Cultivating Awareness, and Resisting Repression: The Intersectional Impact of Fascism

Fascist dictatorships are not new to the world, but could potentially be new to the United States. How do fascist societies begin? What policies  prelude fascism? What are its characteristics, and what would it mean for the United States to become fascist?

In this virtual IA Teaching and Learning Circle (TLC) scholars Dr. Jeanelle Hope (Director and Associate Professor of African American Studies at Prairie View A&M University) and Dr. Grace Reinke (Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of New Orleans) will be in conversation with Imagining America National Advisory Board member Dr. Denise Frazier (Director of Programs, Prospect New Orleans) about the intersectional implications and impact of impending fascism, and how it affects our intersectional identities, art, and the university.

About the Speakers:
• Dr. Jeanelle K. Hope, Director & Associate Professor of African American Studies, Prairie View A&M University. Dr. Hope is a cultural critic and scholar of Black studies, focusing on social and cultural movements, political thought, Black girlhood and Black representation in media. She is co-author of the book, The Black Anti Fascist Tradition (Haymarket Books). 
• Dr. Grace E. Reinke, Assistant Professor, Political Science, University of New Orleans. Dr. Reinke teaches in the political science, pre-law, public administration, and justice studies programs. Before joining UNO she earned a PhD in political science from University of Washington with a focus on American politics and political theory. Her current research analyzes the feminist theory tradition of social reproduction in the context of contemporary American political economy, and theorizes a politics of extraction that entrenches the logic of private accumulation at the expense of community resources. She also researches how increased community involvement in the criminal legal system may deepen democratic engagement. 

Facilitated by:
Dr. Denise Frazier, Director of Programs, Prospect New Orleans and Member of the Imagining America National Advisory Board

About this Event Series:
This event is part of a year-long programming series co-organized by members of the Imagining America National Advisory Board. Through virtual events, creative art-making, and in-person convenings, IA Values in Action: Weaving Solidarities through Creative Culture brings together the vast IA community for interactive learning and reflection on the current conditions and contradictions in which we are struggling — in our institutions, in our communities, in our families — and explores how to empower ourselves to work creatively and joyfully while building solidarities. The series is inspired by weaving the first two IA guiding values: 1) It is important to struggle with the idea of ‘America,’ and 2) Creative culture is an important site of liberation.

_{Image Credit: Adapted from Silvano Pacheco’s contribution to Fine Acts, distributed under the following Creative Commons license: (CC-BY-NC-SA).}