2024 CONFERENCE
“Embodying Autonomy: Liberating the Physical Self”
Human rights begin within ourselves – within the very bodies we inhabit. Today, the politics of the body are at the forefront of discussions surrounding the liberation of marginalized communities. This moment prompts us to ponder:
To what extent should the state dictate our bodily choices?
What can liberation movements teach us about the profound significance and politics inherent to our bodies?
Our upcoming conference will delve into these questions, critically examining the concept of bodily autonomy in a post-Roe era. We'll go beyond a singular perspective, aiming to unravel the full spectrum of constraints on personal freedom and physical embodiment of self in today's world. The event will feature two keynote speakers, two thought-provoking panels, a hands-on workshop, enlightening site visits, and more. Join us for a captivating exploration of liberation and self determination on February 23-25, 2024.
Applications are now closed. Please stay tuned to our social media for more information about further opportunities to get involved with our 2024 conference!
Keynote 1, Emi Koyama: Abolition Democracy and Sex Work Decriminalization
(Friday, 7:00 pm — 8:30 pm)
In the last few years, sex workers and people in the sex trade endured government-led shutdowns of advertising and “bad date” checking websites diminishing safety and autonomy, expulsions from social media platforms and financial services, increased technology-based surveillance and abuse including facial recognition and deepfake, and exclusion from pandemic relief such as expanded unemployment insurance, remote work opportunities, or prioritized access to personal protective equipment or (when it became available) vaccines, forcing many to expose themselves to deadly virus. Even as people in the sex trade continue to resist these policies and technological developments through grass-roots organizing and mutual aid, Silicon Valley funders are entering state-level efforts to decriminalize sex work without much input from people actually experiencing policing, surveillance, and criminalization, pushing for a vision of decriminalizing sex work contrary to the interests or priorities of people in the sex trade. Speaker Emi Koyama is part of the movement of mostly BIPOC women, queer and trans people advocating for an abolition democracy approach to decriminalization, following W.E.B. duBois’ approach to Slavery abolition and Angela Davis’ approach to prison abolition. Koyama’s keynote will explore the nuances of these issues, centering the stories of those most affected.
Keynote 2, Da’Shaun Harrison: Desirability and/as Power: How Moral Panic Led Diet Culture and Food Apartheid to Becoming an Imperial Strategies
(Sunday, 3:30 pm — 5:00 pm)
Da'Shaun uses the current war on Palestine and Michelle Obama’s 2011 speech at the National League of Cities conference to talk about fascism, diet culture, and anti-fatness as essential components of world-making—by which Da'Shaun means antiblack—violence. They take the listener through from the 18th and 19th century-era diet reforms to contextualize the 20th and 21st century use of diet, exercise, and food apartheid as central to (western) military strategies.
Bio: Da’Shaun Harrison is a trans theorist and Southern-born and bred abolitionist in Atlanta, GA. Harrison is the award-winning author of Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness. As an editor, movement media and narrative strategist, and writer, Harrison uses their extensive history as a community organizer to frame their political thought and cultural criticism.
Panel 1: Palestine
(Saturday, 9:30 am — 11:30 am)
Speakers to be announced
Panel 2: Incarceration and Violence
(Sunday, 10:00 am — 12:00 pm)
Speakers to be announced