Speakers
Speakers and keynotes are organized by seminar and can be accessed by clicking on the dropdown boxes. This list will be updated throughout the seminar to reflect current, upcoming, and previously held events. Links to previously recorded seminars are also included in dropdown boxes.
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Event Details: The future is disabled,” writes disability justice organizer Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. While disability has long been a site of exclusion and experimentation, people with disabilities remain the largest minoritized group in the United States: There are rich legacies of organizing, cross-movement solidarity, and collective refusal led by the most-impacted and in close partnership with other efforts for justice, decarceration, and liberation. Join us to learn more about these possibilities and how we are creating disabled and reparative futures here in Newark and beyond. This kick-off seminar for the 2024-2025 Mellon Sawyer Seminar, Potentialities of Justice: Toward Collective Reparative Futures,” draws together prominent scholars, activists, and educators to explore disability justice, human displacement and reparative practices, to illuminate frameworks that can inform generative responses to past and present social harms. Recordings of seminars can be found on our YouTube page www.youtube.com/@SawyerRUNewark.
Wednesday, October 23, 2024 | 11:30 am – 5:30 pm | Express Newark, 54 Halsey Street, Second Floor, Rm: 213, Newark, NJ 07102
Click here to watch recording!
Dean Jacqueline Mattis, Rutgers–Newark, Opening Remarks
Lauren Shallish, Ph.D., Co-Principal Investigator, Keynote Introduction
Keah Brown, Author, Actress, Journalist, and Screenwriter, Keynote
Bill Davis, Black Impact Summit, Presenter
Amanda Jaeger, Ph.D., Joseph C. Cornwall Center of Metropolitan Studies, Presenter
Mon Moha, Sick of It, Presenter
Talib Charriez, Senior Program Coordinator, NJSTEP, Panelist 
LaChan Hannon, Director of Teacher Preparation & Innovation, Department of Urban Education, Panelist 
Samuel Quiles, The Center for Justice Innovation, Panelist
Tiyanna Scarlett, Counselor, NJ-STEP
Jack Tchen, Director Clement A. Price Institute on Ethnicity, and the Modern Experience, Panelist
Mark Comesañas, Executive Director of My Brothers Keeper, Newark, Panelist
Date: Thursday, October 24, 2024 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm | Live Webinar | Download Program
Dr. Linda Steele, Associate Professor at the University of Technology Sydney Law, Presenter -
Event Details: How can histories of violence be narrated? How can these stories produce more critical, complex, and nuanced pictures that attend not simply to the individual experience of victimization, but might also shed light on experiences of agency? From examining the role of historical thinking and writing in wartime and postwar contexts, and examining the place of literature and art in commemorations of war and conflict, to grappling with the ethical implications of the stewardship of objects that bear witness to histories of extraction and exploitation, this seminar will explore the ways that narrative and storytelling practices have the potential to mediate both violent pasts and the present in ways that may offer reparative tools for the future. Recordings of seminars can be found on our YouTube page www.youtube.com/@SawyerRUNewark.
Date: Tuesday, November 12, 2024 | 1:30 pm – 5:30 pm | Express Newark, 54 Halsey Street, Second Floor, Rm: 213, Newark, NJ 07102
Click here to watch recording!
