Women’s Center holds “process and action” workshop on coping with despair, strategizing for justice

www.dailyuw.com - RSS Results in news,news/* of type article On Wednesday afternoon, the welcoming wooden structure of the UW’s wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ Intellectual House played host to a workshop organized by the UW Women’s Center and led by professor Anu Taranath, titled “Coping with Despair and Strategizing for Justice.”Despite each speaker’s diverse perspective on social justice, they all shared a common goal: gaining tools for becoming each other’s allies in a time of uncertainty.Taranath, who teaches postcolonial world literatures in the comparative history and ideas (CHID) and English departments, created a safe space through the Women’s Center partnership where “each intersectionality matters.” 
Intersectionality as a concept has been heard a lot lately in the feminist movement, but can be applied to many fronts. It’s based on the act of acknowledging the way the sum of each individual’s identities affect the way we collectively experience discrimination, vulnerability, and oppression.“This is a space where all our identities are welcome to the room,” Taranath said. “Your identities and my identities. Your immigrant status is welcome to the room, your documentation is welcome to the room, your complexities of your body are welcome to the room, your whiteness is welcome to the room, your maleness, femaleness, or anything else is welcome to the room … This is an intersectional space.”Taranath addressed the issue of feeling safe on campus to the concerned expressions of the audience, asking if each person felt welcome for their identity across campus. Contrary to the initial expectations of the organizers, what was supposed to be a mainly undergraduate-oriented event became a workshop with both students, professors, advisors, and university staff. Taranath adapted her tools and ideas to cope with the vulnerability being felt around the university and beyond. Professionals in the world of education intend to offer guidance to students, but in some cases don’t know how to, ...


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