LABOR of LOVE, LABOR of
SORROW
bodies and souls building new life
Saturday, March 16 University of California, Berkeley
program
schedule time
|activity
|location
8:30–9 am
Registration & Breakfast
Wheeler Plaza
9–9:10 am
Welcome & Libations
Wheeler Auditorium
9:30–9:45 am
Opening Performance: Nosotras
9:45–10:15 am
Keynote: Ai-jen Poo
10:15–10:25 am
Youth Essay Student Speaker
10:35–11:40 am
Workshop Session 1
Various Locations
11:50 am– 12:55 pm
Workshop Session 2
Various Locations
12:55–2:30 pm
Lunch & Performances: DJ Champagne Sista’s Wit Style Charlet Inthavongxay Jazz Hudson
Wheeler Plaza
2:40–3:40 pm
Panel
Wheeler Auditorium
3:50–4:50 pm
Workshop Session 3
Various Locations
4:55–5:10 pm
Closing Remarks
Wheeler Auditorium
5:30–7:30 pm
Evening Performances: Yo Yolie Tarika Lewis Susana Caceres Joyce Lee CHARITOxFUNKCH3N Tracy Cruz
Wheeler Auditorium
Please note: all presenter and peformer bios and workshop descriptions in this program are abbreviated. For full-length versions, visit ewocc.wordpress.com 2
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map wheeler hall The 2013 EWOCC is held at: Wheeler Hall South Drive @ Sather Road UC Berkeley Campus 94720
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welcome Welcome to the 28th Annual Empowering Women of Color Conference (EWOCC)! Our theme this year, “Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Bodies and Souls Building Life,” seeks to honor a multiplicity of women’s experiences around labor. As women of color, our journeys are marked by stretches of struggle and moments of victory. We have returned to the UC Berkeley Campus today, March 16th, 2013, to honor labor across generations: our mothers, grandmothers, and caregivers whose souls and bodies gave us life. Today, the nation’s oldest and largest women of color conference will focus on the physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of labor in order to sustain our lives. Today’s conference will feature a range of performers, activists, artists, authors, intellectuals, academics and leaders, including keynote speaker: Ai-jen Poo, the Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), and co-founder of Domestic Workers United (DWU), which helped establish the historic Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in 2010. With this year’s theme, “Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Bodies and Souls Building Life,” EWOCC is a place to learn and collaborate, as we challenge one another to resist and dismantle the systems that oppress us. We build with ancestral ways of working that are attentive to the politics of liberation, decolonization, and healing. EWOCC is a call to action! We invite people of all ages, abilities, socioeconomic and immigration statuses, sexualities, religions and cultural backgrounds to contribute to the day’s events, as we aim to give activists the means to develop new strategies to address current struggles on our own terms. In Solidarity, The 28th Annual EWOCC Committee 4
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keynote Ai-jen Poo
9:45–10:15 am Wheeler Auditorium
Ai-jen Poo, Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) and Co-director of the Caring Across Generations campaign, has been organizing immigrant women workers since 1996. In 2000 she co-founded Domestic Workers United, the New York organization that spearheaded the successful passage of the state’s historic Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in 2010. In 2007, DWU helped organize the first national domestic workers convening, out of which formed the NDWA. Ai-jen serves on the Board of Directors of Momsrising, National Jobs with Justice, Working America, the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, and the National Council on Aging. Among Ai-jen’s numerous accolades are the Ms. Foundation Woman of Vision Award, the Independent Sector American Express NGen Leadership Award, Newsweek’s 150 Fearless Women list, and TIME’s list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.
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performers Nosotras Nosotras is an all-women ensemble that performs music and dance from Latin America highlighting the importance of the strength, spirit, character, and beauty of women. Nosotras was founded in 2007 after the massive Peruvian earthquake, and helped to raise funds for disaster relief. They have performed together ever since. Nosotras includes: Fernanda Bustamante, Peta Robles, Gabriela Shiroma, & Rosa Los Santos.
9:30 am Auditorium
DJ Champagne
12:55 pm Plaza
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Champagne Hughes, a.k.a. DJ Champagne, is a professional R&B and down-tempo female DJ who performs throughout the greater Bay and Los Angeles areas. In her four years as a DJ, she’s performed for San Jose Juneteenth Festival, SF Aids Walk, San Jose State University, WILD 94.9FM, 90.5 KSJS, Los Angeles NAACP Theatre Awards, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Shashamane International Bar & Grill, and much more. Currently, she is producing soulful house tracks to tour California and the UK, working on a webisode on Bay Area small business owners, and making a compilation album.
