The University will hold its inaugural Gender, Sexuality and Race Research Symposium Friday (April 13) in the Greenbrier Room at the Mountainlair. The program begins at noon with a lunch buffet. At 12:30 p.m., Meshea Poore, Vice President of the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion will give the welcome before keynote speaker Mamone will talk about "Queer Appalachia’s Electric Dirt Grows Restorative Justice & Harm Reduction in Appalachia by Redefining the Region’s Media #ourmountainstoo"
Mamone is an audio engineer and artist living in the coalfields of West Virginia. They engineered and produced some of the first Riot Grrrl albums to come out of the PNW. Up until 2014, they were the president of Brooklyn based Riot Grrrl Ink, the largest queer record label in the world, with an artist roster of over 200 that ranged from the Gay Ole Opry to Andrea Gibson. In 2014, in a act of solidarity with the emerging #BlackLivesMatter movement and in an intentional act of reparations & redistribution of wealth, Mamone gave RGI to Awqward, the first queer POC/ indigenous talent agency. These days they produce & engineer music festival live streams all over the world from Glastonbury to Coachella. Mamone is the Creative Director of the Queer Appalachia Project, they communicate with over 60,000 people a day who call home below the Mason-Dixon through the project’s social media. Mamone’s art will be featured in a solo show this fall at the Sheheradaze Gallery in Louisville, Kentucky.
Also that day:
1:45 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Doing Diversity Work at a Predominantly White Institution (PWI)
Dr. Cari Carpenter, Center for Women’s and Gender Studies Program
Dr. Nancy Caronia, Department of English
Charlotte Hoelke, Women’s Resource Center
Jorge Castillo, LGBTQ+ Center
Kassandra Colón, WGST Major and member of Triota Honor Society
3:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Healthcare and Reproductive Freedom as Social Justice
Julie Warden, WV Free
Emily Thompson, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic WV
Christine Jacobs, WVU Title IX
5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Keynote Speaker Howard Adler: "Hard Out: Howard Adler Film Retrospective"
Adler holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Indigenous Studies from Trent University, and a Master of Arts Degree in Canadian Studies from Carleton University. He is currently the Workshop Coordinator at SAW Video Media Art Centre. He also works as a freelance videographer and video editor, and is the co-director and programmer for the Asinabka Festival, an annual Indigenous film and media arts festival in Ottawa. Howard’s film and video work has been exhibited in both Gallery settings and film festivals, such as ImagineNATIVE (Toronto), Weengushk (Sudbury), Biindigaate (Thunder Bay), and SAW Video's annual resolution screening (Ottawa). Howard is Jewish and Ojibwa and a member of Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation in northwestern Ontario.
Co-Organizers:
LGBTQ+ Center
Women’s Resource Center
Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Special Thanks:
Center for Women’s and Gender Studies
Meshea Poore, Vice President for the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Bonnie Brown, Coordinator of the Native American Studies Program
Alison Sommer, Graphic Designer
Council for Women’s Concerns
Triota Honor Society