Harvard University fellow Suraj Yengde discussed the importance of solidarity between Dalit and Black communities at a Thursday discussion.
The event was hosted by the Comparative Literary Studies Program and South Asia Research Forum. Weinberg Profs. Laura Brueck and Ivy Wilson moderated the talk.
Brueck began the conversation by discussing Yengde’s 2019 book “Caste Matters.” With the book, Yengde said he hoped to revive a rich tradition of global literature, dating back to the 1820s, chronicling systems that oppressed Black and Dalit people.
“I’ve been trying my best to create an archive for the future,” Yengde said.
Yengde cited James McCune Smith, Frederick Douglass and Charles Sumner as American historical figures who spoke out against the caste system. Douglass, he said, recognized that slavery directly produced a racial caste system in the United States.
Despite an 8-hour time difference, members of Students Organizing for Labor Rights and the American University of Beirut Secular Club discussed the importance of interconnectedness in campus activism during a Monday event.
The talk, aimed at connecting student movements, was presented by the Middle East North African Undergraduate Group and moderated by Northwestern University in Qatar Prof. Sami Hermez, director of the Liberal Arts Program at NU-Q. Student activists discussed activism on their respective campuses and took questions from attendees.
Lara Sabra, AUB Secular Club president, said the organization started in 2008 to practice politics “separate from, but also opposed to, the sectarian binary.” The club seeks to advocate for causes under the umbrella of sectarianism, such as feminism, anti-racism, environmentalism and freedom of expression, she said.
Starting off the keynote conversation in Queertopia on Sunday, writer and comedian Lexi Adsit said trans women of color possess powers of world-changing and world-thinking.
Adsit compiled an anthology starting last year titled “Paradise on the Margins: Lessons and Dreams from Trans Women of Color.” At the event, Adsit emphasized Black trans womens’ founding of organizations that ensure community survival.
“That’s the kind of work that I want to lift up and recognize, and there’s so many incredible stories and individuals that are just making the world a better place,” Adsit said.
Over the weekend, Queer Pride Graduate Student Association hosted its 14th annual Queertopia, a conference that celebrates queer scholarship from a wide range of disciplines.
Northwestern earned an Energy Star Partner of the Year award for the second consecutive year, according to a University release. The award, co-sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, honors organizations that make long-term commitments to climate change and energy efficiency. “Award-winning partners are showing the world that delivering.
President Joe Biden nominated Kellogg Prof. Ben Harris as assistant secretary for economic policy at the Treasury Department on Thursday.
If the nomination is confirmed by the Senate, Harris will work directly with the Secretary of the Treasury and head the Office of Economic Policy. Harris previously served as the chief economist and economic advisor to then-Vice President Biden during the Obama administration.
In addition to being an associate professor at NU, Harris works as the executive director of public policy programming at the Kellogg School of Management.
Harris said in a tweet that it would be “the honor of a lifetime to be nominated to serve at (the) Treasury.”