Group for Experimental Methods in Humanistic Research
 at Columbia University

Ethnic Studies Rise and LorgiaFest

ACTION on 01 Jan 2020
updates ↓

12/19/19 “Ethnic Studies Rise — LorgiaFest: A Public Humanities Solidarity Action with Dr. Lorgia García Peña,” in ESENDOM by Nelson Santana.
12/19/19 “With ‘Ethnic Studies Rise,’ Academics Take a Stand for Latina Professor Denied Tenure at Harvard,” in Latino Rebels by Amanda Alcántara.
12/20/19 “Ethnic Studies Rise: The Academic Response to Professor Lorgia García-Peña’s Tenure Denial,” in BELatina by Yamily Habib.
12/24/19 “#LorgiaFest Dedicated to Lorgia García Peña Reinforces Need for Ethnic Studies, EsenDom,” in ESENDOM by Nelson Santana.
03/04/20 “Ethnic Studies Faculty Embrace Academic Twitter,” in Diverse Issues in Higher Education by Sara Weissman.

A public humanities effort to honor the extraordinary contributions of scholar Dr. Lorgia García Peña. “Ethnic Studies Rise” was conceived and brought to fruition by Raj Chetty (San Diego State University), Katerina Gonzalez Seligmann (Emerson College), and XP moderator Alex Gil (Columbia University).

The project was implemented as a rapid response to the denial of tenure of Dr. Lorgia García Peña in 2019, and consisted of two parts: First, a Roundtable, which now provides resources and entry points to consider the importance of Ethnic Studies to contemporary thought worldwide. Second, via the Twitter event, LorgiaFest. In this event, scholars from around the world engaged in a public discussion of Dr. García Peña’s work in an effort to raise awareness of its key insights and reach wider audiences. The event proved to be one of the largest Twitter academic book clubs organized on Twitter so far.

In engaging with Dr. García Peña, the team also recognized and honored all of those Ethnic Studies scholars who have encountered resistance and retaliation for their timely work, and to the students who need them and fight daily for epistemological insurrection, academic freedom, and justice in the US academy.