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performers cont’d
Sistas-Wit-Style
1:15 pm Plaza
Sistas-Wit-Style (SWS) was founded in 2000 by African American young women. SWS promotes Caribbean culture through dance in schools and youth organizations, to fight obesity and offer an alternative to disruptive behavior. SWS has performed throughout the United States and Trinidad, and has been acknowledged by Congresswoman Barbara Lee, the State of California Board of Directors, and the City of Oakland for promoting pride and leadership among Bay Area youth for nearly ten years.
Charlet Inthavongxay
1:30 pm Plaza
Charlet Inthavongxay is an actor, rapper, poet, and plus-size model born and raised in San Francisco and currently living in Sacramento. This January, she won the title of Mrs. California Plus, and she is dedicated to bringing awareness to the plus-size community and learning how to love one’s inner and outer beauty. As the owner of “Northern Cali Concessions,” a mobile business, Charlet gives 30% of her profits back to the community through youth sports & empowerment. With an MSW, and degrees in Criminal Justice and Child Development, Charlet’s research focuses on the barriers African American women face in their strive for academic success.
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performers cont’d Jazz Hudson Jazz Hudson has performed everywhere from the streets of Oakland to the Philippines, often with her son Nassor at her side. She has performed her work before Saul Williams, Angela Davis, Dr. Joy DeGruy, Mos Def, Susan Taylor, Michael Eric Dyson, and at rallies for Oscar Grant, Black August events, and Soulciety’s Empowerment showcase. She is a former Brave New Voices International Teen Poetry Slam Finalist. Jazz self-published her chapbook, “Small Minds Say Small Things,” in 2011, and is currently working on a memoir entitled “Defining Moments.” She currently works as an arts educator in Oakland.
1:40 pm Plaza
Yo Yolie
5:30 pm Auditorium
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Born and raised in the Bay Area, Faby Yolie (Yo Yolie) developed her unique taste in music by listening to many different genres. A big music enthusiast, Yo Yolie grew up listening to radio DJs and watching her brother DJ, and spent most of her time researching as much as she could about every genre. Yo Yolie has played at places such as The Beauty Bar, Stout Brothers, and WiLD 94.9 Pride in San Francisco. She is also a Featured DJ for Mixcrate.com.
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performers cont’d Tarika Lewis
5:45 pm Auditorium
Tarika Lewis is often referred to as the Jimi Hendrix of electric violin. Tarika teaches visual arts at public and charter schools and has a professional background in illustration and design. Tarika performs with The Journey alongside Tacuma King and Val Serrant, AMA EVOLUTION, the Bobby Young Project Blues Band, and Strings of a Nubian Groove. She has toured nationally and internationally with alto saxophonist John Handy, recorded with India Arie, made videos with Xzibit, and performed at the Millions More March in Washington, DC. Tarika is a graduate of the Academy of Art University and Cal State East Bay in Hayward.
Susana Cáceres Susana Cáceres is a queer embryonic immigrant from San Salvador, El Salvador. A native of Los Angeles, Susana grew up in the areas of Pico Union and South Central. Her poetry is simple and self-involved. For a living she runs nonprofits. For fun she dances and recently finished her first short film.
6:05 pm Auditorium
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performers cont’d Joyce Lee
6:25 pm Auditorium
Joyce Lee is the 2009-2010 Oakland Grand Slam Champion and the only womyn to win the title thus far. She has written poetry, plays, and short stories for over 22 years. She has been featured internationally at venues such as Yoshi’s of San Francisco, Oakland’s Art and Soul Festival, Switzerland’s Border Slam, Germany’s Frankfurt Slam, and the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York City. Joyce also performs in Muni Diaries in San Francisco and on NPR’s Snap Judgement.
CHARITOxFUNKCH3N
6:35 pm Auditorium
Singer-songwriter Charito Soriano and guitarist Rowenalyn “FunkCH3N” Conlu perform timeless melodies that reflect their shared love of hip-hop, reggae, soul and everything inbetween. Charito, born and raised in Hayward, and FunkCh3N, from the island of Guam, have together shared stages with artists such as Zion I, and Goapele. They are currently working on a 6-song EP which drops in early 2013.
