Transnational studies professor to speak Jan. 17

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Toni Pressley-Sanon, assistant professor in the Department of Transnational Studies, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, delivers her talk Jan. 17 for the Conable Distinguished Lecture Series.

Rochester Institute of Technology’s Conable Distinguished Lecture Series in International Studies continues Jan. 17 with a talk by Toni Pressley-Sanon, assistant professor in the Department of Transnational Studies, University at Buffalo, State University of New York.

Pressley-Sanon presents “Haiti’s Contemporary Peasant Movement: Struggles and Triumphs,” 4–6 p.m. Jan. 17 in the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science auditorium.

“During my presentation, I will take a multidisciplinary approach to exploring the peasant class’s contemporary sustainability efforts in the face of repressive governments, severe environmental degradation, (un) natural disasters, and both internal and international pressure to acquiesce to neo-liberal policies that undermine peasant autonomy, and with it, the country’s ability to feed itself,” Pressley-Sanon says. Pressley-Sanon also argues that the issue of food sovereignty is inextricably tied to the issue of national sovereignty.

The author of “Lucid Cameras: Imaging Haiti After the Earthquake of 2010,” Pressley-Sanon has conducted extensive research in the Benin Republic, West Africa, and Haiti. Her work focuses on memory, history and cultural production in African and its diaspora.

All talks in this series are free and open to the community.

The Conable Distinguished Lecture Series, which welcomes scholars to campus to shed light on topics affecting communities and citizens from around the globe, is named for former Rochester-area politician and diplomat Barber B. Conable Jr., who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1964 to 1984 and as president of the World Bank from 1986 to 1991. The series is presented by RIT’s Office of the Provost, international studies program and the College of Liberal Arts. The Barber B. Conable Jr. Endowed Chair in International Studies was made possible by a starting gift from the Starr Foundation.

For more information about the lecture series, contact Benjamin Lawrance, the Hon. Barber B. Conable Jr. Endowed Professor of International Studies, at bnlgla@rit.edu.