Juana María Rodríguez: ‘Imagining Respect, Refusing Respectability’

What might respect signify for those who have never been afforded the benefit of the term?

In a Presidential Colloquium at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, April 13, Juana María Rodríguez will discuss how the regulatory function of respectability haunts the social and sexual practice of racially gendered subjects and how imagining respect otherwise redirects feminist activist practices of social change.

The event, which takes place in Weinstein Auditorium, is open to all at no charge.

Juana María Rodríguez is a leading scholar and cultural commentator whose research focuses on race and sexual politics, Latino/a/x and Caribbean literatures and cultures, queer activism, and transgender studies.

She is the author of Queer Latinidad: Identity Practices, Discursive Spaces and Sexual Futures, Queer Gestures, and Other Latina Longings, which earned the Alan Bray Memorial Prize from the Modern Language Association.

Rodríguez is professor of ethnic studies, gender and women’s studies, and performance studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and is a proud recipient of the university’s Distinguished Teaching Award.

In addition to her numerous publications in academic journals internationally, she has been featured in media outlets including National Public Radio’s Latino USA, California magazine, NBC.com, the Canadian News Network, The Chronicle of Higher Education and Cosmopolitan for Latinas.

Rodríguez’ talk, which is open to all at no charge, is part of the Smith College Women of Color Conference. Additional information about the conference is available online. Free registration is available for up to 40 Smith College students; the student registration form is available online.