Event Information
Event description
Description
Weekly Reading Group to consider the seminal book The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. The conversation will be led and motivated by group participants and facilitated by Yaelle Amir, a researcher and curator invested in creative activism around mass incarceration in the U.S. Amir curated To Shoot a Kite, an exhibition at the CUE Foundation (NYC), that presented "the severe conditions of inmates and exposes [the] broken [prison] system." Sectioned into three meetings, the group will discuss the main issues addressed in the book: the origin of mass incarceration in the U.S.; the racialized structure of the U.S. justice system; the aftermath and legacy of mass incarceration. Each week, the book will be used as a jumping off point to draw connections to recent events and social movements, creative and activist responses to the system and more. Participants are encouraged to suggest supplemental reading based on the meetings’ topics, as well as additional facilitators who can speak to the particular issues addresses at the meetings.
Please RSVP to each session you wish to attend in Eventbrite by selecting the date from the "Available Dates" drop down menu on the registration page. If you wish to attend more than one meeting, you will need to register separately for each session.
Reading Group Schedule*:
October 7
Intro + Ch. 1 | The Recurring Cycle - A history of racialized social control in the United States
October 14
Ch. 2 + 3 | Structure of mass incarceration and the role of race in the criminal justice system
October 21
Ch. 4 + 5 | Life post-incarceration and institutionalized racism in the prison and justice systems
& Ch. 6 | What Now? The New Jim Crow and the movements of tomorrow
The Reading Group is free and open to the public. However, due to limited space, RSVP is required for one or all sessions. Participants are responsible to obtain their own copy of the book. Resources for finding copies are available here. Books and e-books can also be acquired through your local Multnomah County Library and university and college libraries. If accessibility is a concern, please contact info@c3initiative.org for assistance acquiring the materials.
Light snacks and refreshments will be provided during the meetings. Although not required, participants are encouraged to treat the night as a potluck and bring food to share.
*Please note changes to weekly chapter breakdown
Yaelle Amir is a curator, writer and researcher who currently holds the position of Curator at Newspace Center for Photography in Portland, OR. Her writing and curatorial projects focus primarily on artists whose practices supplement the initiatives of existing social movements, rendering themes within those struggles in ways that both interrogate and promote these issues to a wider audience. She has curated exhibitions at Artists Space, CUE Art Foundation, Center for Book Arts, ISE Cultural Foundation, The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, Marginal Utility, and the Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia University, among others. Her writing has appeared in numerous art publications includingArt in America, ArtLies, ArtSlant, ArtUS, Beautiful/Decay, and Sculpture Magazine. She has also worked at major art institutions, such as the International Center of Photography, the Museum of Modern Art, and NYU's Institute of Fine Arts.
