Spring programs tackle social issues

The Gender Institute and other UB humanities’ presenters have organized a number of lecture programs and other events next month related to topics that include women’s relationships to the natural and built environment, to ancient and contemporary cultures, and to the labor movement; disability and housing in rural South; and the social identity and opportunities available to young Asian American men.

All events are free and open to the public. The lectures:

• Feb. 5: Screening of “TEJID@S JUNT@S"/Stitched Together: Workers, Students and the Movement for Alta Gracia,” 5:30-7 p.m., 107 Talbert Hall, North Campus. The film is a highly regarded and important documentary portrait of Dominican workers and students who banded together to battle rampant worker exploitation in the global garment industry. After 10 years, they created Alta Gracia, an independently owned garment factory, out of the ashes of a sweatshop that produced Nike TM apparel, among other brands.
• Feb. 6: “Meetings at the Temple: Locating Women in Ancient Rome’s Urban Landscape.” Noon to 1:30 p.m., at the Gender Institute, 207 The Commons, North Campus. Krishni Burns, a graduate student in the Department of Classics who specializes in Roman archaeology, will discuss the intersection of sex, gender and religion and cult practices in ancient Rome.
• Feb. 7: “Unanimemente/Worker and Student Voices in the Fight for a Fair Global Economy.” 6:30-8 p.m., 215 Natural Sciences Complex, North Campus. Filomena Critelli, assistant professor in the School of Social Work, will moderate a discussion about workers’ rights and student organizing. Guest workers from Central America will share their experiences, along with representatives from the Labor-Religion Coalition, UB Students Against Sweatshops and the Cornell Organization for Labor Action. Presented by the UB Society of Feminists, UB Gender Institute.
• Feb. 8:  Department of Sociology 2013 Spring Colloquium Series: “Social Exclusion of Immigrant Youth: Are Asian-American Males Especially Vulnerable?" Noon to 1 p.m., 474 Park Hall, North Campus.  Grace Kao, professor of sociology at the University of Pennsylvania whose research focuses on race, ethnic and immigrant differences in education outcomes, will discuss research on Asian-American male youth and young adults, and the extent to which they are excluded from friendship, dating and marriage compared to non-Asian males and Asian American females in their age cohort.
• Feb. 22: “Southern Accents: Disability, Housing and Identity in the Rural South (and North).” 4-6 p.m., Museum of disABILITY History, 3826 Main St., Snyder. The UB Center for Disabilities Studies will present Korydon Smith, associate professor in the School of Architecture and Planning, in a discussion of identity development theory and the role of the built as an agent of empowerment or disempowerment. The focus is on the rural South, where housing reveals the complex and often interlocking meanings of race, poverty and disability in the modern United States, and illustrates the reciprocal relationships between social identity and the built environment.