Orfalea Cluster Forums on Global Sexualities, Global Carceral States & Future Infrastructures

Global Gender & Sexualities

Maisnam Arnapal, Department of Feminist Studies

“Manglaan: Queer Peacebuilding in Manipur, India”

• Shot during the ongoing interethnic conflict in Manipur (India-Myanmar Borderland), Manglaan is a story of Asia-Pacific's first all-transmen soccer team's role as peacebuilders. Led by Yai, Jenny, and Rita, the team traveled during the conflict to spend time with internally displaced children and adolescents. Standing for 'dreamwork' in Manipuri, Manglaan presents a queer political vision in the wake of violence. It showcases the story of love and care as pathways to everyday peace.

• Maisnam Arnapal is an Orfalea Center graduate research fellow and a PhD student in Feminist Studies at UCSB. Prior to this, he studied and taught at the University of Delhi, India. His areas of interest are gender and sexuality studies with special focus on Northeast India. His research looks at Indigeneity, nation-state, conflict, and militarization in the region through feminist, queer and trans analytics. He belongs to the Meitei Indigenous community of Manipur located on the Indo-Myanmar borderlands. He is also associated with the American Indian and Indigenous Collective (AIIC) at UCSB.

Cedar Brown, Department of Linguistics

“ACTIVISMXTECHXGENDER: Conversations”

• This four-part podcast series hosts activists and academics working in a feminist tech activist space. Through conversation, listeners gain awareness about problems of current internet infrastructure as well as activist work engaging with it, in a way that can be mobilizing in their own lives.

• Cedar Brown's research identifies gender-affirming language practices and their construal in a system of global capitalism. Their interdisciplinary work draws on Linguistic Anthropology, Computational Linguistics, Science and Technology Studies, Queer and Trans Studies, and Global Studies. As a transgender scholar, they combine qualitative and computational approaches to investigate social questions regarding trans linguistic practices. They investigate online spaces as a place for trans community development and for rainbow-capitalist corporate co-option. They are interested in examining connections between those who face gendered oppression across nation state borders through the internet—both through the proliferation of resources, activism and community spaces, and through the gendered labor implicated in online platforms

Andre Sena, UFRJ Sociology

"The social effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on gender inequality: an analysis based on the implementation of Brazilian Emergency Aid"

• Description:  Gender considerations have been crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in Brazil. The country's response to the pandemic, including the Emergency Aid program, has highlighted significant social and economic impacts on women. Gender has emerged as a key determinant of inequalities during the pandemic, exacerbating existing disparities and affecting women's lives profoundly.

• PhD student in Sociology at the Graduate Program in Sociology and Anthropology (PPGSA) of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). Master in Public Policies and Human Rights (PPDH) from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Specialist in Human Rights, Ethnic-Racial Relations and Health from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ-RJ) and researcher in the Research Directory “Inequality, Intersectionality and Public Policy” of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development - CNPq.  His areas of research interest are: Human Rights, Inequality and Public Policies and Ethnic-Racial Relations.

Global Carceral States

Gehad Abaza, Department of Anthropology

“Navigating Carcerality in the Everyday”

• A photo essay about how Sudanese henna artists/refugees navigate Cairo and a photo essay about student activism for Palestine (more specifically, the Palestine encampment and its dispersal in Irvine).

• Gehad Abaza is a doctoral candidate in the Anthropology department at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Abaza’s research interests include forced migration and refugee studies, the anthropology of statecraft, violence, and processes of racialization. Before pursuing a PhD, Abaza was a freelance journalist based in Cairo.

Anderson Gonçalves, Department of Global Studies

“Maroon communities in Recôncavo da Bahia, Brazil”

• This talk will give a brief overview on the historical context of environmental issues and land dispossession affecting quilombos across Recôncavo da Bahia, Brazil, in the last decades, with an emphasis on contributions given by local leaders.

• Graduate Assistant and MA Student at the Department of Global Studies at UCSB. Fellow of the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies. Anderson holds an MA in International Relations and a BA in Administration. Prior to his current position, he has lived and studied in Switzerland, France and Mexico.