We take a critical look at racism, classism, and other forms of systemic oppression. We explore how to make anti-racist practices a part of our everyday lives. We examine the future of reproductive justice and ponder the issue of who or what has rights. And we take a deep look at restorative justice for local and global communities. 

We do this by strengthening our relationships as collaborators; by exploring a wide variety of perspectives and points of view, especially those that we may not hold close. We also seek to understand the common themes as threads running through systems of oppression while also recognizing the unique context of each. Finally, we seek to enact change by constantly examining our own positionality and how that is impacted by and impacts others. 

We aim to provide space for intellectual exchange, community building, fun, engaged learning, and action. We create this through formal events, group advising, course/faculty collaboration, informal/drop-in opportunities, field trips, and more.

The Learning Collaborative in Action

Coursework

In Racial Justice Movements in Higher Education taught by Assistant Professor of Psychology, Africana Studies and Social Transformation Gaurav Jashnani students engage with the question: What motivates students of color to challenge and rebel against their institutions? They explore student racial justice organizing in U.S. colleges and universities with a focus on several recent movements (e.g., Black Lives Matter and Palestinian solidarity), as well as earlier foundational ones. While examining specific movements, they also seek to understand the experience of student protest and some of the broader historical dynamics of these movements in the U.S. 

In Alien/Freak/Monster: Race, Sex, and Disability In Science Fiction, Horror, and Fantasy taught by Professor of Critical Race, Gender, and Media Studies Susana Loza, students consider the following questions: Does the figure of the alien/freak/monster reconfigure the relationship between bodies, technology, and the division of labor? How do such figures simultaneously buttress and transgress the boundary between human and non-human, normal and abnormal, Self and Other? How does society use the grotesque body of the alien/freak/monster to police the liminal limits of sexuality, gender, and ethnicity? How does The Other come to embody Pure Evil? Finally, what are the consequences of living as an alien/freak/monster for specific groups and individuals?

Projects

Reproductive Access and Direct Service Collective

Holland Silva | Div II

As a Div II student, Holland took on the necessary work of providing emergency contraception, pregnancy tests, fentanyl test strips, and Narcan to the Hampshire community. With the help of LC funds and Hampshire Grants, they provided these necessary items in mutual aid and at no cost to the community.

Bringing daily life in Palestine to my daily life

Haven Vincent-Warner | Div I

As a Div I student, Haven created ten images (using printmaking, painting, and drawing), surrounding different (unique and specific) celebrations of Palestinian culture and heritage. Haven scanned these prints and wheatpasted them around Amherst, Northampton, and other places in Western Massachusetts. The project celebrated the richly beautiful culture and history of Palestine. This is a protest-art expression, focused on bringing to light the robust and beautiful lives, traditions, and culture of Palestine and the Palestinian peoples. As major forces of the world aim to erase Palestinian culture, Haven hoped to preserve and celebrate it publicly in the places they hold dear.

Challenging the Narrative with Global South Perspectives

Lucero Diaz Valiente | Div II

As a Ddiv II student, Lucero sought to uplift Global South voices, stories, and ways of being through this project. They engaged in fieldwork research and conducted interviews with community members in Johannesburg, South Africa, and Capiatá, Paraguay, seeking to understand what solidarity and collective liberation means among Black and Indigenous people in these communities. This project was foundational to Lucero’s Division III project.

Community

In the fall 2024 Learning Collaborative Symposium, “Y(our) Piece of the Puzzle: Student Movements Past, Present, and Future,” Storm Ervin, Ayanna Poole, and Andrea Thurston — University of Missouri alumni and organizers of Concerned Student 1950 (CS1950), the student activist group that protested racial injustices in 2015 — engaged participants in an interactive presentation and workshop that explored impact of student movements through critical analysis of activism at Missouri’s flagship university and beyond. They offered a historical context for the organizing of CS1950 and shared stories about this work shaped their personal and professional trajectories, encouraging attendees to recognize how their fight for justice fits into the larger struggle for liberation.