Tracy Cruz
6:45 pm Auditorium 10
Tracy Cruz combines a thriving passion for Filipino ballads with the influence of her former vocal coach, Ledisi. She has collaborated with Kanetic Source (formerly of Ozomatli), Apl. de Ap (Black Eyed Peas), Slim (112), Martin Luther, Zion I, and Pep Love. Her album “Feel’osophy” won three Muse’s Muse Awards, and her album “Universoul Symphony” charted internationally. Recently, her music video for “Love’s Galaxy” aired nationally on MYX TV.
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panel Stories of Working Women 2:40–3:40 pm | Wheeler Auditorium What are the sources of love that sustain us when the work to which we are committed requires so much from us? How do we stay inspired and resilient? This panel features women who are engaged in meaningful work that aims to change lives. Come and hear these women generously share their stories as we imagine how working collaboratively can advance our common interests.
panelists Raquel Jimenez Second generation Chicana from Oakland with 18 years of organizing experience with the Xicana Moratorium Coalition, MEChA, and Youth Together, graduate of UC Berkeley (Chicano Studies), and UCLA (Master of Arts in Education), currently the Student Engagement Specialist at Oakland Unified School District. Tarika Lewis Activist, Artist and Performer with The Journey, Oakland Unified School District, the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, and My Strings of Soul. See full bio on p. 9. Fuifuilupe Niumeitolu Tongan American community organizer, scholar, artist, National Chair of the Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Civil Rights Commission, co-facilitator of the Pacific Islander men’s group at Solano Prison, and PhD Candidate at UC Berkeley.
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workshop session one 10:35–11:40 am
Labors of Love, Love as Labor: Decolonizing Intimate Relationships in Social Justice Movments Room 121 This workshop takes Malkia Cyril’s declaration that “dating and not dating is a relationship with power” and Junot Diaz’s talk on decolonial love as starting points to develop tactics to extend our anti-capitalist and anti-racist frameworks to our intimate relationships. This workshop is geared toward addressing barriers to developing a praxis of intimate love that mirrors our theoretical understandings of decoloniality. This can be incredibly difficult and seemingly impossible whether we are in queer, straight, polyamorous, or monogamous relationships. In this workshop we will bring the action-oriented practices of our social justice work to bear on our intimate relationships in order to recognize decolonial love as a part of our social movement labor. We will inhabit our privilege, opening ourselves to our forms of colonial brokenness in the name of moving toward having relationships differently and within movement(s) work. Activities Include: Narration, FreeWriting, Mirroring privilege. Kim Tran is a graduate student in the Ethnic Studies program at UC Berkeley, focusing on refugee communities, transnational labor, gender, and queer studies. David Melena-Castro is a fifth year first generation student of color at UC Berkeley and aspires to earn a PhD in Ethnic Studies to advocate for and support future generations of students of color.
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workshop session one cont’d The Labors of Healing: A Collective Exploration Room 103 How do we bridge the personal and the political in ways that support our healing processes? Through facilitated small and large group discussions as well as individual and collective writing exercises, we will use our brief time together to identify the labors of our self/community recovery. Thinking of healing as a labor of love, and simultaneously one of sorrow, allows us to consider the material effects of oppression, and allows us to consider ourselves agents in the work of healing. The facilitator will integrate yoga breathing and meditative exercises to open and close the circle. Participants will leave with everyday tools and resources for healing. Tala Khanmalek is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley and founding director of Womyn’s Circle.
Power Dynamic of Society Room 106 This workshop will be a combination of lecture and group discussion. Participants will analyze social power dynamics in and between races and genders, and will discuss what youth can do to change stereotypes and discrimination. Care will be taken to create a safe space where participants can express themselves freely. Eve Delfin has worked extensively with youth all over California including work as a case manager and counselor in Oakland. Briana Sousa is a senior at Dewey Academy in Oakland, interns with a nonviolent sudent group and has extensive workshop leadership experience. Lena Nguyen is also a Dewey Academy senior and involved in the nonviolent internship leadership group, leading workshops with OUSD.
