Gender, Care Networks, and Social Justice

media release: The Chicanx/e & Latinx/e Studies Program is proud to announce its 2025-2026 speaker series, titled “Building Communities of Care and Resilience in Times of Crisis.” As the Program prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary, it is organizing four panels about Latinx resistance to injustice. Speakers will examine the practices, histories, and social movements that cultivate care and resilience. The series explores not only exclusion and marginalization but also long histories of struggle for enduring change, freedom, and social justice, with a focus on alternative communities of care, alternative models of sociality, and innovative visions of relationality that emerge among Latinx communities in times of crisis and conflict.   There will be ample opportunities for students, faculty, staff, and members of the community to exchange ideas with our presenters.  The series is made possible by the Anonymous Fund and several campus partners. Panels will occur in-person with an option to participate by videochat.

Panel 4: Gender, Care Networks, and Social Justice

Thursday, April 9, 2026, 4:00 pm, Memorial Library 126

This panel features the work of feminist scholars who examine how Latina women organize, collaborate, and engage in practices of care in their communities as they fight social inequalities in areas of reproductive justice, disability rights, and education. The panel will also be accessible through videochat.

Speakers:

Patricia Zavella, professor emeria, Latin American & Latino studies, UC Santa Cruz

María Elena Cepeda, professor of Latinx studies, Williams College

Anna Ochoa-O'Leary, professor, department head, Mexican American studies, U Arizona