Educator, writer, public scholar and spoken word artist Walidah Imarisha explores the history of sci-fi and social change, sharing tools for using science fiction as a practice ground for social justice strategizing and vision. Imarisha is co-author with adrienne maree brown of Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements. This lecture was delivered at UMass Amherst on November 13, 2018 as part of the UMass History Department's 2018 Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture Series, "Another World Is Possible: Revolutionary Visions, Past and Present."

UMass Amherst History Department

Walidah Imarisha: "All Organizing is Science Fiction"

Feinberg Series Panel Discussion with Bill McKibben, Robert Pollin, Thea Riofrancos & Eve Vogel, moderated by Ashwin Ravikumar with an introduction by Kevin Young. We have only a few years left to make deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions. This event will reflect on the implications of the U.S. election results for meeting this imperative. What are the prospects for a Green New Deal and other urgently needed measures, in the United States and beyond? How can the destructive power of the fossil fuel industries be neutralized? The panelists will analyze the current moment while also offering a historical perspective on environmental policy and movements. To watch the video recording: https://blogs.umass.edu/feinberg/environmental-policy-in-historical-perspective/ -- The 2020-2021 Feinberg Series ~ Planet on a Precipice: Histories and Futures of the Environmental Emergency The UMass Amherst history department's 2020-2021 Feinberg Series is exploring the climate and environmental emergency in historical perspective. Free online events address the historical origins of ecological destruction and mass extinction; the implications of these phenomena for human and nonhuman survival and ways of life; the role of human politics; the connections between the environmental emergency and histories of capitalism, colonialism, genocide, and white supremacy; human entanglements with the nonhuman world; and the past, present, and future of resistance movements. The series seeks to deepen our understandings of this singularly important set of problems through historical analysis and, in doing so, to envision constructive paths forward. The Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture Series is made possible thanks to the generosity of UMass Amherst history department alumnus Kenneth R. Feinberg ’67 and associates. The series is co-sponsored by more than 3 dozen community and university partners. Visit the Feinberg Series webpage for more information about the series. blogs.umass.edu/feinberg-series

Environmental Policy In Historical Perspective: The 2020 Election Results & the Future of the Planet

Feinberg Series Panel Discussion with Angélica Maria Bernal, Nigel Clark, Gregory Cushman, and Andrea Marston, moderated by Kiran Asher and with an introduction by Heidi Scott. November 18, 2020 Human exploitation of the underground has been central to the unfolding climate and ecological emergency. Inseparable from empire-building, colonialism, and the rise of capitalism, extractions from the earth have expanded dramatically since the early modern era. Across the world, there have been unpredictable transformations in climate, landscapes, ecologies, affecting the lives of humans and nonhumans alike. In all this, however, the underground is not simply passive matter; human actions, to put it differently, are not the only force feeding these transformations. What kinds of stories, still untold, might we tell about human entanglements with the physical earth, and about geological agency and history? How might such inquiries help us to better comprehend and confront our contemporary planetary predicament? To watch the video recording: https://blogs.umass.edu/feinberg/history-from-below-extractivism-geology-and-power/ -- The 2020-2021 Feinberg Series ~ Planet on a Precipice: Histories and Futures of the Environmental Emergency The UMass Amherst history department's 2020-2021 Feinberg Series is exploring the climate and environmental emergency in historical perspective. Free online events address the historical origins of ecological destruction and mass extinction; the implications of these phenomena for human and nonhuman survival and ways of life; the role of human politics; the connections between the environmental emergency and histories of capitalism, colonialism, genocide, and white supremacy; human entanglements with the nonhuman world; and the past, present, and future of resistance movements. The series seeks to deepen our understandings of this singularly important set of problems through historical analysis and, in doing so, to envision constructive paths forward. The Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture Series is made possible thanks to the generosity of UMass Amherst history department alumnus Kenneth R. Feinberg ’67 and associates. The series is co-sponsored by more than 3 dozen community and university partners. Visit the Feinberg Series webpage for more information about the series. blogs.umass.edu/feinberg-series