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workshop session one cont’d Empowering Women Through Creative Expression Room 122 As writers and published authors as well as poets/spoken word artists, the pieces we write are based on experiences that we have either gone through personally or been affected by in some way. This workshop will begin with introducing ourselves, reciting our original poems, and briefly explaining what influenced us to write them. Participants will take turns reading poems and prose relating to the topic "Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Bodies and Souls Building Life." Following the readings, participants will break into small groups to free-write a personal piece about a hardship, experience, tragedy, challenge or life altering situation they have gone through. The groups will share their pieces with one another in a "healing circle." Writing often helps us process our experiences internally, and talking about and reading pieces aloud to an unbiased and non-judgmental audience can assist with giving us closure. Joy Sledge performs and publishes poetry, including her 2001 book of poems Signs of Life: Past, Present, and Future (Xlibris). Brianni Blue is a spoken word artist with two published books and has performed widely across California.
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workshop session one cont’d DJ Female Workshop Room 100
Every year since 2008, EWOCC has hosted a DJ Female Workshop featuring the hottest locally and nationally recognized female DJ's, speaking in an informal setting about their craft, journeys, and experiences working as women of color in such a male-dominated industry. Participants get a chance to learn and try basic skills on the turntables. The DJ Female Workshop was created by EWOCC Entertainment Chair Aqueila M. Lewis and Carmen Martinez, former EWOCC member who transitioned from this life in 2010. See bios for DJ Champagne on p. 6 and Yo Yolie on p. 8 of this program.
Self-Care: Connect and Create Room 130 Women of color are continuously caring for others and oftentimes forgetting and/or neglecting to care for themselves. This workshop provides conference attendees the opportunity to relax, breathe, gain awareness and insight on self care. Facilitation will focus on connecting with self and others and taking time to empower ourselves by gngaging our imagination and creativity. Aaqilah Islam (M.A., MFTI) is a member of California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists and works with incarcerated youth. Ebony Sinnamon-Johnson (M.A., MFTI) has worked with youth for over 10 years as a mentor, advocate, teacher and now therapist. Shelia Lastie (M.A., MFTI) is a Clinical Therapist for children, adolescents, and their families and/or caregivers. Robin Noel Morales (MFTI) works for Health Care Services Agency Administration as a registered marriage and family therapy intern.
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workshop session two 11:50 am–12:55 pm
From Caregiving to Organizing: The Struggles and Stories of Women Caregivers in the Bay Area Room 130 This workshop will explore the bodies and labor of Filipino women as transnational workers and as corporeal objects brokered into the global economy by the Philippine state. We will learn how the Philippine Labor Export Policy utilizes these bodies as prized commodities at certain points of the migration process and in contradiction, abandoning them and deeming them as valueless in the cases of abused and killed workers abroad. We will focus on how these same bodies are rising up and leading grassroots movements to organize around economic injustice and violations of their human rights. The workshop will feature the Caregiver Research Project (CARE Project) a community-based participatory action research & initiative that looks into the lives and working conditions of Filipino caregivers in the Bay Area. Rowena Viray is an organizer and leader of SAMAKA-GABRIELA USA for Filipino mothers and women workers. Sandra Panopio organizes with Babae SF-GABRIELA USA and has worked with the UN in the Dominican Republic and the Philippines. Princess Bustos organizes with Babae SF-GABRIELA USA, and volunteers with the Careproject at the Filipino Community Center.
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workshop session two cont’d Living the Wisdom of Our Ancestors: Practicing the Arts of Receiving and Giving Room 121 The intention of this workshop is to create a sacred space for participants to reflect on, connect to and celebrate, the wisdom of their elders. It will be an opportunity to honor what they have left us as well as share what we want to leave to others. Nicole Rangel is the daughter of Colombian immigrants and a PhD student in Social and Cultural Studies in Education at UC Berkeley.
Introduction to Heart Inspired Living: Pathway to Personal Fulfillment Room 103 This workshop is about achieving personal empowerment by learning to tap into your inner guidance and wisdom. The foundation for heart inspired living is remapping our perceptions and interactions with life through the heart, which creates a personal alignment with our creativity, passions and intuitive guidance. It’s this alignment that inspires us to discover who we are and what we love which opens the door to our personal success, joy and abundance. Karen Jackson-Everette is a founder and executive director of Gratitude Power Inc., and the Center for Heart Inspired Living.
