Tools for the Undercommons Speaker Series: Nov 18

When: Wednesday, November 18, 2026, 12noon-1:15 PT / 1-2:15pm MT / 2-3:15pm CT / 3-4:15pm ET

Where: Online via zoom

Drawing inspiration from Harney and Moten’s theorization of “study” as the “incessant and the irreversible intellectuality” present in myriad forms of collective knowledge production, this speaker series brings together scholars, artists, and other cultural workers to share field-tested tools that maintain alternate centers of gravity within (and outside of) academia, while also constituting an undercommons of its own.  We define tools broadly—including strategies, tactics, theories, case studies, methods, and more—that support ongoing efforts to develop new pathways for research and creative intervention that is meaningful to those most impacted and that demonstrates the value of creative work to diverse audiences and institutions. This IA Collaboratory is organized by professors Jacqueline Jean Barrios and Harris Kornstein (Public & Applied Humanities, University of Arizona), and each virtual event features two guest speakers in a salon-style conversation with attendees.

This month’s featured speakers are Brandi Locke (Just Transformations Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, The Center for Black Digital Research, Penn State University, University Park), Amallia Orman (Student Voice Manager at the NYC Department of Education), and Judy Pryor-Ramirez (Clinical Associate Professor of Public Service, NYU Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and IA National Advisory Board member).

Supported, in part, by a grant from the University of Arizona Commission on the Status of Women.

Brandi Locke is a writer, scholar, and cultural worker based in New York City. Her public and digital humanities work centers Black women activist-artist art practices and relationships. Her manuscript traces an aesthetic tradition formed across the buried and understudied works of fiction, poetry, photography, and visual art by activists from the 1890s to today. For a decade she served as a senior researcher for the award-winning Colored Conventions Project, where she elevated the stories of Black women in early political organizing history. During her tenure as Penn State’s Center for Black Digital Research Mellon Postdoc she developed and led arts partnerships in dance and murals, coordinated public programs, and created digital exhibits and archival collections for transcription. 

Amallia Orman designs educational experiences and organizational practices that help youth and adults learn, lead, and make decisions together. Orman is the Student Voice Manager at the NYC Department of Education, an initiative that advances authentic student participation in decision-making across NYC Public Schools.

Judy Pryor-Ramirez teaches, researches, and facilitates for social change. She teaches across advocacy, public policy, and urban planning with a focus on race, class, gender, and place; and her scholarly research focuses on political economy, spatial politics, and social movements in post-PROMESA Puerto Rico.