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Battelle Tompkins , Room T-23 on a map
Critical RGC Studies 4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW Washington, DC 20016-8144 United StatesWhat Is the CRGC?
The Department of Critical Race, Gender, and Culture Studies (CRGC) is a vibrant and inclusive community of faculty and students that explores diverse voices, histories, and experiences through socially engaged scholarship:
News & Announcements
CRGC hosted reading and workshop with Regie Cabico, 3-time national slam poetry champion and author of A Rabbit in Search of a Rolex, in conversation with Professor Anita Mannur on April 7.
CRGC hosted Heated Rivalry Panel & Discussion on March 25 with SoulCycle instructors Claryssa Cunniff and Kaleigh Morgan in conversation with faculty Dr. Anita Mannur, Dr. Tyler Christensen, Dr. Theresa Runstedtler, and Dr. J Palmeri.
In conversation: Sara Clarke Kaplan and Mali Collins discussed Collins' new book Scrap Theory: Reproductive Justice in the Black Feminist Imagination. Collins also spoke about her book at Red Emma's and the Clifton House.
Suzanne C. Persard was one of the featured scholars invited to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Gayatri Gopinath's Impossible Desires: Queer Diasporas and South Asian Public Cultures at NYU's Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality.
Drs. Kaplan, Wong, and Dorr signed an advanced contract with University of Washington Press for our forthcoming anthology, Abolition Everywhere. Building from our national convening this past spring, this collaborative project convenes scholars and practitioners working to dismantle policing and the carceral state with those deploying abolitionist frameworks to stage critical interventions in other movements and areas–including militarism and war, land and climate justice, housing and property, im/migration and reproductive justice–to construct a new model and agenda for research and action. Together we examine the convergent formation of abolitionist theory and praxis across a range of social movements to productively complicate and/or expand how we understand the inner workings of carceral power across different sites and scales. Given the urgencies of our current political moment, our aim is to strengthen conversations and connections across these movements and traditions.
Mary Ellen Curtin's book She Changed the Nation: Barbara Jordan's Life and Legacy in Black Politics was named one of the Five Best Books on Black Women's Political Leadership in Ms. magazine.
Katia Quintanilla (LTST 2025) has been working at Maggio Kattar, an immigration law firm in Washington, DC that specializes in employment immigration. After working as a legal assistant and partly as a translator for the firm's humanitarian cases, Katia has recently been promoted to Client Coordinator and will begin to take on a more administrative role within the firm.
Dr. David Vázquez, Director of the Latina/o/x Studies Minor, has been selected to be the President of the Latina/o Studies Association! Dr. Vázquez has also recently published a book titled Decolonial Environmentalisms: Climate Justice and Speculative Futures in Latinx Cultural Production (University of Texas Press, 2025).
More News
Anita Mannur’s co-edited anthology anthology, Eating More Asian America: A Food Studies Reader, has been published by New York University Press.
Eli Givens, CLEG major and WGSS minor, received the Youth Spirit Award for the National Alliance on Mental Illness Well Within Awards in Tennessee. In their work with these organizations, Eli has had a singular focus which is to ensure that every young person in Tennessee feels seen, valued, and fought for. As a non-binary young person, Eli is keenly aware of the challenges faced by young people in the midst of legislative hate. Over the course of their work, they have testified in front of the House Subcommittee defending transgender health care, they have worked to organize a queer prom for LGBTQ+ youth, and have connected with leaders, teachers, and healthcare providers across the state to help construct safe spaces.
Cheick Hamala Diabate appeared at AU in November 2024: From Mali to Mississippi: The History of the Kora Playing in Africa and Beyond...
“The music we griots play is not just about making nice sounds for dancing, it’s about giving a lesson to people about their lives."
CRGC professor Elizabeth Rule screened a rough cut of her forthcoming documentary, DC Is Indian Land, at Busboys & Poets in DC.
On October 30 the Arab World Studies Program presented “Jewish Arabness, Zionism, & the Politics of Elimination” with Massoud Hayoun, an award-winning author, journalist, and artist, in conversation with Arab World Studies Program Director, Irene Calis.
On October 8, CRGC hosted Prof. Jordache Ellapen (University of Rochester) in conversation with Prof. Suzanne C. Perard (American University) about Indenture Aesthetics, queer and feminist visual practices in post-apartheid South Africa.
Mary Ellen Curtin’s book, She Changed the Nation: Barbara Jordan’s Life and Legacy in Black Politics, a biography of the first Black woman from the South to serve in Congress, was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in September 2024.
Lily Wong co-edited an anthology, Transpacific, Undisciplined (University of Washington Press 2024), with Christopher B. Patterson and Chien-ting Lin. Lily was also awarded the Solidarity Award at AAPI Women Lead’s Building New Worlds conference.
Robert Connelly spoke with The Washington Blade about the history of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric used by members of the Republican Party.
Quynh Vo spoke with Vox about the history of Vietnamese representation in Hollywood.
Quynh Vo published a chapter, "Transpacific Rupture: Neoliberal Relationalities and Economic Violence in the COVID Era," in Transpacific, Undisciplined (University of Washington Press 2024).
Anita Mannur’s historicization of Trump’s racist false accusations against Haitian immigrants in Ohio was quoted by various news outlets, including the Washington Post.
Suzanne Persard’s series of poems are included in the groundbreaking anthology of Indo-Caribbean translations I Will Not Go: Translations, Transformations, and Chutney Fractals, (Kaya Press, 2024), edited by Rajiv Mohabir. Suzanne read selections from the book launch in New York City, which was part of the Brooklyn Book Festival.
Bob Connelly served as the dramaturg and co-producer for the St. Mark’s Players' production of Rapture, Blister, Burn, which was co-directed by AU alumna Heather Danskin.
Alum Spotlight: Sydney North
AFAM/CRGC is what pushed me to reach a deeper level of understanding about the social limitations present in American society. CRGC classes provided me with the opportunity to read personal accounts of those who have struggled and persisted regardless of their identity, consistently making efforts to make our society a more just place. Additionally, I learned about how the legal system in America has been and continues to be used to support discrimination, prompting my decision to go to law school. Upon becoming a lawyer, I would like to correct some of the injustices that I learned about during my time with CRGC.
—Sydney North, Political Science Major, African American & African Diaspora Studies and History Minor '24.