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workshop session two cont’d Together Means All of Us: Families in the Movement(s) Room 106 This workshop is an open discussion around the theme of building family-friendly social movements. We will focus on questions such as: What can be done by non-parents to make it more accessible for parents and their children to participate in movements? How do we build spaces that are inviting to children and caretakers? What does it look like for parenting and caregiving responsibilities to be shared within movements to truly offer multi-generational spaces and events? We believe that parenting is a labor of love that should be acknowledged more in our movements. Sustaining the life of our movements entails raising our children within these communities so that we may foster a love for justice in them. We hope this workshop will work toward starting an important conversation about how we can all do our part in forming family-friendly spaces where revolution is planted. Carolina Prado is a PhD student at UCB and does environmental and food justice work in San Diego-Tijuana and North Oakland. Hayzel Ortiz is a nursing major and a mama to an almost one-year old. Angela Aguilar is mother, full-spectrum birth companion, instructor and PhD student at UC Berkeley.
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workshop session two cont’d Feeding the Masses Room 122 Have you ever wanted to host a food fundraiser or community dinner, but don´t know where to start? This is a practical workshop designed to share hands-on resources to budget, organize, and promote food events that build community and inspire action. Our discussion is rooted in the ways that food has nourished social justice movements in the Bay Area and beyond. Participants are invited to assemble and enjoy a light bite of Pani Puri (a hollowed crisp) with seasonal vegetables and mint sauce. Sita Kuratomi Bhaumik is a food-obsessed artist, cook, and event producer.
Labor of Change, Labor of Life: Orixa Dance Movement, Iansa and Yemanja Room 110 Through dance movements inspired by Iansa (Oya) and Yemanja, this workshop examines the labor needed to create change and life. Iansa and Yemanja are two of the many Orixa, spirits in the Yoruba religion brought to the Americas by people of African descent in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Iansa is the warrior Orixa of destruction and change, making the stagnant dynamic, and bringing hope to the hopeless. Yemanja is the Orixa of the ocean, mother to all, bringing healing and peace. This workshop will illustrate the strength and courage to create that resides in the feminine. Conceição Damasceno has been a choreographer, performer and instructor throughout Brasil, the US, Europe, and Asia for over 25 years. Ashlee George, the 2012 Queen of Carnaval, dances at BrasArte’s Casa de Cultura, and is a Restorative Justice Consultant.
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workshop session three 11:50 am–12:55 pm
Broken Shackle Developmental Training— Healing Internalized Racism Room 100 This workshop promotes the use of healing techniques to reduce the effects of internalized racism, ranging from self-sabotage to devaluing members of one's own ethnic group. This training equips people of color with the tools to help reverse the effects of internalized racism, empowering participants to heal themselves and their communities. Workshops incorporate the use of meditation exercises, written reflections, and ritual. During discussion time, we will have a chance to explore the interplay between internalized sexism and internalized racism. Through this workshop, participants will discover ways to honor and celebrate their own multidimensional selves (through acts of self-care and self-love) thereby be capable of teaching other women to celebrate this multidimensionality and bring healing to their respective communities. Presenter: Prof. Janet C. Mendoza Stickmon, author of Midnight Peaches, Two O’Clock Patience, and Crushing Soft Rubies, is a teacher, writer, and performer.
From Caregiving to Organizing: The Struggles and Stories of Women Caregivers in the Bay Area Room 130 See workshop description and presenter bios on p. 16.
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workshop session three cont’d The Politics of ‘Werq-ing’: Femmes, Fashion, and The Labor of Gender Performance Room 121 This workshop focuses on discussion of (1) fashion/drag as queer femme labor—in femme of color communities, creatively performing femme drag is specifically called “werq-ing”—and (2) how this “werq” becomes part of a process of decolonization, skill-building, resistance and historical archiving. This workshop seeks to address feminine gender performance or femme drag as ritualized labor done in the name of preserving POC history, building community and subverting white supremacist heteropatriarchy. Femme drag also requires the work of navigating multiple marginalizations. Virgie Tovar, MA is a fat activist, writer and body image expert/ coach, and editor of Hot & Heavy: Fierce Fat Girls on Life, Love and Fashion.
Empowering Women Through Creative Expression Room 122 See workshop description and presenter bios on p. 14.
Power Dynamic of Society Room 106 See workshop description and presenter bios on p. 15.
