Feminisms and the Ethics of Care

In the past decade we have seen renewed energy infused to the concept of care in feminist theorizing, writing, teaching, and organizing. How might we articulate a feminist ethic of care, and why does it matter? What does care look like in visual culture, writing, organizing, and thinking? If, indeed Black feminist theory in particular is “emphatically preoccupied with care” (as Jennifer Nash states in Black Feminism Re-imagined) how does one develop, display, and espouse an ethic of care in relation to feminist work? Why has care come to characterize so much of our work and what are the stakes of our preoccupation with care? In the context of 21st century assaults on racialized, sexualized, and gendered bodies, what does turning to care clear space for on the page, in the mind, in the community, and in the world? How does an ethic of care issue a challenge to models of consumption, accumulation, or production? What does it mean, look like, or feel like to place care at the center of feminisms?

Panelists:

• Chastity Bowick, Transgender Emergency Fund

  Chastity Bowick is an award-winning activist, civil rights leader, and transgender health advocate. She is currently the Executive Director of the Transgender Emergency Fund of Massachusetts, Inc., which is the leading crisis agency for transgender communities in Massachusetts. Chastity also serves on the Trans Resistance MA Board of Directors. Born and raised in Rochester, NY, Chastity began her own transition early at the age of 18 when she moved to Boston to safely pursue her gender affirmation process. After surviving domestic violence and survival sex-work, she proudly obtained a Master’s Certificate in Non-Profit Human Services Management from Clark University.

  Prior to her work with TEF and Trans Resistance, Chastity served as a board member of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition from 2014 to 2018. MTPC is an organization dedicated to ending discrimination based on gender identity and gender expression. She has also led transgender health programming at AIDS Project Worchester. Many of the support groups and transgender-focused health navigation models she founded in Worchester were the first of its kind in the city. It was because of this trailblazing work and her commitment to strengthening marginalized communities, that Chastity was the 2016 recipient of the Belinda Dunn Award at the 27th Annual Bayard Rustin Community Breakfast. She then went on to become the Program Coordinator of TransCEND (Transgender Care and Education Needs Diversity) at AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, a program dedicated to uplifting transgender communities in Greater Boston through health navigation, peer support groups and social events.

• Dzidzor Azaglo, Reckonings Project & Northeastern University

  Dzidzor (Jee-Jaw) is a Ghanian-American folklore, performing artist, author, and curator. Dzidzor's style of call and response has combined traditional storytelling in Afro-folklore and Poetry Slam through a sonic experience. Dzidzor is moved by the responsibility to alarm the power/abundance in the midst of bodies while creating a practice of care and freedom through creativity. Dzidzor is the founder of Black Cotton Club and partners with Grubstreet, ICA Boston, and Boston Public Schools to teach creative empowerment workshops in Boston.
  
  Born in Italy, to Ghanian Parents and raised in North Carolina. She's immersed herself in merging cultures from the South to Ghanian culture. Dzidzor has released a book of poems entitled, "For Girls Who Cry in Yellow" inspired by childhood experiences, healing, and womanhood. Dzidzor has been nominated twice, for a Boston Music Awards. Dzidzor released her debut EP entitled, "bush woman" on April 10th, 2020 and is currently working on songs that you can find on streaming services everywhere. Dzidzor's soundscape, 'Black Church Burning' is currently featured at the "I Am As I Am: A Man," by Napoleon Henderson-Jones at the ICA in Boston.

• Michelle Grier, Girls for Gender Equity

  Michelle oversees GGE's core programming and campaigns (policy/organizing) work. In collaboration with the GGE team and key stakeholders, she leads GGEs strategic priorities to ensure the support and empowerment of young people while being an ambassador for GGE's mission to external local and national groups.  Michelle is a Black Feminist and social worker from Brooklyn. She has over 15 years of experience facilitating conversations about race and oppression, cultivating youth programming, and providing mental health support services to children and their families. Michelle holds an MSSW from Columbia University and a BS from Wesleyan University. She sits on the advisory board of the THIRTEEN Educational Services Advisory Committee and is a member of Coro Leadership New York, Cohort '31. Michelle enjoys a good bookstore and searching for the best pizza spots throughout NYC.

• Treva Lindsey, Ohio State University, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

  Treva B. Lindsey is a Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at The Ohio State University and the co-founder of Black Feminist Night School at Zora’s House. Her research and teaching interests include African American women’s history, black popular and expressive culture, black feminism(s), hip hop studies, critical race and gender theory, and sexual politics.  Her most recent book, America Goddam: Violence, Black Women, and The Struggle for Justice (University of California Press) was described as “required reading for all Americans” a starred Kirkus review.  Her first book, Colored No More: Reinventing Black Womanhood in Washington D.C was a Choice 2017 “Outstanding Academic Title.” She has published in The Journal of Pan-African Studies, Souls, African and Black Diaspora, the Journal of African American Studies, African American Review, The Journal of African American History, Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, Urban Education, The Black Scholar, Feminist Studies, and Signs. She was a 2020-2021 ACLS/Mellon Scholars and Society Fellow. She was the inaugural Equity for Women and Girls of Color Fellow at Harvard University (2016-2017). She also writes for and contributes to outlets such as Time, CNN, Al Jazeera, NBC, BET, Complex, Vox, The Root, Huffington Post, PopSugar, Billboard, Bustle, Teen Vogue, Grazia UK, The Grio, The Washington Post, Women’s Media Center, Zora, and Cosmopolitan.