Alan Pelaez Lopez, Research Scholar

CRG Research Scholar, Alan Pelaez Lopez is an adornment artist and a writer from the southern coast of Oaxaca, México. At Berkeley, Alan is pursuing a Ph.D. in Comparative Ethnic Studies, where he examines the ways in which undocumented Black immigrants create art spaces as a form of political protest that resist notions of Black citizenship and illegality. Alan’s poetry and non-fiction essays are influenced by growing up undocumented in the hoods of Boston and New York City. His work can be found in Everyday Feminism; TeleSur; The Feminist Wire; Black Girl Dangerous; Fusion Magazine; A Quiet Courage, and more. He coordinates the CRG Arts & Humanities Initiative.

Radical Kinship Series

A series curated and hosted by CRG’s Arts and Humanities Initiative Research Scholar, Alán Pelaez Lopez.  Radical Kinship Series will host conversations that confront how we fail and succeed to show up for one another in the midst of violence.

#BLACKLIVESMATTER AND INDIGENOUS RESISTANCE: THINKING THROUGH INTERSECTIONAL MOVEMENTS

Thursday, Sep 17, 2020 | 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm

VIRTUAL EVENT – ZOOM WEBINAR

This community dialogue brings together Amber Starks and Ashley Ngozi Agbasoga to discuss Afro-Indigenous resistance, contradictions and their radical possibilities. Starks, who is also known as @MelaninMvskoke on social media, is a Black Mvskoke (Creek) citizen whose tweets and Instagram art encourage Black and Indigenous peoples to prioritize one another and divest from compartmentalizing struggles. Her public work includes provoking questions such as, “How many times have we sacrificed self love for white supremacy?,” and “How old were you when you first believed ‘Black Lives Matter?’” Agbasoba, similarly to Starks, is committed to conversations that directly address white supremacy in Black and Indigenous communities. A doctoral candidate at Northwestern University, Agbasoga’s work illuminates how Black, Indigenous, and Black/Afro-Indigenous women engage in placemaking practices that reveal and unsettle notions of race, place, and modern state formation in México. Join us for a dialogue and q&a.

Click here to Register to receive a personalized link to join the Zoom webinar.

*If you require an accommodation for effective communication (ASL interpreting/CART captioning, alternative media formats, etc.) to fully participate in this event, please contact Ariana Ceja at centerrg@berkeley.edu with as much advance notice as possible and at least 7-10 days in advance of the event.

BLACK TRANS INTIMACIES: ON BUILDING FUTURES IN THE PRESENT

Thursday, Oct 29, 2020 | 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm

VIRTUAL EVENT – ZOOM WEBINAR

Black Trans Intimacies: On Building Futures in the Present

In this roundtable, trans and nonbinary artists and scholars come together to discuss the ways in which intimacy is rendered and re-imagined in our contemporary moment and how intimacy serves as a world-building tool. Participants will share their work (poetry, scholarly research and activism) and speak of their work as a form of intimacy with the world and against patriarchy and anti-Blackness. This event aims to ask: what kind of intimacies do we need today for all Black trans and nonbinary people to be free tomorrow?

Zoom webinar link coming soon. 

*If you require an accommodation for effective communication (ASL interpreting/CART captioning, alternative media formats, etc.) to fully participate in this event, please contact Ariana Ceja at centerrg@berkeley.edu with as much advance notice as possible and at least 7-10 days in advance of the event.