SLCR Lecture Series

Spring 2026

On April 20th 2026, the School of Laguages, Cultures and Race’s Lecture series centered Women’s and Gender Studies by presenting research produced at WSU on the intersections of gender, species and colonial power. M.A. Miller, Assistant Professor of Gender, Race, and Health in the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality, and Étna Ávalos, Assistant Professor of Spanish and Latin American Studies in the SLCR and Affiliate Faculty in the Program in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies explored how dominant systems of knowledge have historically erased alternative modes of relating to the natural world. From the multispecies labor practices of Coast Salish women to the ecological imagination of a neurodiverse protagonist in contemporary Latin American fiction, the talks will offer a critical reflection of the ways in which colonial, capitalist and anthropocentric logics impact reality.

This event was, as always, free and open to students, faculty, and the community. It took place in Thompson Hall 109, where a reception with refreshments followed the presentations and Q&A session.

Fall 2025

After a hiatus, the Lecture Series came back thanks to the collaboration between The School of Languages, Cultures and Race and The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication. Dr Héctor Rendón (Assistant Professor of Comparative Ethnic Studies) and Dr Ryan J. Thomas (Associate Professor of Journalism and Media Production) presented research produced at WSU on the impact of the news media industry on society. They explored how news representations affect civic life: from the framing of political discourse to the visibility of historically marginalized communities, the talks offered an understanding of the power and responsibility of media in today’s world.

Fall 2021

In October 2021, SLCR had the fourth installment of its lecture series, featuring its Director, Carmen R. Lugo-Lugo (Professor of CES and American Studies and Culture) and Matt Sutton (Chair and Professor of History). Theirs talks were created with the topic identity and identity categories in mind.

Spring 2021

We took a hiatus on Fall 2020, and on Spring 2021, we resumed the Lecture Series virtually with a topic on nature and humanity with Xinmin Liu (Associate Professor of Chinese and American Studies and Culture, Pullman) and DJ Lee (Professor of English, Pullman).

In Spring 2021 we had a second virtual installment of the Lecture Series with Sue Peabody (Professor of History, Vancouver) and John Streamas (Associate Professor of CES and American Studies and Culture, Pullman). This lecture addressed the topic of race and family  from two different perspectives: Slavery in France’s territories (Peabody), and Nuclear War in the 20th Century (Streamas).

Spring 2020

The Series began on February 2020, a few weeks before the global lockdown, with Mary K. Bloodsworth-Lugo (Professor of CES and American Studies and Culture, Pullman) and Trish Glazebrook (Professor of Philosophy, Pullman) discussing the prescient topic of pandemics.