Spring 2024 Political Science Distinguished Speaker Series: “Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point”

 

Steven Levitsky, David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies and Professor of Government at Harvard University, will speak by Zoom (click here to access Zoom on the day of the talk) next Wednesday, Feb. 21, from 11 AM to 12 PM CST on his new book with Daniel Ziblatt, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point, as part of the political science department’s speaker series. Professor Stephen Engelmann, UIC, will serve as a discussant. The Speaker Series is organized and moderated by Professor Alba Alexander and sponsored by UIC’s Department of Political Science. Click here for the downloadable PDF of the flyer.

 

Professor Levitsky’s research focuses on authoritarianism, political parties and democratic institutions. He has published more than a dozen books. The most recent are the New York Times bestseller (with Daniel Ziblatt) How Democracies Die and (with Daniel Ziblatt) Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point.

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Mother Earth Meets the Anthropocene (“The Age of Man”): An Ecofeminist/Environmental Justice Assessment Talk Event

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To access these photos, please click here to visit our album. Photo Credit: Olga Lopez

 

 

“The Anthropocene,” or “Age of Man,” is a proposed name for the current geological age, one, its proponents claim to be a new era where “humans” have become a vast force capable of overwhelming the vast forces of “Nature.” This illustrated talk considers the sexed, gendered, racialized and otherwise political concept of “The Anthropocene” in dialogue with concept with the ancient reality of “Mother Nature” or Mother Earth, common to indigenous ecological knowledge as well as contemporary ecofeminist and environmental justice perspectives.

This talk event will be held in the afternoon (from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM CST) of February 20, 2024, at Student Center East at UIC (750 S. Halsted) in the Cardinal Room. To RSVP, please click here. Click here for the downloadable PDF of the flyer.

 

Jane Caputi is Professor of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Florida Atlantic University. She has written four books, most recently Call Your “Mutha”: A Deliberately Dirty-Minded Manifesto for the Earth Mother in the Anthropocene (Oxford University Press, 2020). She also has made two educational documentaries, The Pornography of Everyday Life (2006) distributed by Berkeley Media and Feed the Green: Feminist Voices for the Earth (2016), distributed by Women Make Movies. Dr. Caputi, in 2016, was named Eminent Scholar of the Year by the American Culture/Popular Culture Association and in 2020 the Association for the Study of Women in Mythology gave her their annual “Saga Award” for contributions to women’s history and culture.

 

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Mother Earth Meets the Anthropocene (“The Age of Man”)

Video from Event

 

Photos from Event

To access these photos, please click here to visit our album. Photo Credit: Olga Lopez

 

Mother Earth Meets the Anthropocene (“The Age of Man”)

We were so pleased that Professor Jane Caputi, Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Florida Atlantic University, joined us on February 20, 2024 to share her analysis of “Mother Earth Meets the Anthropocene (“The Age of Man”): An Ecofeminist/Environmental Justice Assessment.”

Jane is a brilliant scholar and has been writing about violence against women for decades. Her most recent book, Call Your “Mutha”: A Deliberately Dirty-Minded Manifesto for the Earth Mother in the Anthropocene, was published by Oxford University Press in 2020. Jane makes a very powerful argument for the significance of Mother Earth in the face of the destructive forces of domination over nature and the threats to survival. Dr. Caputi’s other books include Goddesses and Monsters:  Women, Myth, Power, and Popular Culture (Popular Press 2004); Gossips, Gorgons, and Crones: The Fates of the Earth (Bear and Company 1993); and Age of Sex Crime (Popular Press 1987). She also has made two educational documentaries, The Pornography of Everyday Life (2006) distributed by Berkeley Media and Feed the Green: Feminist Voices for the Earth (2016), distributed by Women Make Movies. Dr. Caputi, in 2016, was named Eminent Scholar of the Year by the American Culture/Popular Culture Association and in 2020 the Association for the Study of Women in Mythology gave her their annual “Saga Award” for contributions to women’s history and culture.

Event Details: Tuesday, February 20, 2024, from 3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. at the Student Center East Cardinal Room (750 S. Halsted) at the University of Illinois Chicago. To RSVP, please click here. To download the flyer in PDF, please click here.

