Sarah Schulman, acclaimed writer, activist and Distinguished Professor of Humanities at the City University of New York, College of Staten Island, will present a free public lecture, titled “Solidarity Visit: Israel/Palestine and the Queer International” on Monday, Oct. 3, at 7:30 p.m. in Gifford Auditorium, in Huntington Beard Crouse Hall.
Presented as part of ϲ Symposium™ and the ’s annual Coming Out Month, the lecture is co-sponsored by the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies in the ; and the women and gender studies, LGBT studies and creative writing programs in . ϲ Symposium™ is a semester-long exploration of the public humanities presented by the ϲ Humanities Center for The College of Arts and Sciences and the entire ϲ community. “Identity” is the theme of this year’s symposium.
Schulman’s presentation is free and open to the public; reduced-rate parking is available in the Irving Garage.
“Sarah Schulman is an important literary and activist voice within many queer communities. We are honored to have her as a featured speaker for our Coming Out Month events. LGBTQA students, faculty, staff and community members will find her words compelling about contemporary and historical issues facing our communities, particularly the intersection of sexual, ethnic, religious and national identities,” says Chase Catalano, director of the LGBT Resource Center.
Schulman’s lecture will describe how an invitation to Israel began a dramatic personal transformation and growing political awareness in which, after years of avoidance, she faced and confronted the complexities of Israel/Palestine emotionally, historically and politically. Her talk will be a personal conversation about her own process of discovery, and the political conclusions she has drawn about the emerging Palestinian Queer Movements and their meanings for the global realpolitik.
In addition to her public lecture, Schulman will also present a lunchtime talk on Monday, Oct. 3, at 12:45 p.m. in the Peter Graham Commons Room at E.S. Bird Library, in which she will discuss the relationship between her longstanding AIDS activism and her writing. This talk is also free and open to the public.
Schulman is the author of 15 books, most recently “Ties That Bind: Familial Homophobia and Its Consequences” (New Press, 2009) and the novel “The Mere Future” (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2011). She is co-producer, with Jim Hubbard, of the documentary feature “United in Anger: A History of ACT UP,” which will have its world premiere in February 2012. She is the U.S. coordinator of the first U.S. LGBT delegation to Palestine.
