studies, ethnic studies, and also incorporates black studies and critical race scholarship to analyze ways racial categories shape what is considered a disability, who is considered disabled, and the legal and social consequences of such categorization.

For example, the scientific and health care communities came to embrace the idea that making healthful lifestyle choices could reduce the risk of becoming sick from COVID鈥攚ithout recognizing that these lifestyle choices are not equally available to everyone, that some people live in 鈥渇ood deserts鈥� that make it difficult to obtain nutritious meals or that those populations don鈥檛 have easy access to recreational spaces, according to Alomar.

鈥淭hese are some of the things we don鈥檛 tend to consider as much,鈥� she says, adding, 鈥淚鈥檓 also suggesting that we should be tailoring our interventions to account for the most vulnerable people 鈥� and this idea that when you structure your health care systems in a way that鈥檚 geared toward the most vulnerable people that you yield better health results for everyone.鈥�

What鈥檚 more, when considering why certain groups of people, such as racial or ethnic minorities, have worse outcomes when it comes to COVID, there is a tendency even among the scientific community to ascribe those outcomes to preexisting conditions within those communities or even biological factors鈥攔ather than issues having to do with socioeconomic inequities more generally and the disparity in health care among different segments of the U.S. population, according to Alomar.

Alomar will share other additional views on COVID-19 and U.S. health care policy during her upcoming seminar, 鈥淢oving Away from Biomedical Individualism in Health and Wellness.鈥� This event is scheduled as a Zoom presentation starting at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, March 21. The event is free, but registration is required.

The event is part of the Let鈥檚 欧美口爆视频 Well speaker series for 欧美口爆视频 staff, students and interested community members. The series is an offshoot of Be Well, a wellness initiative launched by the College of Arts and Sciences.

Alomar draws a line between COVID-19鈥檚 effects on varying populations relate and the 鈥渋nterdisciplines鈥� at universities.

According to Alomar, interdisciplines鈥攚hich includes Black and feminist studies鈥攈ave performed valuable research related to COVID-19. That鈥檚 particularly true, she says, when it comes to debunking some unsupported claims involving COVID-19 outcomes based on race and ethnicity. 

 

Interdisciplines offer a very useful critique ... When budgets are tight, people start asking, do we really need this (field of study) if there鈥檚 a crisis? I think that when there鈥檚 a crisis we need these fields even more because of the explanatory power they offer.鈥�

For example, she notes that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has highlighted obesity as a co-morbidity factor disproportionally harming minorities in COVID outcomes, but that research from a noted sociologist found that 鈥渢he association between 鈥榦besity鈥� and mortality is baseless.鈥�

Alomar says interdisciplines at universities can be very useful for the insights and critiques they provide for various fields of study, such as science and health care. At the same time, she says interdisciplines also tend to be one of the programs universities first look to cut when their finances are dented by unforeseen circumstances, such as the Great Recession of 2008 or the COVID-19 pandemic.

鈥淲hat I鈥檓 saying is interdisciplines offer a very useful critique, and it鈥檚 very important to have that in a university,鈥� Alomar says. 鈥淲hen budgets are tight, people start asking, do we really need this (field of study) if there鈥檚 a crisis? I think that when there鈥檚 a crisis we need these fields even more because of the explanatory power they offer.鈥�

Related Articles

Kristie Soares, assistant professor of women and gender studies and co-director of the LGBTQ Certificate Program, outlines resources, safe spaces and people鈥檚 varying experience of grief

On Nov. 19, 2022, five people at Club Q in 欧美口爆视频 Springs died in a mass shooting, renewing debate about the gun-violence epidemic and domestic terrorism, but there was another dimension to this shooting: Club Q is a well-established and beloved LGBTQ+ club in the 欧美口爆视频 Springs area. 

Many members of the LGBTQ+ community have been left feeling scarred, fearful and violated, and with a lack of protections in place for this community, some wonder how LGBTQ+ students on campus process the event and find helpful resources and safe spaces. 

Though the question has no simple, definitive answer, Kristie Soares, assistant professor of women and gender studies and co-director of the 欧美口爆视频 Boulder LGBTQ Certificate Program, hopes to start an open conversation on the campus about LGBTQ+ violence and provide students with support networks in a time of great pain. 

鈥淢ost importantly, there is no correct way to feel after Club Q. You should feel you have space to cry, scream and get angry,鈥� Soares added. 鈥淓motions can鈥檛 be processed in a right or wrong way.鈥� 

Assistant Professor Kristie Soares is working on an oral history project that explores the role of Latinx disc jockeys in the development of disco and dance music in 1970s New York.

