Griot Newsletter: March 16, 2026

Dear Griot Colleagues, Family and Friends,

Greetings! We hope you are feeling the promise of spring. Following a short and welcome break, we welcome the final two speakers of the Griot Speaker and Artists series. In this historical moment, there is much to be concerned about and reflect on as we return to campus. Gathering in community for conversation over meals offers an opportunity to connect, think, and envision possibilities together. We look forward to you joining us the next two Wednesdays 12:00-1:00 PM or 4:30- 6:00 in the Hildreth-Mirza Great Room for meaningful thought and conversation.

Deirdre Cooper Owens (March 18) and Winnifred Brown-Glaude (March 25) are insightful scholars and thought leaders who will invite us to think deeply about the impacts of medical technologies and capitalism on Black bodies. Dr. Cooper Owens’s talk, The Mothers of Gynecology and the Creation of Modern American Gynecology, raises questions of youth and intergenerational trauma. Dr. Brown-Glaude’s talk, Don’t Hate Me ’Cause I’m Pretty: Blackness, Colorism and the Bleached Body in Jamaica, explores Jamaican youth identities and draws on her forthcoming book Neoliberalism in a Small Place: The Case of Jamaica (University of Michigan Press).

Deirdre Cooper Owens is Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies at the University of Connecticut. She previously directed both the Program in African American History at the Library Company of Philadelphia and a medical humanities program at the University of Nebraska — making her, at the time, the only Black woman in the country to lead an academic medical humanities program.

A nationally recognized reproductive justice advocate, Dr. Cooper Owens is an OAH Distinguished Lecturer, a past Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and a member of the American Antiquarian Society. Time Magazine named her one of the country’s “best historians.” She most recently received the Carter G. Woodson Scholar Medallion Award from ASALH — the organization’s highest honor.

Her book Medical Bondage: Race, Gender and the Origins of American Gynecology won the Darlene Clark Hine Book Award from the OAH and has been translated into Korean. She is currently working on a popular biography of Harriet Tubman, examining her life through the lens of disability, and a historical monograph on race, medical discovery, and the C-section. Over fifteen years, Dr. Cooper Owens has worked with community groups, birth workers, artists, hospitals, filmmakers, and the United States Congress as a reproductive justice advocate and historical consultant.

Winnifred Brown-Glaude is Professor of African American Studies and Sociology & Anthropology at The College of New Jersey. She received her PhD in Sociology from Temple University (2003). Her research spans the Sociology of Race in the United States, Race and Ethnicity in the Anglophone Caribbean, Race and Gender in Informal Economies, and Globalization.

Her books include Higglers in Kingston: Women’s Informal Work in Jamaica (Vanderbilt University Press, 2011), The Toni Morrison Book Club (University of Wisconsin Press, 2020, co-authored), and the edited collection Doing Diversity in Higher Education: Faculty Leaders Share Challenges and Strategies (Rutgers University Press, 2009). Her forthcoming Neoliberalism in a Small Place: The Case of Jamaica (University of Michigan Press) is expected out next year.

Dr. Brown-Glaude has published in numerous scholarly journals, including Caribbean Quarterly, Social and Economic Studies, Small Axe, and Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism.

We will have a month hiatus from programming until the Griot interns present their research findings on April 28th after a full year of inquiry. Please join us for this special presentation in the Great Room from 11:30-1:00. We will additionally celebrate the five graduating seniors, Debra Gonkpah, Da’Mirah Vinson, Jean Marie Ngabonziza, Holiness Kerandi, and Grace Ifiegbu.

Please join us for these events as your schedule allows and share information about the upcoming Griot speaker events with your students. 

The Griot Advisory Board has begun planning its 2026/2027 theme on Black Intellectual trends from Pan-Africanism and Black Internationalism to viral justice. Please reach out to griotinstitute@bucknell.edu if you are interested in partnering on a speaker, artist, or event related to these themes.

Kind Regards,

Cymone Fourshey, Professor of History and International Relations
Director of The Griot Institute

For insights, reactions and detailed information on past Griot Institute events, please read our intern-authored blogs throughout the academic year. The blogs also include many updates and reports on what is happening around campus in connection to Black lives and cultures.

Newest Blog Posts:

“Songs of Survival: A Griot is the Living Archive of African American Singing”
MLK Week: “Agree to Disagree” with Susan Jordan
Lunch Chat with Kieron Dwayne
Edda Fields-Black Lunch Chat
MLK MakerSpace 2026  
Griot Spring 2026 Speaker Series Presents! – Youth from Africa and the Diasporas: Knowers, Innovators, Visionaries, and Everyday People
Edda Fields-Black “Combee” Book Talk
Hidden Faces: Untold Stories Film Screening
Genesis Butler Lunch Talk
Hip Hop as Embodied Storytelling: Protest, Survival, and Celebration
Tending Your Own Garden: Make Your Own Soft Life

Griot intern contributors:  Debra Gonkpah ’26, Lily Hebda ’27 (graduate student and editor), Grace Ifiegbu ’26, Holiness Kerandi ’26, Jesse Leon ’28, Ahmed Omo ’28, Lucas Reid ’29, Da’Mirah Vinson ’26, and Najwa Waysome ’28.