Ecological Conversations: Gender, Science, and the Sacred Final Program Colloquium May 6-9, 2002 Ecological Conversations: Gender, Science and the Sacred, a Rockefeller Foundation Resident Fellowship Program hosted by the University of Oregon's Center for the Study of Women in Society, has brought together a diverse group of scholars and activists during the past three years to engage in dialogue addressing philosophical, scientific, political, and spiritual perspectives of our human interactions with the natural world. While in residence, fellows worked on their own research, gave public lectures, and participated in on-going conversations with university faculty and students from several disciplines. The week of May 6-10, all fifteen fellows will return to campus for a final program colloquium. Focusing our collective insight toward a dialogue of re-imagining, we will work to build a provocative vision connecting ecological sustainability, social justice, an ethics of care and a politics of hope. We welcome you to join the dialogue via this series of public lectures and panel discussions. All lectures begin at 7 p.m. in the Erb Memorial Union Ballroom, University of Oregon. Monday, May 6th Who Hears Their Cry? African-American Women and Environmental Justice Andrea Simpson Andrea Simpson is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Washington. An award winning teacher and author, her research focuses on issues of race, class, and gender in African-American political life. Currently a Rockefeller Fellow at the University of Memphis, Dr. Simpson's recent research illuminates environmental justice activism in the South, particularly the role of working class African-American women as political actors within the environmental justice movement. Adeptly aware of the multiple and intersecting identities that shape the contemporary working class African-American woman's condition and life experience, Dr. Simpson's research opens new territory in social science literature with thoughtful insights regarding this highly politically active and socially conscious group. Author of The Tie that Binds: Identity and Political Attitudes in the Post-Civil Rights Generation (New York University Press, 1998) Panelists: Kamala Platt, Visiting Scholar, Feminist Research Institute, University of New Mexico Sandra Morgen, Director, Center for the Study of Women in Society, University of Oregon Robin Collin, Professor, School of Law, University of Oregon   Wednesday, May 8th A Crisis of Imagination: Community, Spirituality, and the Possible Pramila Jayapal Pramila Jayapal is a writer, consultant, and activist involved in international and domestic social justice issues. As the Director of the Fund for Technology Transfer at the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health from 1991 to 1995, Ms. Jayapal facilitated the funding of important socially responsible projects in Asia, Latin America, and Africa - including funding for critical AIDS prevention programs, rural women's savings and credit groups, and safe birth kits for the prevention of neonatal and maternal tetanus. During the following two years Ms. Jayapal lived in villages and small towns across India, as a recipient of a writing fellowship from the Institute of Current World Affairs, recording her personal experiences and perspectives on modern Indian Society. Upon her return to the United States, she worked as a consultant to non-profit organizations on local, national, and international program development and evaluation. She lives in Seattle and recently founded The Hate Free Zone Campaign of Washington in direct response to the backlash against immigrants following the terrorist attacks of September 11th. Author of Pilgrimage: One Woman's Return to a Changing India. (Seal Press, 2000) Panelists: Nimachia Hernandez, Assistant Professor, Native American Studies, University of California, Berkeley Brinda Rao, Sociologist, feminist scholar, and community activist working with people living on the margins of Indian Society Veronica Brady, Roman Catholic Nun, Senior Research Fellow in English, Communication, and Cultural Studies, University of Western Australia   Thursday, May 9th The Sacred Depths of Nature Ursula Goodenough Ursula Goodenough is professor of biology at Washington University in St. Louis. One of America's leading cell biologists, she has served as President of the American Society of Cell Biology and has authored three editions of the best-selling textbook, Genetics. Her research has focused on the cell biology and molecular genetics of unicellular eukaryotic green alga. She joined the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science in 1989 and has served continuously on its council and as its president for 4 years. Her recent book, The Sacred Depths of Nature, explores religious responses to our scientific understanding of nature that have the potential to serve as an underpinning for a planetary consensus on global ecology. Author of The Sacred Depths of Nature. (Oxford University Press, 1998) Panelists: Evan Eisenberg, Writer, philosopher, and music historian; Author of The Ecology of Eden Sarah McFarland Taylor, Assistant Professor, Religion, Northwestern University Bitty Roy, Associate Professor, Biology, University of Oregon For more information call 541-346-5399 This event is sponsored by the University of Oregon Center for the Study of Women in Society as part of the Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship Program Ecological Conversations: Gender, Science, and the Sacred. Co-sponsors: University of Oregon Department of Biology, the International Studies Program, the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies, the Oregon Humanities Center.   < Back to Top