Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program (LACS) Seminar Series, Co-sponsored by: City and Regional Planning (CRP) and the Cornell Center for Health Equity (CCHEq).

A discussion with three Puerto Rican community leaders from Caño Martín Peña CLT, Taller Salud and La Colmena Cimarrona who will be speaking about strategies of resistance, community solidarities and emancipatory processes to advance collective land ownership and land-based repair mechanisms that improve access to housing, built environment, environment, food security, and climate adaptation; ultimately contributing to achieving health justice. Land is at the root of structural inequities. It is also the basis for community sovereignty, justice and healing. Within a Puerto Rican context, community land claims acquire particular relevance due to the continuous exposure to climate injustices, the lack of adequate investment for basic infrastructure on the island and structural power inequities.

In the past decade, China's grassroots feminist movement, primarily led by young women, has brought about transformative changes to various gender-discriminatory policies in the country. Through activist endeavors, this movement has initiated a ground-up understanding of feminism among the general public. Despite the constrained political environment, the feminist movement persists in various manifestations and continues to evolve.

In this talk, Churan Zheng, Chinese feminist activist and organizer, provides an overview of the strategies employed by young feminist activists in China, while also delving into the current trajectory and objectives of the feminist movement amidst a backdrop of political tightening.

Zheng will be introduced by Eli Friedman (ILR), faculty host and moderator. The event is hosted by the Einaudi Center's East Asia Program and cosponsored by the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program at Cornell.

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About the Speaker

Churan Zheng is a Chinese feminist activist and organizer and is one of the China Feminist Five. Since 2012, she has been organizing young Chinese women to engage in policy advocacy and public education and has also worked on advocating for female workers’ rights. She is one of the co-recipients of Ms. Magazine's 10 of the Most Inspiring Feminists of 2015 and one of the BBC's 100 Women in 2016.

The Cornell Population Center brings Luca Maria Pesando, Associate Professor of Social Research and Public Pollicy at New York University Abu Dhabi. He will give his talk, "Dynamics of School Expansion and Sociocultural Changes in inter-Casate Marriage in India."