Soares focuses their work in queer Latinx media and queer of color critique, specifically media representations. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 interesting to examine not only negative stereotypes in media, but also how unintentional representation can become something radical, like when a character is written as cisgendered but becomes a queer character within the fanbase of a piece of media,鈥� Soares said. 

The LGBTQ+ Studies certificate program is interdisciplinary, meaning that students can take classes outside of the department to meet requirements, which opens up a wide range of courses and topics to study.  

鈥淎s long as the course has more than 50% LGBTQ+ content, we approve that for the certificate. This includes classes with a large independent project component if you choose to do a project about LGBTQ+ issues,鈥� Soares said. 

The program is approaching its 30-year anniversary in 2025, but Soares said interest in the certificate has spiked in recent years.  

鈥淲e鈥檙e in a really exciting and scary time for queer and trans people, and in some ways these very negative issues have reinvigorated people鈥檚 interest in studying the LGBTQ+ community and taking that with them into government and public-policy jobs,鈥� Soares said. 

Soares is working on a manuscript titled Playful Protest: The Political Work of Joy in Latinx Media and is passionate about 鈥渢he ways that joy can be a response to severe trauma and state-sanctioned violence in marginalized communities.鈥� 

鈥淭here鈥檚 something very queer about joy,鈥� Soares said. 鈥淲e have a strong history of queer and trans people connecting joy to politics鈥擲tonewall was an uprising, but it was also a bar where people were dancing and enjoying themselves.鈥� (The Stonewall uprisings were a series of protests in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, in response to police crackdowns on gay and lesbian bars.) 

Reflecting on the reactions to the Club Q murders on campus, Soares said joy and fear naturally go hand in hand, and there is room for all emotions. 

鈥淩ecognize that this is a violation, and we don't currently have the protections that we need to guarantee that this won鈥檛 happen again鈥攊t is not unreasonable to be out in LGBTQ+ spaces and be scared.鈥� 

Soares emphasizes that there is no one correct way to grieve in these moments: 鈥淭here are normative systems put in place related to grieving that just don鈥檛 fit for marginalized communities鈥攚hen trauma is not the exception anymore, that grieving process is going to be more constant.鈥� 

鈥淒espite this reality, there are many ways on campus to find safe spaces to feel emotions and talk to one another,鈥� Soares said. She believes community spaces are the key to this; such spaces can be nightclubs but also knitting circles, book clubs or text chains. 

鈥淭he great thing about these spaces is the joy that comes with them鈥攊t鈥檚 OK to laugh at something funny on a text chain or watch silly movies even though we are in a world in some ways defined by homophobia, transphobia and the trauma that comes with it鈥攖hat鈥檚 a part of the experience of being queer and trans,鈥� Soares said. 

a group of queer mental health professionals in Boulder, is a great place to start when accessing resources, she said. The group offers free digital support groups to process emotions and build connections and can connect students with free therapy. 

On campus, students can find an array of resources and communities. 鈥淲e have the Pride Office, which is a student services focused center, and the academically focused certificate program. These are all great options for returning students, students new to Boulder and students who may not have spent a lot of time on campus due to the pandemic and are still searching for their community here,鈥� Soares said.  

 

That鈥檚 the great thing about the 欧美口爆视频 community鈥攖here is faculty you can reach out to who are working on these issues but also identify as part of the community."

鈥淲e also have clubs like the Gay Student Alliance and Queer People of Color; both great places to make friends and find the joy that is so important in these times.鈥� 

Clubs and centers will individually host events, and there is also a  TRANSforming Gender Conference on March 18-19, which will draw people from around the country and include discussions and workshops. Faculty gathered last year to do a panel discussion on their experiences as trans/non-binary folk in higher education, Soares said. 

鈥淭hat鈥檚 the great thing about the 欧美口爆视频 community鈥攖here is faculty you can reach out to who are working on these issues but also identify as part of the community. This can be really helpful, too,鈥� Soares adds. 

Grief is an ongoing process, one without a straightforward path. 鈥淲hen our day-to-day safe spaces are violated, that can be devastating. In those moments, it is even more important to find community,鈥� Soares said. 

鈥淵ou do not need to go through this, or any other traumatic events, alone.鈥� 

A full list of resources can be found on the LGBTQ+ resource website. 

Related Articles