Black disability poetics and politics

Wake Forest University is hosting a conversation with Sami Schalk and Vilissa Thompson on Tues., March 28 at 4 p.m.  The event is free and open to all. For disability accommodations, please contact Kristina Gupta at guptaka@wfu.edu.

Sami Schalk is an associate professor of gender and women’s studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Schalk’s interdisciplinary research focuses on disability, race and gender in contemporary American literature and culture.

She is the author of “Bodyminds Reimagined: (Dis)ability, Race, and Gender in Black Women’s Speculative Fiction” (Duke University Press 2018) and “Black Disability Politics” (Duke University Press 2022).

Vilissa Thompson is a disability rights consultant, writer and activist. She is the Founder & CEO of Ramp Your Voice!, an organization focused on promoting self-advocacy and strengthening empowerment among disabled people. Thompson created the #DisabilityTooWhite viral hashtag in 2016, addressing the lack of diversity within the disability community.

This conversation has been organized by the Wake Forest Disability Studies Initiative and has been sponsored by the following: the Wake Forest University Humanities Institute with support made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities; the Provost’s Fund for a Vibrant Campus; the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; and the Disability Affinity Resource Group.