After Professor Caputi delivered her lecture (with many images), she and Teresa Córdova, Director of Great Cities Institute, engaged in a conversation about the significance of her analysis. Check out this video from 1992 of Jane, Teresa, and Ann Scales talking about images and violence against women. This video will remind you of how deeply imbedded the messages are in popular culture that perpetuate violence against women.  Thirty-two years later, Jane is still illuminating this issue. If you want to hear more, please join us for Professor Jane Caputi’s lecture. It will be worth your time.

We are happy to co-sponsor the event with UIC’s Institute for the Humanities, Anthropocene Lab, Gender and Women’s Studies, and the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy.

Video from “Launching the Latino Research Initiative” Event

On September 12th, 2023, Great Cities Institute launched the Latino Research Initiative (LRI) and hosted a kick-off event to discuss some of the work of the initiative and to network with each other. Juan González, Senior Fellow at GCI and the co-host of Democracy Now, was our keynote speaker and discussed about Chicagoland Latinos in the larger context of national and international issues. Here is the video of the event.

Latino Research Initiative page is here.

The event page is here.

Salute to Alex Linares! Great Cities will miss him and wishes him the best.

Salute to Alex Linares!

Great Cities Institute (GCI) staff member Alex Linares is transitioning GCI to work for IFF, a community development financial institution. Alex Linares’ last day with the Great Cities Institute was on January 16th. We wish him well as he embarks on his next career move.

Alex Linares has been a key team member of GCI’s Participatory Budgeting (PB) work in Chicago. Initially starting with PB in Schools, he then went on to collaborate with the 1st, 30th, 35th, 36th, and 39th wards in providing technical assistance during each phase of PB. He implemented trainings for volunteers, assisted ward subcommittees during proposal development, and set-up the online voting for wards via the PB Platform.

He was also a project member for GCI’s Latino Research Initiative. Some of the projects and reports on which he worked for the Latino Research Initiative include Who Lives in Pilsen: The Trajectory of Gentrification 2000-2020, the Western Suburban Latino Communities Microsite, the Latinos in the Suburbs: Challenges and Opportunities report produced with the Latino Policy Forum and Metropolitan Planning Council, and the 2024 Raíces Conference Report for the Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus (ILLCF). Last year, Alex also presented at the Illinois Welcoming Center Learning Symposium, the Unidos US conference, the Raíces Conference for ILLCF, and the Latino Research Initiative Launch at GCI.

Along with PB and the Latino Research Initiative, Alex has collaborated on various reports for GCI partners including Policy Recommendations for Amendments to the State of Illinois Worker Cooperative Statute, the North Lawndale Service Area Databook and Making it Count: Documenting and Building the Civic Infrastructure for the Illinois 2020 Census Program.

Alex was central to GCI’s work with several universities across the country on the role of community engagement in student success and was a co-author of the “Effects of Service-Learning and Community Engagement Programs on the Academic Outcomes of Undergraduate Students: A Focus on Underrepresented Students,” which was published in Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement in September 2023.

Alex would like to thank all the project partners from PB to the Latino Research Initiative and more as he worked together with partners and GCI staff to implement GCI’s mission to link academic resources to address urban issues via research, policy analysis, and program development. We have a great deal of respect for Alex and will miss him. If you need to reach Alex, he can be emailed at alex.linares@gmail.com.

Latino-Owned Businesses and Population Are Growing in West Suburban Riverside.

Esther Yoon-Ji Kang on WBEZ Chicago discusses how latino-owned businesses and latino population at large are growing in the western suburbs of Chicago.

“When I arrived here, the store across the street and I were the only Hispanic ones nearby,” Reyes says in Spanish. “Now, we have another restaurant, and another … we have increased in number.”

“Once home to antique retailers and Bohemian restaurants, Riverside — a town of about 9,000 people — has welcomed a wave of Latino businesses over the last decade. From breakfast spots to barber shops, the trend demonstrates the growth of the Latino population in Chicago’s western suburbs, beyond communities such as Cicero and Berwyn, which are majority Latino.”

