Teaching (Beyond) Crisis: Black Ecologies and Critical Hope

December Slugs & Steins with Assistant Professor Naya Jones

Teaching (Beyond) Crisis: Black Ecologies and Critical Hope

How can teaching foster critical hope amid intersecting global crises? How are Black ecologies ones of displacement and collective possibility? And, how is this complexity honored in the classroom? In this talk, Dr. Naya Jones (UCSC Sociology) reflects on teaching Black ecologies amid on-going social and environmental injustice, including pandemic inequities and climate change. As a field, Black ecologies focuses on Black diaspora relationships with the environment past and present, always with careful attention to issues of justice, solidarity between communities, and thriving. Along with highlighting contemporary themes in Black ecologies, Dr. Jones will address some of the key challenges and opportunities for teaching about Black environmental knowledge in this moment. Join us for teaching "stories" from the Black Botany Studio (her virtual research lab and creative workshop) and the classroom. Note: This talk includes some optional opportunities to reflect, journal, and ask questions.

Naya Jones, PhD is a critical health geographer and cultural worker. Through research and creative methods, she studies Black geographies of health, healing, and the environment. She is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Core Faculty in the Global and Community Health Program at the University of California Santa Cruz. Her current projects broadly focus on the study, teaching, and practice of Black environmental knowledge in the 21st century.

With a focus on Black ecologies in North and Latin America, she especially considers how this knowledge continues to be reimagined amid on-going displacement and climate injustice. Her award-winning solo and collaborative projects have been supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Culture of Health Leaders). the Botanical Society of America, and the American Association of Geographers. http://www.nayajones.com

Event is free.

Questions? Please contact the UC Santa Cruz University Events Office at specialevents [at] ucsc.edu