Dr. Jennifer Nash on Black Motherhood, Birth, and Healthcare

Jennifer NashHistory of Sojourner Truth Lecture:
Each year at Mason, Women and Gender Studies and African and African American Studies co-sponsor the Sojourner Truth Lecture Series during the spring in honor of Black History and Women’s History months. In the past, our speakers have included Ntosake Shange, Donna Brazile, bell hooks, Anita Hill, Patricia Hill Collins, Dorothy Roberts, Nekima Levy-Pounds, Janet Mock and other notable women. We've designed the Sojourner Truth lecture to be a rich and varied experience and thus we construct the speaker's visit around the lecture and also include a smaller event, such as a seminar with students or a conversation among women across racial/ethnic backgrounds.

2022 Sojourner Truth Lecture:
This year’s lecturer was Jennifer Nash, a Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies at Duke University. She earned her PhD in African American Studies at Harvard University and her JD at Harvard Law School.  She is the author of three books: The Black Body in Ecstasy: Reading Race, Reading Pornography (awarded the Alan Bray Memorial Book Prize by the GL/Q Caucus of the Modern Language Association), Black Feminism Reimagined (awarded the Gloria Anzaldúa Book Prize by the National Women's Studies Association), and Birthing Black Mothers.  She is also the editor of Gender: Love (Macmillan, 2016).  Dr. Nash's research has been supported by the ACLS/Burkhardt Fellowship, Radcliffe Institute, and the Woodrow Wilson Junior Faculty Career Enhancement Fellowship.  Her current book project is How We Write Now: Living With Black Feminist Theory (under contract, Duke University Press). (Source: Duke University, Scholars@Duke)

The morning of the lecture, Dr. Nash met with students and faculty each in invitation-only forums to discuss feminist theory, careers, and life. In her lecture, Dr. Nash spoke about her book, Birthing Black Mothers, and her research process for that. She was then interviewed by Dr. Tianna Cobb (Post-Doctoral Research and Teaching Fellow in the Department of Communication, African and African American Studies, and Women and Gender Studies) about her book and experiences in feminist research. Dr. Nash also discussed issues of black motherhood, difficulties black women experience in health care including child birth, and the importance of representation in health care. 

Recorded Lecture

Visit the link below to watch the 2022 Sojourner Truth Lecture 

https://gmu.zoom.us/rec/share/ZGaCI7iSj_Ql7YEH0vC89u3jCUL71mjE5THfjHjdt7t-PaeXKGLDjqJdLA7UPcVa.PKf0qEVw8DfntbPI

Visit the link below for a transcript of the 2022 Sojourner Truth Lecture

https://gmuedu-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/wgst_gmu_edu/EUF2opcb799GuVgKSr4jRR8BIqxmn3FKIkZqrxY60gZcIw?e=6JrDgR