Our department recently came together for a hybrid conversation and creative workshop to launch the book Navigating Academia as a Transnational Scholar from the Global South: Treasuring All the Knowledges, a collection that weaves together the experiences of 16 women and non-binary scholars who navigated postgraduate life as non-elite international students and (un)documented migrants in countries wealthier than their own.
The book was co-edited by two recently minted GWSS PhDs, Iris Viveros and Elizabeth Ramírez Arreola, and by Roxana Chiappa (University of Tarapacá / Rhodes University). The three came together to discuss the book's central themes, such as abundance, survival, care, and the kinds of knowledge-making that don't always get counted in academic spaces.
The event itself was as innovative as the book. A book launch, like many academic convenings, typically features panelist discussion followed by audience Q&A. As GWSS Professor Michelle Habell-Pallán observed, the book editors "followed the spirit of their book and turned the conventional book launch upside down." Participants were invited to write and share their own creative reflections on their relationships to knowledge, transforming the gathering into a collective space for storytelling-as-scholarship.
Habell-Pallán was impressed by how the three editors were "intentional in trying to build a connection, a tiny moment of community." What emerged embodied a core belief of the GWSS department: that knowledge takes many forms. The event brought traditionally academic formats — the theoretical edited volume — into conversation with oral traditions, poetry, storytelling, and music. It was a reminder that academic community, at its best, makes room for many voices and many ways of knowing.