the sager symposium

Sager Symposium 2009 - March 27 & 28

Check out the schedule of events for this year’s symposium!

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Thursday, March 26

• 7:00pm - Film Screening: “A Jihad for Love” by Parvez Sharma (LPAC Cinema)

“A Jihad for Love” is the world’s first feature documentary to explore the complex global intersections between Islam and homosexuality. Parvez enters the many worlds of Islam by illuminating multiple stories as diverse as Islam itself. The film travels a wide geographic arc presenting us lives from India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa and France. Always filming in secret and as a Muslim, Parvez makes the film from within the faith, depicting Islam with the same respect that the film’s characters show for it.

Friday, March 27

• 4:30pm - Sassafras Lowrey - Workshop: “Queer Storytelling” (Hicks Mural Room)

Everyone has a story to tell, and the telling of those stories is essential to the creation of lasting social change. Queer folks often have had their unique and powerful stories of survival, oppression, love, and friendship silenced or reduced to brief stereotypical story lines in mainstream media. This workshop is an opportunity for LGBTQ folks to explore the stories of their lives and identity in a safe and affirming environment. Through a brief look at the powerful history of queer storytelling and then guided writing exercises, workshop participants will discover the transformative power of storytelling. This is a workshop open to everyone from folks who do not consider themselves to be writers, to those experienced with sharing their stories through written word.

• 7:00pm - Juan Battle - Lecture: “Race, Sexuality, & Social Justice: A View of the Future Through the Lens of A Public Sociologist.” (Hicks Mural Room)

This talk will begin by outlining a variety of aspects surrounding leaders and leadership. From there, the discussion will address the impact of Proposition 8 in California. Definitions of race, sexuality, and social justice will be presented and applied to poverty and race relations in the United States as well as abroad. Central to this talk will be discussions of intersectionality, homosexuality, and religion. The talk will end with a critical analysis of the impact of hate crimes in America.

• 9:00pm - Sassafras Lowrey - Performance: “Stories of Cell(ve)s Replaced” (Bond Hall)

Every seven years a body replaces all it’s cells. None of us are the people we were seven years ago. 2009 marks seven years since author Sassafras Lowrey was kicked out of hir rural Oregon home when it was discovered ze was queer. Tonight ze weaves a tapestry of raw and honest tales taken from hir forthcoming books “GSA to Marriage: Stories of a Life Lived Queerly” and the “Kicked Out” anthology as ze explores the epidemic of queer youth homelessness, abuse survival, gender transgresion, race, class, and sexuality.

Saturday, March 28

• 11:00am -Brunch and Coffee (Kohlberg Coffee Bar)

• 12:00pm - Colin Kennedy Donovan - Workshop: “Anti-Racism For (Dis)abled Folks: An Interactive Workshop” (Lang Concert Hall)

Join us as we explore the complexities of white supremacy within the queer and (dis)ability movements. How does white privilege shape activism, lives and experiences with in a broad variety of (dis)ability and psychiatric survivor movements? What does it mean to model anti-ableist work after successful struggles led by folks of color while both the (dis)ability movement and the queer movement continue to be white-dominated? Using Theater of the Oppressed/Oppressor techniques, we will explore these and other questions of allyship and accountability. No previous acting experience needed, just come ready to participate!

• 2:15pm - Amber Hollibaugh - Lecture: “Claiming Age: Creating A LGBT Movement We Can Afford To Grow Old In” (Scheuer Room, Kohlberg Hall)

Right now it would seem that all old people are straight and LGBT people disappear when we hit 60. Yet there are currently 3 million LGBT elders in the United States and that number will double by 2030. Nevertheless, LGBT older adults remain invisible both within the wider LGBT political movement and the heterosexually defined world of aging and elders. This is a talk about what LGBT aging looks like, what is unique in LGBT aging and why it matters.

• 3:30pm - “Activism at the Intersections,” a panel featuring: Reina Gossett from Queers for Economic Justice, Yasmeen Perez of FIERCE, and Caitlin Breedlove from Southerners on New Ground (SONG) (Scheuer Room, Kohlberg Hall)

• 5:30pm - Sager Symposium Banquet (Upper Tarble, Please RSVP to sager@swarthmore.edu)
  

• 9:00pm - 2:00am - Symposium Closing Social : **Closed to Symposium Attendees** (Olde Tarble)