Natalie Bump Vena is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban Studies. She received her J.D. and Ph.D. from Northwestern University’s School of Law and Department of Anthropology. Her research and teaching interests concern environmental policymaking in U.S. cities. She is admitted to the New York State Bar. Vena’s long-term research examines the history of natural resources preservation in the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, which protects 69,000 acres of land encompassing Chicago. Vena also has an active research agenda in New York City. In addition to undertaking fieldwork and advocacy concerning a South Ozone Park community’s protracted recovery from a sewage backup that occurred in 2019, she is studying the implementation of New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (2019). In particular, she is examining the process of identifying the “disadvantaged communities” who are slated to receive 35% to 40% of benefits derived from the state’s green transition.

QC Africana Studies in collaboration with QC Seek and The Office of Diversity & Compliance invites you to join our Community Conversation Series: Are We Safe Yet? On November 29th we launch the first of a four-part series that focuses on unpacking systemic discriminatory processes and barriers to equitable living...

How do we bounce back from an extended writing break? What’s the most effective way to pick up a manuscript when you barely remember what you last wrote? In this workshop, Michelle Boyd, founder and director of InkWell Academic Writing Retreats, explains how to overcome the logistical and emotional barriers...

Healing Roots tells the tale of how Bajan (Barbadian) women use native plants and herbs—bush medicine as it is termed in Barbados—to help heal the body and the nation. It speaks to how these women continue African culture through their use of plants and asks us to think about what is lost...

The lives of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and El Hajj Malik Shabazz (Malcolm X) are often presented as examples of diverging strategies and philosophies. Recent work by Peniel E. Joseph, The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., posits new understanding about the...

Meagan Sylvester (Cipriani College of Labour and Cooperative Studies, Trinidad and Tobago), Brigitta Johnson (University of South Carolina), and Michelle Scott (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) have a round table discussion on the healing aspects of Black music. Explore how music in the Diaspora entertains, uplifts, and activates communities toward self-awareness, self-love, self-care, and self-advocacy. Presented by Africana Studies in celebration of Black History Month. Register at https://tinyurl.com/532kp74s

Ever wonder what academic publishers may be looking for in a good book? Need help with how to craft a manuscript proposal? Have questions on whether your book should go to a "trade" publisher? Join Africana Studies as Debbie Gershenowitz, Executive Editor at UNC Press provides the nuts and bolts to a successful manuscript proposal. Register at https://tinyurl.com/2p8zz6ee

Join us for a roundtable discussion on the contours of self-care as a radical practice by Black women with our guests Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Stephanie Evans, Aimee Meredith Cox, Cynthia Greenlee and Kay Whitehead. Register at https://tinyurl.com/2mkcx56f