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Belonging, hosting a total of 11 events. Browse the events below to learn more; many feature videos in case you missed them!
Belonging events facilitated collaborative contemplation of diverse marginalized communities’ battles over and for belonging throughout the United States’ national journey toward being a place where, as Langston Hughes put it, “opportunity is real, and life is free” and “equality is in the air we breathe.” Beyond the borders of the US, our discussions also explored historical belonging and its antonym, exclusion—slavery and antisemitism; forced diasporas and migrations; colonialism and its children.
This focus seeks to advance the understanding of the term “belonging” as a call to action, as one side of a dynamic that is not an automatically enduring, always already reality; as something that, in order to be sustainable across time and space, requires sustained ethical action. In order for all members of our communities to experience belonging, we must all commit to empathy-driven engagement: departing from, rather than perpetuating, the status quo. It is our hope that the conversations in this series will be a positive step in this direction.
April 27, 2022
Jamil Zaki, associate professor of psychology at Stanford University and director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Laboratory, led a discussion on the urgent need for building empathy in our modern, fractured world.
April 25, 2022
Regina Davis ’79, a partner at Strategic Urban Development Alliance (SUDA), and faculty member Linwood J. Lewis discussed housing and community, the economic forces of gentrification, and how communities and allies come together to create change.
March 22, 2022
Dr. Chandralekha Singh, director of the Science Education Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh, shared her extensive research that shows how different types of social psychological interventions have improved motivation and learning outcomes of science students.
March 9, 2022
Greyston Foundation President and CEO Joseph Kenner and Vice President of Strategic Programs & Partnerships Dr. Penny Jennings shared how the Foundation unlocks the power of human potential through inclusive employment.
March 3, 2022
Author Mae Ngai, a central historian in the field of immigration and law, led a discussion of her latest work, The Chinese Question: The Gold Rushes and Global Politics.
March 1, 2022
Baba Badji, a fellow at the Institute for the Study of Racial Justice and a postdoctoral fellow in Comparative Literature at Rutgers University, led a discussion of his journey as a child from Senegal to the United States and read from his book of poems, Ghost Letters.
February 10, 2022
Jada Benn Torres, Associate Professor of Anthropology and the director for the Laboratory of Genetic Anthropology and Biocultural Studies at Vanderbilt University, and Gabriel Torres Colón, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Vanderbilt University, led a discussion centered on genetic ancestry, “mangrove politics,” and birthing Afro-Puerto Rican futures.
February 2, 2022
Sarah Lawrence, in partnership with Ava DuVernay’s film collective Array, presented a special screening of the 1993 film Sankofa, followed by a panel discussion.
October 28, 2021
Thought leader and New York University's Chief Diversity Officer Lisa Coleman joined Ifeoma Kiddoe Nwankwo, Sarah Lawrence's Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, for a conversation about the meanings, challenges, and possiblities of Belonging—past, present, and future.
October 20, 2021
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and SLC Theatre partnered to bring drag icon Peppermint to campus for a celebration of community, advocacy, queer liberation, and finding joy through self-love and artistic practice.
September 28, 2021
Charles Yu joined President Cristle Collins Judd in a conversation about his 2020 National Book Award winning Interior Chinatown as well as the larger topic of belonging. Questions from the audience, comprised of students, faculty, staff, and the general public both in person and online, made for a thoughtful and thought-provoking discussion.
The Belonging series' consideration of a theme from a range of geographical, disciplinary, and temporal perspectives builds on the work of previous academic year event series: Justice (2020-21), E Pluribus Unum (2019-20), Difference in Dialogue (2018-19), and Democracy and Education (2017-18).