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youth essay winner Luna Isamar Berber Flores Senior, Castlemont High School 10:15 am | Auditorium My parents argued constantly. I remember waking up in the middle of the night to their screams. My mom did most of the yelling; she yelled at my dad for disappearing for long periods of time and not putting enough effort into our family. My dad spent most of his time drinking with his friends and he neglected me while my mom was away at work. My mom and I could not stand the fact that he drank so much. She reached her breaking point one day when I was eight years old. My dad was drunk and would not leave me alone, calling to me repeatedly while I ignored him. My mom finally told him to get out the house, and when he refused to leave, she called the police. My dad snatched the phone from her, hitting her in the face in the process. When the police showed up, my mom was yelling and I was crying. They took my dad away that day and my mom never allowed him to return. After my parents separated, my mom was devastated and she slowly slipped into a deep depression. She began abusing alcohol just as my dad had and often left me at friends' houses overnight so she could go out to clubs with her friends. When they came home, my mom was usually completely intoxicated. It was embarrassing to see her this way in front of people we knew: falling over, talking pure nonsense, and acting as if she didn't have a child to take care of. Her drinking impaired her judgment and she no longer knew right from wrong. She often drove me home after consuming massive amounts of alcohol. I sat in the car terrified, praying to God with tears in my eyes that we would just get home safely.
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youth essay cont’d By the time I turned ten, I was the responsible adult in my family. I had to care for my mom since she was not able to care for herself, let alone me. I hated those long nights when she stayed up drinking, calling out for my dad and me, and ultimately passed out on the floor. I locked myself in my room and tried to ignore her cries. I missed many days of school because my mom was too hungover to drive me. She eventually declared bankruptcy because we had gone into debt due to her alcoholism. She had spent everything we had, including money that I had been saving for myself since I was in the first grade. Living in this environment forced me to grow up quickly. I got a job in order to help my mom pay bills and realized that I wanted a better future for myself. To ignore all that was going on at home, I focused on my studies and am now earning better grades. I push myself to do my best academically so that I can attend college. Earning a college degree will allow me to learn all that I can and will help me accomplish my dream of owning my own photography business. â–
Luna Isamar Berber Flores is a current senior at Castlemont High School in East Oakland, and plans to attend Santa Clara University in the fall to study business and photography.
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ewocc committee The Empowering Women of Color Planning Committee is a registered student organization. An extraordinary group of diverse UC Berkeley undergraduate students, graduate students, campus employees, and community members from the surrounding area, the EWOCC Committee meets once every two weeks in the fall, and once every week in the spring up till the conference. Members work in sub-committees to plan out conference funding, logistics, entertainment, workshops, vendors, publicity, artwork, etc. The committee recruits at least fifty additional volunteers from the UC Berkeley campus and the community to assist in the day of events.
members Aqueila Lewis Angelina Villafane Arianna Morales Bette Davis Bianca Ayanna Suarez Bianca Luna-Acosta Caro Vera Charlene Khoo Cindy Andallo Dyana Delfin Polk
Jessica Rodriguez Jessica Carranza Katrina Dollaga Kim McNair Lirio Zepeda Lisa Walker Mariel Estrada Melissa Ramirez-Medina Obiamaka Ude Veronica Garcia
coordinator Jocelyn Meza
artwork Arianna Morales
program design Claudia Leung 24
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herstory The Empowering Women of Color Conference (EWOCC) was founded in 1984 by a group of undergraduate students as their semester project for a DE-Cal (Democratic Education at Cal) class. The project, entitled “Women of Color in the United States,” received an overwhelmingly positive response, and students decided to organize an event with the help of the Graduate Assembly (GA), Berkeley’s graduate student government. In 1986, with the formation of the GA’s Graduate Women’s Project (GWP), the conference and annual project were institutionalized under the auspices of the GWP. EWOCC was one of the first conferences to present women of color with an opportunity to address the racial, class, and gender issues facing American Indian, African American, Asian American, and Chicana/Latina women. EWOCC is now acknowledged to be the longest-running women of color conference in the country, with the 2013 conference marking its twenty-seventh anniversary. The conference has a history of building strong networks among passionate women of color of different generations, ethnic and racial groups, socioeconomic levels, sexual orientations, and physical abilities, including those who are well regarded in the community for their leadership and grassroots organizing. EWOCC draws national attendance and is one of the only conferences that actively recruits youth, undergraduate, and graduate students, faculty and community leaders, and places them in conversation with one another. Through the connections made, the resources, strategies, and visions shared during the day, and the network built throughout each year, EWOCC offers ways for women of color to build stronger bases of social and political support.
