Dartmouth Events

Moving Beyond Academic Borders: The Radical Potential of Children's Literature

"In this talk, CLC Collective will share its path to publishing the first children’s book about intersectionality, IntersectionAllies: We Make Room for All, and what they’ve learned about engaging learners beyond the “Ivory Tower.” Their story is about going against the grain, combining social theory and social justice. In the wake of the 2016 elections and 2017 women’s marches, CLC noticed that feminist scholars, feminist activists, and the public weren’t sharing knowledge and decided to translate social theory into an accessible, narrative format. The book features the stories of nine children, and how their experiences of safety and their advocacy for others are shaped by their positions within intersecting race, class and gender hierarchies. Though academic structures have long prioritized knowledge production over public-facing scholarship, CLC saw that writing books for people of all ages creates opportunities for scholars to effect material change in communities and classrooms, In this talk, you’ll get a peek into their collaborative process, the book itself, and what they’ve learned along the way."