Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want | Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Type: Public event

Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want

Lecture & Community Conversation with Author, Dr. Ruha Benjamin. Facilitated by Ms. Leseliey Welch

Speaker

Dr. Ruha Benjamin, Leseliey Welch

Date & time

Mar 14, 2023, 11:30 am-1:00 pm EDT

Location

This is a Virtual Event.
Michigan Union (Rogel Ballroom)
530 STATE ST Ann Arbor, 48109

Join us as we welcome Dr. Ruha Benjamin to campus to discuss her newest book, Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want. In this talk, Dr. Benjamin draws on the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic and introduces a micro-vision of change—a way of looking at the everyday ways people are working to combat unjust systems and build alternatives to the oppressive status quo. 

Born of a stubborn hopefulness and grounded in social analysis, Dr. Ruha Benjamin offers a pragmatic and poetic approach to fostering a more just and joyful world. Following the lecture, audience members will have a chance to participate in a community conversation and Q&A session facilitated by three time UM alum, Leseliey Welch.

This event is both online and in person. Light refreshments will be served at 11:30am, before the session begins. Please share any questions you have for Dr. Benjamin about her research, teaching, publications via this form.​​​​​​​

Please contact SPH's DEI Team with any questions: [email protected]

About the speaker

Dr. Ruha Benjamin is a professor of African American studies at Princeton University, founding director of the Ida B. Wells JUST Data Lab and author of three books. Long before the pandemic, Dr. Ruha Benjamin was doing groundbreaking research on race, technology, and justice, focusing on big, structural changes. But the twin plagues of COVID-19 and anti-Black police violence inspired her to rethink the importance of small, individual actions. Part memoir, part manifesto, Viral Justice is a sweeping and deeply personal exploration of how we can transform society through the choices we make every day.

About the facilitator

Ms. Leseliey Welch (she/her) is Co-founder of Birth Detroit and Birth Center Equity, a mom and a tireless advocate for work that makes communities stronger, healthier and more free. Leseliey leads a team of birth workers, birth advocates and community leaders planning Detroit’s first freestanding community birth center Birth Detroit, and is proud of the launch of Birth Center Equity to grow and sustain birth centers led by Black, Indigenous and people of color across the country. She has nearly two decades of leadership experience in city, state and national health organizations.

Sponsors

SPH Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Leadership Team, UM School of Public Health, UM School of Information, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, CEW+ - The Frances & Sydney Lewis Visiting Leaders Fund, Trotter Multicultural Center, Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, UM Center for Racial Justice, UM Center for Ethics, Society, & Computing, UM LSA Department of Anthropology, UM LSA Department of Sociology, and UM LSA Science, Technology, & Society Program. 

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