By establishing intersectionality as a core feminist practice, the Ellipsis Institute for Women of Color in the Academy intentionally creates space for women of color students, staff and faculty as we build relationship across lines of difference in a unified pursuit of advocacy efforts for all women, in all roles. In plenaries and break out sessions, participants receive tools and resources to successfully produce advocacy actions on campus. The intention of Ellipsis Institute for Women of Color in the Academy is to provide connections and relationships that build a support network, navigate barriers to access and build allies in your journey towards gender equity.  

This year's theme is Women of Color on the Line: Our Bodies Are Borders.

The border-induced trauma presented by today’s sociopolitical context disproportionately impacts communities of color from Cleveland to Palestine and everywhere in between through policies and practices most often known to us as gentrification, segregation, militarization, racist policing, refugee repression, and other forms of covert and overt violence.  

Ironically, these “borders” are being used by those who possess the ability to systematically pillage and exploit indigenous and neo-indigenous communities with an overarching goal of supporting and fortifying the culture of whiteness.  

And we already know the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house.

In the academy, we are charged with DEI initiatives that encourage us to center the most marginalized in our praxis:  educating students for a diverse world. By positioning the classroom as the place of radical transformation for women of color, our physical bodies serve as the primary medium to effectively enact our pedagogy.  Thus, our performance of self emerges as an integral element in our collective liberation. Please join us as we actively use our bodies to transgress borders as tools for liberation.