“Latino owners, entrepreneurs [are] telling others that there’s an opportunity here, and we’re so very grateful that we have built that reputation for a welcoming community,” said Gallegos, a lifelong Riverside resident.”

“According to the Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois Chicago, suburbs including Riverside, Western Springs and Broadview have seen their Latino populations grow by 60% to 80% in just 10 years.”

 

From WBEZ Chicago (To go to the actual article, please click on this link.)

 

Commentary: An agenda that promotes affordable housing around Humboldt Park

This article reports on the ongoing efforts to preserve Puerto Rican culture and combat gentrification in Puerto Rico Town, a key neighborhood in Humboldt Park, Chicago. It highlights the role of the Puerto Rican Agenda (PRA) and its partners in advancing policies and developments that promote affordable housing and economic self-determination.

A major milestone was SB1833, a law passed in 2021 that designates an economic development district aimed at protecting cultural identity and increasing access to affordable housing. The article also references a 2023 report by the University of Illinois Chicago’s Great Cities Institute (GCI), which found that over 50% of homeowners and renters in Puerto Rico Town are housing cost-burdened, reinforcing the urgent need for affordable housing initiatives.

The article outlines several affordable housing projects led by community organizations, including Bickerdike’s La Estancia, HHDC’s Teresa Roldan apartments, LUCHA’s Borinquen Bella and Tierra Linda, the Paseo Boricua Arts Building, and the upcoming Teacher’s Village. These developments aim to provide affordable living options while preserving the cultural fabric of the neighborhood.

Ultimately, the article emphasizes the ongoing struggle between development and gentrification in Humboldt Park and the community-led efforts to ensure housing and economic opportunities align with Puerto Rican heritage and self-determination.

 

From Chicago Business (To go to the actual article, please click on this link.)

 

Book Talk with Helen Shiller, the Author of “Daring to Struggle, Daring to Win”

Event Description

[Helen Shiller, in Conversation with Teresa Córdova at Great Cities Institute]

Helen Shiller will be coming to the Great Cities Institute to talk about her new autobiography book, “Daring to Struggle, Daring to Win.”

Daring to Struggle, Daring to Win tells the fascinating true story of Helen Shiller, a radical organizer turned independent politician, and her 40-year struggle for justice in Chicago. Helen Shiller went from radical anti-war activist in Wisconsin, to a white ally of the Black Panther Party in Chicago, building community coalitions that led her to ultimately win a seat on the city council, while helping to break the back of the racialized opposition to Harold Washington, Chicago’s first Black mayor. Shiller participated, when few others did, in the historic fight against the gentrification of a unique economically and racially mixed Uptown community on Chicago’s Northside. With insight into community organizing and political battles in Chicago from the 1970s through 2010, this book details the many policy fights and conflicts in Chicago during this time, illuminating recurrent political themes and battles that remain relevant to this day. Daring to Struggle, Daring to Win is a compelling, insightful, must-read for all those struggling for a better world today.

 

Download Flyer PDF.

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Latino Environmental Justice Leadership Along Industrial Waterways

 

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Event Description

The Freshwater Lab and the Great Cities Institute co-hosted the Latino Environmental Justice Leadership Along Industrial Waterways event, featuring several prominent environmental justice leaders from Chicago and Joliet as event speakers. This event is part of a larger Crossing Latinidades Humanities Research Initiative.

We would like to send a big thank you to everyone who came to the event to be a part of the important and collective conversation around various environmental justice issues/actions in Chicago and the Greater Chicagoland Area. And of course, a special thanks to the panel speakers: Olga Bautista (from Southeast Environmental Task Force); Alfredo Romo (from Neighbors for Environmental Justice); Amy Sanchez (from Warehouse Workers for Justice); José Miguel Acosta Córdova (from Little Village Environmental Justice Organization); and Rose Gomez (from Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization) for coming to the event and sharing their powerful thoughts and perspectives on the topic matter.

 

The RSVP link is provided on the flyer or you can also RSVP here.

Download Flyer PDF.

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