Chicana artist Sandy Rodriguez’s Codex Rodriguez Mondragón (2017—) records the ecological and political crises of our time by engaging contemporary realities of BIPOC and migrant peoples. Several of her maps and illustrations mark, record, & illuminate the farmworker communities of the U.S. and Mexico border regions.

Sandy now comes to New York State to share and learn with Cornell Farmworker Program Director Mary Jo Dudley, who will offer: the role of building partnerships with farmworkers through collaborative research, videos on farmworker-identified critical topics, and maps of the region. They will discuss contributions and challenges among farmers in New York State.

Centering BIPOC voices and creative knowledge of the natural and built environments of the Americas, this discussion will include the multiple migrations of humans, animals, plants, and other beings that have storied or narrativized this land, building on the place-based knowledge of the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ (Cayuga Nation) and their traditional homelands.

Bringing together artist-in-residence, Sandy Rodriguez (Chicana) in dialogue with Rafael Aponte (Afro-Puerto Rican) “Rocky Acres” farmer, Soledad Chango (Quechua) linguist, Katsi’tsakwas Ellen Gabriel (Kanien’kehá:ka / Mohawk Nation) filmmaker and activist, Spencer Lyons (Onoñda’gegá’/Onondaga) knowledge holder, Wayva Waterman Lyons (Onoñda’gegá’/Onondaga) AIISP, Jane Mt. Pleasant (Skarù·ręʔ / Tuscarora) scientist and David and Evelyn George-Shongo (Onöndowa’ga:’ / Seneca) traditionalists.

Please direct any questions to Jolene Rickard jkr33@cornell.edu.

Nyàwę / Thank you.

Join Wendy Wolford and Jason W. Moore for a critical conversation on our contemporary planetary predicament and how different ways of conceptualizing it might entail different strategies for transformative change.

A presentation of the Polson Institute for Global Development

Wendy Wolford is the Robert A. and Ruth E. Polson Professor of Global Development and Vice Provost for International Affairs at Cornell University. Her research includes work on international development, agrarian social mobilization, and critical ethnography. A prolific author, her most article, “The Plantationocene: A Lusotropical Contribution to the Theory,” Annals of the American Association of Geographers (2021), served to frame the international conference on the Plantationocene at Cornell in April 2021.Jason W. Moore is Professor of sociology at Binghamton University and author of Capitalism in the Web of Life (2015) and co-author of A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things (2017).Moderator: Fouad Makki, Associate Professor of Global Development and Director of the Polson Institute.

Forging Lasting Peace: Movements for Justice in a Pluralist World (Bartels World Affairs Lecture)

In our ethnically, racially, linguistically, and religiously diverse world, how do we find common ground? Amid ongoing conflict and violence, how do we foster lasting peace? In our world full of inequalities, what practices of activism and solidarity lead to transformative change? Drawing on her experiences of mobilizing, demanding, and brokering peace, 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee shares how action and activism can shape a just world.

A book signing and reception with refreshments will follow the lecture.

Lecture: 5:00–6:30 p.m. | Alice Statler AuditoriumBook signing and reception: 6:30–7:30 p.m. | Park AtriumFree ticket required for in-person attendance: Reserve your ticket. Join the lecture virtually by registering at eCornell.

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Learn more about our distinguished speaker by reading her book, Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War. Pick up your copy from The Cornell Store and bring it to the book signing! Buffalo Street Books will also have copies for sale at the event.

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How did Leymah Gbowee's protests lead to lasting peace? Read a Bartels explainer by Naminata Diabate.

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About Leymah Gbowee

Nobel Peace laureate Leymah Gbowee is a Liberian peace activist, trained social worker, and women's rights advocate. She currently serves as executive director of the Women, Peace, and Security Program at Columbia University's Earth Institute and is the founder and current president of the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa, founding head of the Liberia Reconciliation Initiative, and cofounder and former executive director of the Women, Peace, and Security Network Africa. She is also a founding member and former Liberian coordinator of Women in Peacebuilding Network/West Africa Network for Peacebuilding.

Host and Sponsors

The Bartels World Affairs Lecture is a signature event of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies. Part of Einaudi's work on Inequalities, Identities, and Justice, this year's lecture is cosponsored by Einaudi's Institute for African Development and Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, in cooperation with Peace is Loud. To learn more about Peace is Loud and discover other empowering women peacebuilders, visit www.peaceisloud.org.

Bartels World Affairs Lecture

The Einaudi Center’s flagship event brings distinguished international figures to campus each academic year to speak on global topics and meet with Cornell faculty and students, particularly undergraduates. The lecture and related events are made possible by the generosity of Henry E. Bartels ’48 and Nancy Horton Bartels ’48.