| CONFERENCE PROGRAM |
Second Annual
Social Justice in a Changing World
Roosevelt University April 23, 2010
Sponsored by Roosevelt University’s Department of Sociology, RU Sociological Society, Mansfield Institute for Social Justice and Transformation, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Policy Studies Organization Social Justice in a Changing World Conference Description The challenges the world faces in 2010 are daunting in both their scale and scope. Crises of economy, polity, environment and culture are multilayered and inter-connected – impacting community, city, national and global systems. Generating social science discourses informed by principles of social justice is vital for addressing these multifaceted challenges. The Department of Sociology, RU Sociological Society, and the Mansfield Institute for Social Justice and Transformation of Roosevelt University seek to bring undergraduate and graduate students together for a one day conference on Social Justice in a Changing World. We seek to foster discussion on both the nature of challenges confronting local and global communities as well as possible solutions that can be pursued or are already being advanced by social justice movements.
Conference Schedule
Registration 9:00 – 9:30 Session #1 9:30 – 11:00
Registration is located in the Congress Lounge on the second floor of 430 South Michigan. Panel 1: Two Sides of the Same Coin: Education and the Prison Industrial Joseph Palumbo, Roosevelt University – Finishing the Job: The end of the School Desegregation Consent Decree in Neoliberal Chicago Andrea Mason, Heather Hopkins, Margarita Crespo, Melanie Flores , Terri Tillmon, University of Phoenix – The Consequences of Education Inequalities Carolyn Carney, Roosevelt University – Correcting Chicago Amanda Voltz, Roosevelt University – Drug Policies in Chicago
Panel 2: On States, Markets and Development Zafer Sonmez, University of Illinois at Chicago – Possibilities for Prosperity in Developing Countries in the Innovation-Driven Global economy: Chasing a Moving Target Brittany VanPutten, Roosevelt University – BRICs: Multilateral Globalists or New Counterhegemonic Order? Chris Poulos, North Eastern Illinois University – State of Crisis: A Look at how the United States and Venezuela Respond to Crisis Mykhailo Kryvoruchko, Virginia State University – The Role of Institutional Governance in the Transition Economy: the Case of Ukraine
Panel 3: Sustaining Us: Food and Environmental Sustainability Asaf Bar-Tura, Loyola University Chicago – Creating a Climate for Change: An Epistemological, Ethical and Technological Argument for a Participatory Approach to Environmental Challengers Kelli Schulte, University of Denver – Sustainable Development in a Changing World Teri Milstein, Western Illinois University – Food Insecurity: Engineering a Global Oligarchy Melissa Feinberg, Benedictine University – Marx Meets his Meat: Reading the Jungle through a Marxist Lens
Panel 4: All in “The Family”? Divisions in the LBGT Community Lindsey N. Bartgis, Roosevelt University – Perceptions of Male Sexual Assault Victims and the LBGTQ Community Stephen Pijanowski, Roosevelt University – Black Pride vs. White Pride in LGBT Communities Worldwide
Session #2 11:15 - 12:45 Panel 5: Women of the World Unite Neville Mforneh Ngwa, University of Illinois at Chicago – Asian/Asian American Women in the Global Economy Sonali Ghosh, University of Illinois at Chicago – Status of Women in Intermarriages in Urban India Taghreed Abu Sarhan, Bowling Green State University – Women’s Liberation? Baghdad Burning ad American rationalizations for the War in Iraq Olena Prokopenko, Western Illinois University – Gender Issues of Political Behavior
Panel 6: An Injury to One is an Injury to All: Labor and Immigration Struggles Today Joseph Letke, University of Illinois at Chicago – Crises in the Empire: Looking for Resistance and Counter-Histories in the Republic Windows and Doors Occupation Colin Reynolds, University of Chicago – Born-Again Solidarity: Conservative Activism and Organized Labor in the Textbook Controversy of 1974 Evin Rodkey, University of Illinois at Chicago – Life After Deportation: Organizing and Daniel J. Kim, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign – North Korean Human Rights Violations
Panel 7: Dimensions of Racial Privilege Oneka Ijeoma, Roosevelt University – Deconstructing the Myth of the Strong Black Woman: Psychology to Pop Culture James Karner, Roosevelt University – Housing Racial Inequality Gavin Thaddeus Lewis, Roosevelt University – The Antebellum Black Elite: Testing the Prevalence of inheritance, Intermarriage, and Social Distance in the Terms of E. Digby Baltzell Shannon Beaudry, Roosevelt University – The construction of difference and privilege in Hawa’ii
Session #3 2:00 – 3:30 Panel 8: Our Bodies, Our Health Mary-Margaret Sweeney, Roosevelt University – Menarchy: Blood, Business and Body Reclamation Jean Pembleton, Roosevelt University – Midwifery: Practices and outcomes in global healthcare systems Kaelie Rockett, Loyola University Chicago – Correctional Healthcare: Legal requirements, Concerns and Controversies Facing Female Correctional Population
