Join us on Monday, Nov 13 from 3:45-4:45pm in the Library Lecture Room to hear from Dr. Samantha Majic, a professor of political science at and a member of the doctoral faculty in the Political Science and Criminal Justice Programs at the CUNY Graduate Center.
Dr. Majic's research lies in gender and American politics, with specific interests in sex work, celebrity and politics, and civic engagement. Her most recent book, Lights, Camera, Feminism? Celebrities and Anti-Trafficking Politics, was published in May 2023.
Celebrities in the United States have drawn significant attention and resources to the complex issue of human trafficking—a subject of feminist concern—and they are often criticized for promoting sensationalized and simplistic understandings of the issue. In this comprehensive analysis of celebrities’ anti-trafficking activism, Samantha Majic finds out that this phenomenon is more nuanced: Even as some celebrities promote regressive issue narratives and carceral solutions, others use their platforms to elevate more diverse representations of human trafficking and feminist analyses of gender inequality. Lights, Camera, Feminism? thus argues that we should understand celebrities as multilevel political actors whose activism is shaped and mediated by a range of personal and contextual factors, with implications for feminist and democratic politics.
Co-sponsored by KSSC and WGST Dept
