As International Women’s Day approaches, Kalamazoo College will host a landmark conference titled Resisting Harm, Building the Future: Beyond Borders and Binaries from Friday, March 6 to Sunday, March 8, at the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, 205 Monroe St.
The three-day gathering unites activists, scholars and community organizers from around the world to explore critical issues of gender justice, environmental activism and liberation movements. Through panel discussions, workshops and collaborative planning sessions, participants will examine how communities can respond to systems of harm while building pathways toward collective liberation.
Attendees may register online for any or all of the sessions scheduled from 7:30 a.m.–8 p.m. Friday, 7:45 a.m.–8 p.m. Saturday, and 8:30 a.m.–1 p.m. Sunday. The public is welcome.
Friday’s programming opens with a panel titled Acting with Love in Systems of Harm, featuring speakers who will discuss interventions of care and hope that challenge rape culture, misogyny and policing. The afternoon session, Beyond Binaries, explores gender outside rigid norms through contexts including immigration, technology and sexuality.
Among the presenters are Aqdas Aftab from Loyola University Chicago, Wazhmah Osman from Temple University, and Frances Vicioso from OutFront Kalamazoo, alongside academic researchers and therapeutic practitioners working at the intersection of intimacy, healing and social justice.
Saturday’s schedule tackles environmental and technological justice along with an examination of the climate crisis. The panel We All Live on this Earth will demonstrate connections between land, gender, violence, capitalism and race, offering concrete ideas for action. Later in the day, speakers will address knowledge access, censorship, media literacy, and the role of artificial intelligence in shaping contemporary life.
The conference also spotlights grassroots organizing strategies. Saturday afternoon’s Organizing for Action panel features Bochra Triki, a Tunisian feminist and LGBTQ activist; Shona Espinoza from Food Not Bombs Kalamazoo; and other community organizers sharing lessons from on-the-ground activism.
A standout session titled How Do We Care for Each Other? on Saturday morning will bring together Black polyamory activist Chanée Jackson Kendall; researcher Os Keyes from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell; and sexual educator Roma de las Heras Gómez to reimagine relationships, love and care networks outside of state structures.
The conference concludes Sunday morning with a planning and discussion session focused on takeaways and next steps, followed by a student-led action project. The final component underscores the event’s commitment to translating dialogue into meaningful community engagement.
All panels and meals will take place at the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, with breakfast, lunch and evening appetizers provided each day. The workshops scheduled for Friday and Saturday afternoons offer hands-on opportunities for participants to develop skills and strategies for social change work.
The conference represents a collaborative effort to move beyond traditional academic conferences, creating space for practitioners, activists and scholars to learn from one another while building networks of solidarity and support.
For more information about the Resisting Harm, Building the Future: Beyond Borders and Binaries conference, contact Arcus Associate Director Coco Canders at CoCo.Canders@kzoo.edu.
