We invite Christine Pinnock (Anthropology) and Wen Liu (Critical Social Psychology) to talk about their experiences as GC students. In this second episode of our podcast, we focus on some challenges that minorities may face at the Graduate Center. This is not meant to be a “be-all-end-all” conversation about race in the academia, but we examine the unique paths that minorities find themselves walking. Christine and Wen provide some suggestions on traversing different social spaces.

 

PinnockCChristine A. Pinnock, a writer, anthropologist and garden photographer, is currently completing her doctoral studies in Anthropology at The Graduate Center (CUNY).  Her dissertation, “A Means to an End: Articulations of Diasporic Blackness, Identity and Feminism Among Female Afro-Caribbean Service Workers in New York City” examines the oral histories of Afro-Caribbean immigrant women who migrated to New York from the Caribbean during the 1960s-2000s.   Ms. Pinnock’s research has revealed that Afro-Caribbean women express a multi-faceted consciousness towards Blackness, class, nationalism, and culture that is often overlooked in existing scholarship.   Her work reflects an interdisciplinary engagement of Afro-Caribbean women and their lived experiences. Christine can be contacted at Christinepinnock[at]gmail[dot]com.

 

wenWen Liu is a PhD candidate in Critical Social Psychology at the Graduate Center, CUNY. In her dissertation, she draws from queer theory and critical race theory to examine the historical, national, and transnational formation of Asian American subjectivity in the context of US-led neoliberalism and homonationalism. Wen is an active scholar in the fields of critical psychology, feminist theory, and LGBTQ studies. She is the co-director of the Institute for Tongzhi Studies, a community based organization that facilitates the transnational dialogues of scholarship, activism, and arts among Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China. Currently she teaches gender and sexuality in John Jay College and Sarah Lawrence College.