Discussion | Exploring the Intersections Between Health and Racial Inequality (In Person and Online)

Racial inequalities in health have a long and sordid history in the US, widening during the pandemic and amidst recent policy and court decisions. This conversation with scholars Dana-Ain Davis, Steven W. Thrasher, and Zakiya Luna takes up that history to lay bare those historic inequities in access to health care, reproductive services and public inattention to Black death. This discussion will be moderated by the co-organizers of the Conversations in Black Freedom Studies series, Robyn Spencer and Jeanne Theoharis.

Dana-Ain Davis is Professor of Urban Studies and Anthropology and the director of the Center for the Study of Women and Society at the Queens College. In the last decade, Davis has focused her attention on reproduction, race and the technologies that assist in reproduction. She is the author, co-author, or co-editor of five books, the most recent being Reproductive Injustice: Racism, Pregnancy, and Premature Birth. Reproductive Injustice received the 2020 Honorable Mention for the Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing; was a finalist for the 2020 PROSE AWARD, given by the Association of American Publishers; and is listed as one of seven books on anti-racism in New York Magazine.

Zakiya Luna is Dean's Distinguished Professorial Scholar in the Department of Sociology at Washington University in St. Louis. Her research is in the areas of social change, sociology of law, health and inequality. Dr. Luna recently published Reproductive Rights as Human Rights: Women of Color and the Fight for Reproductive Justice. She also co-edited Black Feminist Sociology: Perspectives and Praxis with Whitney Pirtle. Dr. Luna was the lead author of the Reproductive Justice review article in the 2013 volume of the Annual Review of Law and Social Science. She is also co-creator and former co-editor of the University of California Press book series Reproductive Justice: A New Vision for the 21st Century.

Steven W. Thrasher is the inaugural Daniel H. Renberg Chair of social justice in reporting and an assistant professor of journalism at Northwestern University. Thrasher teaches courses in journalism at the graduate and undergraduate levels as well as elective classes cross-listed with American Studies, African American Studies and Gender and Sexuality Studies. A scholar of the criminalization of HIV/AIDS, Thrasher's work centers on marginalized populations. As a teacher, he encourages students to draw upon history, theory, culture, and reporting to critically read and create media narratives. Research and reporting areas include U.S. Civil Rights; international histories of LGBTQ and gender identities; social movements; court reporting; media frames; colonialism; critical race theory; queer methods; policing; art criticism; public health reporting; and HIV/AIDS history.