History from Below: Extractivism, Geology, and Power

Feinberg Series lecture on the disappearing snails of Hawaii by Thom van Dooren. Thom van Dooren is a field philosopher, storyteller and Associate Professor, University of Sydney and the University of Oslo. Moderated by Malcolm Sen with an introduction by Brian Ogilvie. The Hawaiian Islands were once home to one of the most diverse assemblages of terrestrial snails found anywhere on earth. Today, however, the majority of these species are extinct and most of those that remain are headed swiftly in the same direction. This lecture explores this larger context of loss, asking what it means and why it matters that so much of Hawai’i’s rich snail diversity is disappearing. It does so, however, through a focus on one very particular question: how did a global centre of terrestrial snail diversity end up out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? Snails, after all, are not commonly known for their propensity to undertake long journeys—not by land, and certainly not by sea. So, how did they all get to this most remote oceanic archipelago? Equally as importantly at our present time, how might the ongoing extinctions of snails be understood differently if we pay attention to these deep-time processes? What might this context help us to see, appreciate, and perhaps hold onto? To watch the video recording: https://blogs.umass.edu/feinberg/a-world-in-a-shell-the-disappearing-snails-of-hawaii/ -- The 2020-2021 Feinberg Series ~ Planet on a Precipice: Histories and Futures of the Environmental Emergency The UMass Amherst history department's 2020-2021 Feinberg Series is exploring the climate and environmental emergency in historical perspective. Free online events address the historical origins of ecological destruction and mass extinction; the implications of these phenomena for human and nonhuman survival and ways of life; the role of human politics; the connections between the environmental emergency and histories of capitalism, colonialism, genocide, and white supremacy; human entanglements with the nonhuman world; and the past, present, and future of resistance movements. The series seeks to deepen our understandings of this singularly important set of problems through historical analysis and, in doing so, to envision constructive paths forward. The Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture Series is made possible thanks to the generosity of UMass Amherst history department alumnus Kenneth R. Feinberg ’67 and associates. The series is co-sponsored by more than 3 dozen community and university partners. Visit the Feinberg Series webpage for more information about the series. blogs.umass.edu/feinberg-series

Thom van Dooren: The World in a Shell

UMass Amherst Department of History Distinguished Annual Lecture and Feinberg Series Lecture by Mike Davis, moderated by Vijay Prasahd California Burning: The Apocalyptic Trinity of Climate Change, Alien Plant Invasion and Exurbanization An activist and writer, Mike Davis is the author of 20 books, including City of Quartz, Ecology of Fear, Planet of Slums, The Monster at Our Door, Magical Urbanism, Late-Victorian Holocausts, and most recently (with Jon Wiener) Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties. An acclaimed public intellectual and global activist, Vijay Prashad is director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. The Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture Series is made possible thanks to the generosity of UMass Amherst history department alumnus Kenneth R. Feinberg ’67 and associates. The series is co-sponsored by more than 3 dozen university and community organizations. The Distinguished Annual Lecture celebrates the 1996 establishment of the UMass/Five College Graduate Program in History. Offered every academic year for more than 20 years, this signature annual lecture has been delivered by some of the nation’s foremost historians. The Distinguished Annual Lecture is presented by the UMass/Five College Graduate Program in History, the UMass Department of History, and Five Colleges, Inc. More info: https://blogs.umass.edu/feinberg/california-burning/

Mike Davis: California Burning

Domestic workers are drawing lessons from past movements to organize on a massive scale and build feminist economies. A panel conversation with Linda Burnham (National Domestic Workers Alliance), Monique Tú Nguyen (Matahari Women Workers’ Center), and Jennifer Guglielmo (Putting History in Domestic Workers’ Hands), moderated by Diana Sierra Becerra (Putting History in Domestic Workers’ Hands). Hosted by the UMass Amherst History Department's 2018 Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture Series. November 1, 2018

Domestic Workers Building Dignity and Power, Past and Present

Venezuelan communes are radical experiments in grassroots democracy and economic production that attempt to “concretize utopia.” Atenea Jiménez (Network of Communers, Venezuela) and George Ciccariello-Maher (Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, New York) examine the communes’ history, achievements, and present challenges. Presented by the UMass Amherst History Department's Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture Series, Oct 17, 2018, UMass Amherst. English transcript forthcoming.

