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ADVOCACY

ADVOCACY

Our Goals for Geography

One of the main goals of our collective is to advocate for diversity within the field of geography. Whether it be through organizing panels on feminist collective building or encouraging students of color to get involved in undergraduate research, we strongly believe that diverse voices and perspectives should be given a space to flourish within the field of geography. 

"Building and Sustaining Feminist Geography Collectives" at the 2017 Feminist Geography Conference

At the Feminist Geography Conference at the University of North Caroline Chapel Hill, we hosted a panel on building and sustaining feminist geography collectives. Along with collectives from UNC Chapel Hill, the University of Georgia, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the Great Lakes Feminist Geography Collective, we discussed the experiences of working in collectives. Our main goals for the panel were to learn about examples of collectives that exist across and beyond the US, to get inspiration and build solidarities, and to strategize ways to strength our work together. By gathering with other members of collectives, we were able to gain important, and diverse, perspectives across the subfield of feminist geography.

In March 2021, Dr. Rebecca Torres, Dr. Valentina Glockner-Fagetti,  Dr. Nohora Niño Vega, Dr. Amy Thompson, Dr. Gabriela García Figueroa, and Dr. Caroline Faria authored the opinion article "Desplazados y refugiados mexicanos son los migrantes que la nueva política de Biden borró" in the Los Angeles Times. Coming out of Dr. Torres' research on the NSF funded project "Geographies of Displacement: Mexican Migrant/Refugee Children and Youth in the Mexico-United States Borderlands", this article details how, despite promises to reform and address asylum policy, the Biden administration continues to ignore the existence and urgent needs of Mexican refugees. In an attempt to bring more public attention to this issue, the article draws from interviews and research the team has collected on the experiences of Mexican women, children, and families fleeing violence.  

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"The pretty pathway that runs along Waller Creek is a quiet spot, just steps away from the bustle of campus traffic at the University of Texas at Austin. These days, the air around the place feels heavy, a weight that saturates the creek’s stone banks and leafy canopy overhead. It is not uncommon to see students staring into the water, lost in thought. They pause by faded cloth flowers left at a small sculpture of a woman and two children. They glance a scrap of yellow tape, once heeding caution, which lies partly buried in its bank. They are caught off guard by signs that now block the path and announce the creek’s renovation..." Read More

"In all the talk of building a border wall, Austin’s Marlena Rios wishes she could build a wall of her own to keep the children safe in her community. President Trump’s budget blueprint promises to defend national security by a $54 billion increase to military and defense spending including $2.6 billion for a border wall and $80 million to combat “illegal entry and unlawful presence.” But is a nation really “secure” if it cannot protect the lives of its most vulnerable?" Read More

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