Brown Bag Talk with Dr. Ash Stephens
Brown Bag Talk Series
October 2, 2023
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM Central Standard Time
Join the Interdepartmental Graduate Concentration in Black Studies for a new brown bag lecture series! The first conversation will feature Dr. Ash Stephens, Bridge to Faculty Post-doc in UIC Criminology, Law, and Justice and former BLST concentrator! Dr. Stephens will introduce the concept of the “bad parents narrative” to describe the connections between isolation and rejection of trans, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary [TGNCNB] people as a form of gender-policing, particularly of TGNCNB young people of color. This work encourages research in the areas of queer criminology and queer family policing to divert from the “bad parents narrative” because of its racialized suggestions and Black families’ particular understandings of their own proximities to the carceral state.
The event will take place on October 2nd from 12-1:30pm CST in 1250 UH. Light refreshments will be provided; we hope to see you there!
About the Speaker
Ash Stephens (he/they) is a Bridge to Faculty Postdoctoral Scholar of Criminology, Law and Justice. They hold a PhD in Criminology, Law and Justice with concentrations in Black Studies and Gender and Women’s Studies from UIC. Guided by an abolition feminist framework, his work is focused on the range of ways that trans, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary people are policed and surveilled in society, the experiences and consequences of that policing and surveillance, as well as their strategies of resistance.
Their research interests include queer criminology, transgender studies, queer of color critique, surveillance studies, critical prison studies, gender-based violence, and prison industrial complex abolition and activism.
They are also a board member with the Transformative Justice Law Project and a volunteer with the Chicago Community Bond Fund. Several of their public-facing writings can be found in Truthout, In These Times, and The Advocate.
Date posted
Sep 21, 2023
Date updated
Sep 21, 2023