21st Century Socialism: Venezuela's Communes in Historical Perspective, Feinberg Series

In the 1980s, Salvadoran revolutionaries fought to overthrow a U.S.-backed dictatorship and build popular democratic alternatives. Many people in Massachusetts supported them. Former guerrilla Carlos Henríquez Consalvi, peasant organizer Rosa Rivera, and Pioneer Valley Workers Center immigrant rights organizer Diana Sierra Becerra will discuss the lessons for today’s social movements. This talk was conducted in Spanish. For a complete English transcript, go to: https://www.umass.edu/history/sites/default/files/assets/history/state_violence_and_revolution_-_english_transcript.pdf

State Violence and Revolution: Lessons from El Salvador

Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II is president of Repairers of the Breach, national co-chair of the 2018 Poor People’s Campaign, and leader of an alliance of more than 200 progressive organizations best known as “Moral Monday.” This coalition has led justice work in North Carolina for a decade and inspired organizing across the nation. Delivered at UMass Amherst on Sept 20, 2018, this lecture was the 2018 Feinberg Series keynote address and the Inaugural James Baldwin Lecture. More info: https://www.umass.edu/history/feinberg-series

Rev Dr William J Barber: Feinberg Series Keynote Address and Inaugural James Baldwin Lecture

A panel discussion with Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (author of From #Blacklivesmatter to Black Liberation and How We Get Free), Kali Akuno (Cooperation Jackson), and Mary Hooks (Southerners on New Ground), moderated by Toussaint Losier (UMass). Presented by the 2018 Feinberg Series. Sept 6, 2018

Reawakening the Black Radical Imagination: Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Kali Akuno, Mary Hooks

This lecture by Jen Manion (Amherst College) explores how the penitentiary system in early America exploited racist ideologies, gender norms, sexual desire and antipathy toward the poor to justify its existence and expansion. Presented by the UMass Amherst's 2016-2017 Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture Series. Nov 15, 2016. Image Credit: "Freedom" by Ronnie Goodman, www.ronniegoodman.com.

Jen Manion, "Historicizing the Carceral State: Race, Sex, and Power in Early America"

A panel discussion on the history and current realities of the migrant detention regime with David Hernández (Latina/o Studies, Mount Holyoke College), Carl Lindskoog (History, Raritan Valley Community College), Megan Kludt, (Curran and Berger Immigration Law), and Mizue Aizeki (Immigrant Defense Project). This event was part of the 2016-2017 Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture Series. Image Credit: "Freedom" by Ronnie Goodman, www.ronniegoodman.com

Panel, "'Alien' Incarcerations: Migrants In Detention," UMass Feinberg Series, Nov 10, 2016

An evening of conversation with local and national voices on police violence in Springfield, MA and beyond, featuring Kissa Owens (mother of Delano Walker), Andrea Ritchie (attorney, writer, Soros Justice Fellow), ShaeShae Quest (Out Now), and Rhonda Y. Williams (scholar and community organizer). Presented by the University of Massachusetts Amherst History Department's 2016-2017 Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture Series, Out Now, Project Operation Change and Springfield Technical Community College. October 26, 2016. Image Credit: "Freedom" by Ronnie Goodman, www.ronniegoodman.com

Panel, "Resisting Police Violence in Springfield and Beyond: Mothers, Scholars and QTPOC Speak Out"

Lecture by award-winning historian Talitha L. LeFlouria (University of Virginia) on the plight of post-Civil War black women prisoners and their day-to-day struggles to overcome work-related abuses and violence, based on LeFlouria's award winning book. This event was the 2016 UMass/Five College Graduate Program in History Distinguished Annual Lecture and a part of the 2016-2017 Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture Series. October, 2016. Image Credit: "Freedom" by Ronnie Goodman, www.ronniegoodman.com

Talitha L. LeFlouria, "Chained in Silence: A History of Black Women and Convict Labor"

"Racist and Systemic Police Violence, Chicago Style." Lecture by longtime civil rights attorney Flint Taylor of the People's Law Offices on police torture and violence in Chicago, including the 1969 assassination of Black Panther leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, the torture of African American suspects by police commander Jon Burge, and the recent videotaped police murder of Laquan McDonald. University of Massachusetts Amherst History Department 2016-2017 Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture Series. October, 2016. Image credit: "Freedom" by Ronnie Goodman, www.ronniegoodman.com

Flint Taylor, "Racist and Systemic Police Violence, Chicago Style," UMass Feinberg Series, Oct 2016

Podcast by UMass Amherst History Department

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Walidah Imarisha: "All Organizing is Science Fiction"

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