Panel 9: Marking Territory: Mass Media and Visual Arts Christina Guevara, Roosevelt University – Art in Public Spaces as Tools for Social Expression Lalinda DeLaFuente, Roosevelt University – Globalization and Mass Media: A Symbiotic Relationship Matthew Goodwin, Rebecca Robbins, Tom Trotter, David Joshua, Fepi Paramarti, University of Phoenix – Social Networking in the 21st Century: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Panel 10: Social Justice and Higher Education from the Prison Industrial Complex This is a special panel highlighting thirteen incarcerated University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign students from Danville Correctional Facility who are participating in the Education Justice Project. In a competitive process open to all students they submitted essays describing what social justice means to them in the context of education and incarceration. The panel organizers, who are also involved in the project, will be presenting a video in which the students present their own work. Presenters: Mr. Earl M. Walker, Johnny Page, Mr. Robert Matthew Reed, Daniel Graves, Leroy Brown, Robert Garite, Larry Brent, Jr., Tyrone F. Muhammad, Otilio E. Rosas, William Wells, Michael Brawn, David Staples, Carlton Gray
Keynote Speaker Elce Redmond An analysis of the current wave of non-violent organized resistance to the unfettered power of corporations and the storm of mobilizations to come.
Biography Elce Redmond is a community organizer and trainer. For the past twenty-five years he has been working with community groups throughout Chicago (including Jobs with Justice and South Austin Coalition), in the nation, and around the world on issues such as the living wage, displacement of public housing residents, an end to the War in Iraq, equal access & disability rights, healthcare, human rights, and more. Currently Mr. Redmond is working on a campaign to spark banking reform, and organizing efforts to pressure the US government to adopt a national jobs program and to improve social safety net programs.
Roosevelt University Department of Sociology The sociology program is devoted to the critical analysis of contemporary societies. Students are encouraged to think beyond everyday assumptions and make connections between the problems of individuals and the broader structures of social life. Faculty strive to question the ‘natural’ appearance of existing social relations in order to reveal how contemporary social relationships are socially and historically constructed.
The Mansfield Institute for Social Justice The Mansfield Institute for Social Justice and Transformation, created in 1999 through a generous gift from the Mansfield Foundation, gives Roosevelt University a unique opportunity to develop an integrated program of curriculum, research, and outreach focused on social justice issues. It is our goal to elevate and foster social consciousness among our students, faculty and members of our community, through a pedagogy of transformational learning and through rich social justice programming in the areas of human rights, social and political action, and the arts. http://www.roosevelt.edu/misj/default.htm
Roosevelt University Sociological Society The mission of the Roosevelt University Sociological Society is to foster the advancement of sociological study at undergraduate and graduate levels by providing outlets for students to present research, exchange ideas, and build relationships. http://www.rusociologicalsociety.org
The College of Arts and Sciences Roosevelt University's College of Arts and Sciences is one of the founding colleges of the University and is the largest college at the University. The college provides innovative courses taught by outstanding faculty within a stimulating academic community. The ten departments in the college offer over 40 majors and minors in both traditional liberal arts programs as well as cutting edge programs in applied and rapidly changing disciplines. http://www.roosevelt.edu/cas/default.htm
Policy Studies Organization To support the work of student research in social justice, the Policy Studies Organization (PSO) will provide a free, one-year membership to the PSO for all student presenters. The PSO is a related society of the American Political Sciences Associations. The mission of the PSO is to effectively disseminate research knowledge in order for that knowledge to reach those who actually set policies. The PSO, headquartered in Washington DC, includes more than 3600 universities and institutions in its membership as well as individuals in more than 93 countries. All PSO members will receive on-line access to the eleven journals and discounts on books that the PSO publishes.
We also thank all the student organizers and our faculty advisor, Professor Stephanie Farmer, for all their hard work putting this event together.
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