CSI will host its Sixth Annual Black Queer Studies Lecture on Tuesday, Mar. 28 from 2:30pm to 4:00pm in the Center for the Arts (Building 1P), Room 119. Our honored speaker this year is Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz, a librarian and archivist. Shawn will present “Community Calls: Lesbian of Color Ancestral & Performance Archiving,” a case study of archival practices using a Critical Race Theory framework with the Rivers of Honey woman of color cabaret theater archive.
Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz is the Associate Dean for the Teaching, Learning, and Engagement subdivision at New York University’s Division of Libraries. Shawn is co-editor for Grabbing Tea: Queer Conversations in Libraries and Grabbing Tea: Queer Conversations in Archives with Litwin Books. Shawn is a visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt School of Information, teaching reference and instruction. She co-leads the METRO Reference and Instruction Special Interest Group and is a recipient of a ACRL Award for Significant Achievement in Women’s & Gender Studies in Librarianship for black lesbian archival work as a co-coordinating volunteer archivist for the Lesbian Herstory Archives. Shawn has a BS in Queer Women’s Studies from CUNYBA, an MFA in Fiction, and an MLIS, both from Queens College. Find her online.
The Annual Black Queer Studies Lecture is committed to integrating academic queer studies with practical ways of doing queer work in the world, including in future careers such as lesbian librarianship and archival work.
More information is available online.
By the Office of DEI