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thank you Special thanks to all of the volunteers, performers, workshop facilitators, vendors, resource providers, conference attendees, staff, and in-kind donors. The EWOCC Coordinator extends her deepest gratitude to the Graduate Assembly Business Office, especially May and Amanda Ridel for their tireless commitment to supporting the conference. We also thank everyone else that we may have forgotten!
sponsors The Graduate Assembly, Women of Color Initiative Project, Graduate Women’s Project, The Ethnic Studies Fifth Account, Graduate Minority Outreach Recruitment and Retention Project, Graduate Minority Student Project, Graduate Student Support Services Project, Cross Cultural Student Development, Vice Chancellor for Equity and Inclusion, The Department of Ethnic Studies, The Gender Equity Resource Center, Center for Race & Gender, The Associated Students of the University of California, and The Department of African American Studies.
vendors, crafts + resources The Basket Tree Liberation Ink (Causa Justa) Hand-to-Hand
Berkeley USA Berkeley Free Clinic
lunch Cheese N’ Stuff 2442 Durant Ave Berkeley, CA 94704 (510) 843-9233 If you want to get involved with next year’s conference, please contact ewocc@ga.berkeley.edu 26
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notes
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past conferences & speakers 1985 Empowering Women of Color 1986 Organizing For the Here, the Now, the Future | Michelle Wallace 1987 Standing At the Crossroads: This Bridge Called My Back | Gloria Anzaldua & Cherrie Moraga 1988 Wake Up! Women of Color Taking the Lead | Theresa Cordova, Chockie Cottier, Raquel Sancho, Deanna Jang & Pat Norman 1989 Sister/Outsiders: A Movement of Our Own–From the 60s to the 80s | Aneb Kgositsile (Gloria House) 1990 Taking Back/ Private Truths/Public Lies: A One-Day Conference Dedicated to the Work of Dolores Huerta | bell hooks 1991 Legacy of Resistance | Betty Cooper, Maria Cora, Sheba Haven, & Helen Zia 1992 Rising Up Live! | June Jordan, Alice Walker, Angela Y. Davis, Diane Reeves, Terri Lyne Carrington, Gina Pacaldo, Lulintang Arts 1993 A Litany for Survival… In Memory of Audre Lorde & All Our Foremothers | Cherrie Moraga & Barbara Christian 1994 Rights Of Passage: Exposing The Margins | Paula Gunn Allen & Booma Cheema 1995 Reaping Fruit & Throwing Seed | Angela Davis & Chrystos 1996 Sojourn Within: Defining the True Essence of Our Power | Elaine Brown & Ninotchka Rosca 1997 Uprising: Women’s Work is Never Done | Nikki Gioovanni, Merle Woo, Nelia Sancho, HaunaniKay Trask, Maria Elena Martinez-Torres, Alba Aguilera, & Krishanti Dharmaraj 1998 Celebrating Daughters of Diversity | Sister Souljah, Norma Alarcon, Katie Quan, & Eva Patterson 1999 The Politics of Women of Color & Health: Taking Back Our Bodies & Our Minds | Dr. Joycelyn Elders 2000 Activism: Demonstrating Our Power | Alice Y. Hom & Jessica Care Moore 2001 Girl to Goddess…Youth to Power | Ursula Rucker 2002 Women of Color in Media | Gina PrinceBythewood & Felicia D. Henderson 2003 Fighting for Liberation! Expanding Our Notion of Revolution | Yuri Kochiyama 2004 The Politicization of Women in Higher Education | Sonia Sanchez 2005 Confronting Power: A Century of Struggles & Movements |Elaine Brown, Lakota Harden, Dolores Huerta, Susan Taylor, Angela Oh | 2006 Nourishing Mother E.A.R.T.H. Environmental Awakening Restoring Traditions & Heritage | Dr. Beverly Wright 2007 Our Bodies, Our Souls: Sistahood, Health, & Healing | Mililani Trask, Aya de Leon, Roopa Singh 2008 Decolonizing Creativity: Fiery Women, Fierce Expressions | Climbing PoeTree 2009 Revolutionary Love, From “Me” to “We”: Redefining Intimacy & Activism | Cherrie Moraga 2010 Intergenerational Wisdom: Celebrating Our, Past, Present & Future | Rebecca Walker & Aurora Levins Morales 2011 Building Across Difference: Inciting a Movement of Our Own | Angela Davis, Ericka Huggins, & Dylcia Pagan 2012 A Holistic Approach: Justice, Access, & Healing | Andrea Smith & Radmilla Cody 2012 Plenary: On Revolution | Angela Davis & Grace Lee Boggs
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