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Resilient Love
Boundless Love: Enduring Legacy of Cedric J. Robinson in Teaching, Research, and Activism
Dr. Françoise Cromer, Dr. H. L. T. Quan, Dr. Marisela Marquez, Dr. Tiffany Willoughby-Herard, Dr. Jasmine Noelle Yarish, Dr. Gregory Freeland, and Elizabeth P. Robinson. Moderators: Dr. AJ Rice and Dr. Chase Hobbs-Morgan
MCC Theater and Lounge
Panel: 4:00-5:30 pm. Reception: 5:30-7:00pm.
In the Fall of 2016, UCSB’s Division of Student Affairs launched the Resilient Love series to ask how we might respond ethically and honorably to hate and violence. The series features visiting artists and academics as it seeks to promote conversation and creative work that will forge a love-driven response to hate, hurt, and fear. Since its inception, we have hosted Kimberle Crenshaw, Favianna Rodriguez, David Kyuman Kim, Sharon Bridgforth, and Tim Wise.
This roundtable panel will celebrate the enduring legacy of Dr. Cedric Robinson from the perspective of his former students and PhD alums in Political Science, Black Studies, and Chicana/o Studies, UC Santa Barbara. Whereas Dr. Robinson's scope of influence was beyond the academic arena and included the Division of Student Affairs and Division of Academic Affairs and the entire University of California system, our discussion will focus on the impact of Dr. Robinson's teaching on the scholarship and career path of his students. In addition, each panelist will share their story of resilience and love in the trajectories to promote feminist social justice. They will be joined by Elizabeth Robinson and other former students to help expand the scope and nature of Dr. Robinson's impact, including those who did not finish, or turned to become lawyers, or took another path outside of academia.
Co-Sponsors: Cedric J. and Elizabeth P. Robinson Archive and Departments of Political Science, Asian American Studies, Center for Black Studies Research, and Center for Feminist Futures.
Speaker Bios:
Dr. Françoise B. Cromer is the Assistant to the Provost for Special Projects, and an Assistant Professor in the History, Culture and Politics Department at Saint Elizabeth University, in Morristown, New Jersey. Her research focuses on Black women’s health, complementary approaches to health and wellness, public policy, political participation, social movements, resistance, internationalism and the Black radical tradition. She was a 2024 Faculty Fellow at University of Connecticut, Storrs, in the Africana Studies Summer Institute to Advance Equity Through Research on Women and Girls of Color. In 2017, she received the Anna Julia Cooper Outstanding Publication Award for her journal article, “Black women take their health into their own hands.” Her collaborative teamwork in developing an award-winning summer bridge program (Fastrak) at Saint Elizabeth University with intensive first-year support services, resulted in the exceptional retention of program participants. Dr. Cromer earned her Masters and Doctorate of Philosophy degrees in Political Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara advised by Dr. Cedric J. Robinson. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Economics with a minor in African Studies from Saint Lawrence University. Email: fcromer@steu.edu
Dr. Marisela Marquez is Executive Director of Associated Students, adjunct faculty of Chicano/a Studies, UC Santa Barbara. Hailed from Laredo, Texas, and Nova Laredo Tamaulipas, Mexico, Dr. Marquez received her B.A. in English and M.A. in Political Science at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas and her Ph.D. in Political Science at UC Santa Barbara. Upon completing her dissertation, titled, “Political Tolerance in Higher Education: Identifying the Threshold of Support for Diversity Policies,” Marisela found a home to the rich legacy and history of student activism at UC Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara City College. Over the years, and into her career now as the Executive Director of Associated Students, Marisela has transcended ivory tower’s boundaries by finding a balance in academia, philanthropy, and activism. Email: mariselam@as.ucsb.edu
Dr. H. L. T. QUAN is a political theorist and an award-winning filmmaker. Currently she is an Associate Professor of Justice and Social Inquiry in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University. She is also an affiliate faculty member in African/African American Studies, Asian Pacific American Studies, Women and Gender Studies, and the Sidney Poitier New American Film School at ASU. Her research & teaching focus on radical thought and praxis, including feminist consciousness, utopian thought, speculative living, data justice, movements for justice, and the Black Radical Tradition. Her works include Become Ungovernable (2024), Cedric J. Robinson (ed, 2019), Growth Against Democracy (2012), and with C. A. Griffith as co-Producer/co-Director, Queer, Broke & Amazing! (2024), América’s Home (2014), and Mountains That Take Wing (2009). Email: hq@asu.edu
Dr. Tiffany Willoughby-Herard is Professor in Global & International Studies at UC Irvine and Professor Extraordinarius in the Chief Albert Luthuli Research Chair at the University of South Africa. Their forthcoming Oxford University Press book, ‘I meant for you to be free’ bridges contemporary youth movements for educational justice, return of the land, and ending femicide with the feminist, Pan Africanist, cross-generational and cross-genre politics of feminist sociologist Fatima Meer, jurist Motsoko Pheko, and militant activist Winnie Mandela. Willoughby-Herard has authored, edited and collaborated on numerous publications, is a former National Conference of Black Political Scientists President, a 2022-23 National Humanities Center (USA) Fellow, a Detroit-raised poet, a gender nonconforming lesbian, a friend, and a m/other. Their work is concerned with feminism, economic justice, the sacred, participatory action research, political education, publishing and poetics, and pedagogy in Continental Africa and the African Diaspora. Email: twilloug@uci.edu
