Audre Lorde, June Jordan, and a Homemade Field of Love
Alexis Pauline Gumbs will offer an ecofeminist exploration into how the works of Black feminist poets Audre Lorde and June Jordan can speak to our current climate crisis.
She is one of the first researchers to visit the archival papers of Audre Lorde at Spelman College and of June Jordan at Radcliffe’s Schlesinger Library and the author of the forthcoming Survival is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde and articles such as "June Jordan Solves the Energy Crisis."
Discussant: Terry Tempest Williams, writer-in-residence, Harvard Divinity School; writer, naturalist, and activist
The Kim and Judy Davis Dean’s Lecture Series was established through the generosity of Kim G. Davis AB ’76, MBA ’78, and Judith N. Davis, longtime friends and champions of Harvard Radcliffe Institute. This annual lecture series invites leading figures from across the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences to share their expertise, ideas, and diverse perspectives with the Harvard community and the broader public.
Speaker
Alexis Pauline Gumbs is a queer Black troublemaker, Black feminist love evangelist, and a groundbreaking force in the realms of activism, academia, and art. As the founder of Brilliance Remastered, she fosters a community of intellectuals and artists rooted in marginalized narratives, challenging traditional norms. Gumbs, along with primary collaborator Sangodare, has steered the Mobile Homecoming Project, an experiential archive amplifying Black LGBTQ brilliance, earning accolades such as the "Pride of Anguilla" at the Anguilla Literary Festival. Her prolific career spans from co-editing the influential Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Front Lines (PM Press, 2016) to her latest book, Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals (AK Press, 2020), which secured the 2022 Whiting Award in Nonfiction.
A 2023 Windham-Campbell Prize Winner in Poetry, Gumbs has been recognized on lists such as UTNE Readers 50 Visionaries and the Bitch 50 List. Her global impact extends to 143 countries through her media-making and participatory digital education initiatives. As a National Endowment of the Arts Creative Writing Fellow, she is currently immersed in her forthcoming book, Survival is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde, a testament to her unwavering commitment to intersectional scholarship, creative expression, and ecofeminism.
Register
Free and open to the public.
We are planning "Audre Lorde, June Jordan, and a Homemade Field of Love" as a hybrid program.
Join Us in Person
To attend in person, each individual will need to register.
Light refreshments will be provided.
Join Us Online
To view this event online, individuals will need to register via Zoom.
For instructions on how to join online, see the How to Attend a Radcliffe Event on Zoom webpage.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation e-mail containing a link and password for this meeting.
Live closed captioning will be available for the webinar.