Dr. JASMINE NOELLE YARISH is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of the District of Columbia. A first-generation student raised in the Appalachian hills of central Pennsylvania, her expertise is in the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and democratic theory. Since completing a Ph.D. with certificates in Black Studies and Global Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, her scholarship extends the idea of abolition democracy theorized by W.E.B. Du Bois to include political and intellectual contributions made by Black women in and around the city of Philadelphia during the era of Reconstruction in the mid to late nineteenth century. Additionally, Jasmine served as a program coordinator at the UCSB Multicultural Center from January - June 2017, when the very first Resilient Love Series was launched. Among other honors, she was recently a diversity scholar with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Dr. Yarish’s publications in peer-reviewed journals and chapters in edited volumes have placed her scholarship prominently in the growing literature on the “Third Reconstruction.” Email: jasmine.yarish@udc.edu
Elizabeth Peters Robinson is a Lebanese American journalist and community media activist. Born in Oak Ridge, TN, she moved with family to California and earned a bachelor’s degree in criminology from UC Berkeley. While at Berkeley, Peters-Robinson became interested in radical approaches to criminology, which led her to work as a social worker with the Alameda County Probation Office, where she and Cedric met. They married in 1967 and spent time studying and working throughout the US and abroad, during which time Elizabeth earned a master’s degree in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Michigan, before settling in Santa Barbara, California in the late 1970s. She retired in 2012 from her position as KCSB Advisor and Associated Students Associate Director for Media after 31 years of service at UCSB. Email: elizabethpeters.robinson@gmail.com
Chair/Co-Moderator
Dr. AJ Rice is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Broadly, his research examines Black politics, American political development, and social policy, with a focus on education, inequality and citizenship. His current book project, The Politics of Educational Reform: Race, Capitalism and American Democracy, examines the role that racial segregation and business interests play in eroding political equality and promoting education reform laws. He was previously a University of California President’s postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles. His work has been published in a variety of venues, including, Perspectives on Politics, Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society, the Journal of Cultural Geography, and The Popular Culture Studies Journal. He received his PhD in African American and African Studies from Michigan State University in 2020. Email: riceaj@ucsb.edu
Co-Moderator
Dr. Chase Hobbs-Morgan is Lecturer of Political Science and Faculty Director of the Cedric J. and Elizabeth P. Robinson Archive Project. Their research is situated in the traditions of democratic theory and environmental political thought, and largely focusing on how democratic publics might engage more productively with the politics of climate change. People can contribute to the archive by contacting Dr. Hobbs Morgan via <chobbsmorgan@ucsb.edu>
Voices of Change: Student Activism & Leadership Panel
El Congreso, IDEAS
MCC Lounge
Join us in the MCC Lounge in an engaging conversation with student leaders on campus. Hear from organizers and members of El Congreso, IDEAS, and other student leaders, as they share their experiences in advocacy, activism, and community building. These student-led groups are at the forefront of mobilizing for change, creating inclusive spaces, and navigating the challenges of organizing on campus.Engage in critical dialogue, gain valuable insights, and discover ways to take action in your own communities. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from and connect with student leaders making an impact!
Navigating Conflict, Deepening Solidarity: Lessons for Collective Liberation
Gopal Dayaneni
MCC Theater and Lounge
Join longtime educator and organizer, Gopal Dayaneni, for a conversation about the opportunities and challenges of organizing for Collective Liberation and Ecological Justice during these particularly tough times. Organizing broader alliances for collective action requires us to build meaningful relationships; engage in principled struggle; learn to navigate conflict with care; and engage in loving accountability. How can this look in practice? How do we distinguish between “in-fighting,” “principled struggle” and “drama?
Guest Bio: Gopal (he/him) has been involved in working for social, economic, environmental and racial justice through organizing & campaigning, teaching, writing, speaking and direct action since the late 1980’s. He is a co-founder of Movement Generation: Justice and Ecology Project, which inspires and engages in transformative action towards the liberation and restoration of land, labor, and culture. MG is rooted in vibrant social movements led by low-income communities and Black, Indigenous & communities of color committed to a Just Transition away from profit and pollution and towards healthy, resilient and life-affirming local economies. MG is a founding member of the Climate Justice Alliance. Gopal teaches courses in Climate Justice, organizing, and social movements at San Francisco State University in the Race and Resistance Studies Department.
Masculinity Beyond the Stereotypes: Voices, Stories, and Shifting Identities
MCC Lounge
What does it mean to be a man today—and who gets to decide? Join us for a powerful event that opens the floor to honest conversations about masculinity, identity, and the diverse experiences that shape them. Through open dialogue, we’ll explore how masculinity intersects with our personal stories, the challenges we’ve faced, and how we’re redefining what it means to “be a man” in our communities. All genders and perspectives are welcome.
This gathering is designed to create a welcoming space for men of all backgrounds on campus, with a particular focus on uplifting voices from marginalized communities. The forum aims to foster dialogue, connection, and the cultivation of positive, supportive expressions of masculinity.