Mayte Green Mercado, Ph.D., Lead Principal Investigator, Opening Remarks
Amir Moosavi, Ph.D., Assistant Professor English, Co-Organizer and Moderator
Wendell Marsh, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Africana Studies, Co-Organizer and Moderator
Catalina Muñoz, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia, Keynote and Panelist
Gary Wilder, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Committee on Globalization and Social Change, Panelist
Wednesday, November 13, 2024 | 1:00 – 7:00 pm | Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hall |15 Washington Street, Newark, NJ 07102
Roula Seghaier, Resource Curator and Co Organizer
Abdullah Bayyari, Independent Researcher and Author, Presenter Amir Moosavi, Ph.D., Assistant Professor English, Co-Organizer and Moderator
Fatin Abbas, Novelist, Panelist
Ibtisam Azem, Novelist, Panelist
Sinan Antoon, Novelist, Panelist Wendell Marsh, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Africana Studies, Co-Organizer and Moderator
Deirdre de la Cruz, Director Reconnect/ReCollect, Panelist
Wafa Ghnaim, Senior Interdisciplinary Research Fellow, Panelist
Abdourahmane Seck, University Gaston Berger, Panelist
Elsa Saade, This Time’s Quartet, Presenter
Farah Barqawi, This Time’s Quartet, Presenter
Tracy Chahwan, This Time’s Quartet, Presenter
Kamelya Omayma Youssef, This Time’s Quartet, Presenter -
Event Details: Recent conversations about reparations in the United States have drawn on both history and analyses of current economic, social, and political perspectives to propose reparative practices that range from monetary compensation to targeted policies that address racial disparities in wealth, housing discrimination, and education access, among others. At a wider scale, scholars like Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò have offered a constructivist view of reparations that proposes a historically informed project of distributive justice that serves a larger and broader world-making process. The project of reparations, therefore, has a forward-facing orientation that by necessity is anchored in the past. Recordings of seminars can be found on our YouTube page www.youtube.com/@SawyerRUNewark.
Date: Wednesday, February 5, 2025 | 11:30 pm – 5:00 pm | Express Newark, 54 Halsey St. Newark, NJ 07102
Click here to watch recording!
Mayte Green Mercado, Ph.D., Lead Principal Investigator, Keynote Introduction
Davarian L. Baldwin, Ph.D., Author of In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower, Keynote 
Hattie Thomas Whitehead, The Linnentown Project, Financial and Public Chair, Panelist 
Rachelle Berry, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Department of Geography, Planning, & Environment University of Georgia, Panelist
Jerry Shannon, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Undergraduate Coordinator University of Georgia, Panelist
Sherri Arguello, Community Member, Displaced Aurarians Displaced Aurarians Neighborhood Memory Project, Panelist 
Nolbert Chavez, Board of Regents, University of Colorado, Panelist
Liz Ševčenko, Co-Director, Humanities Action Lab, Moderator and Co-Organizer 
Sydney Johnson, Lead Digital Content Creator, Session Facilitator and Co-Organizer
Date: Thursday, February 6, 2025 | 10:00 pm – 5:00 pm | Express Newark | 54 Halsey Street, Second Floor, Rm: 213, Newark, NJ 07102
Michael Conteh, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Associate, Institute for the Global Study of Racial Justice, Opening Remarks and Co-Organizer 
Mark Krasovic, Ph.D, Associate Professor History, Rutgers– University Newark, Opening Remarks and Co-Organizer 
Hyacinth Miller, Assistant Teaching Professor, Internship & Study Abroad Director, Keynote Introduction and Co-Organizer 
Ambassador Dobrene O’Marde, Vice-Chair, Antigua and Barbuda Reparations Support Commission, Keynote Dean Jacqueline Mattis, Rutgers–Newark, Panel Moderator 
Jean-Pierre Brutus, Esq., Ph.D., Senior Counsel, Economic Justice Program, New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, Panelist
Dreisen Heath, Co-Chair Public Education & Narrative Committee, New Jersey Reparations Council, Panelist 
Simon Anderson, Ph.D., Director, Chronic Disease Research Centre of CAIHR, Professor of Population Health Sciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Panelist
Deborah Gray White, Ph.D., Board of Governors Rutgers University, Panelist
Wendell Marsh Ph.D, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies Rutgers University – Newark, Co-Organizer and Moderator
Christelle Jasmin, Digital Content and Outreach Curator, Co-Organizer and Session Facilitator Liz Ševčenko, Co-Director, Humanities Action Lab, Co-Organizer and Moderator
Esperanza Santos, Sawyer Seminar Outreach Coordinator, Session Facilitator -
Event Details: The seminar Reparative and Restorative Paradigms for Environmental Justice, examines local and global perspectives to the existential challenges posed by climate change. The seminar will consider how reparative and restorative approaches to environmental justice may offer more inclusive opportunities to re-imagine the terms of citizenship and self-government; ones that embed the interconnectedness of humans and their ecology in culture, politics, and laws. Recent conversations about reparations in the United States have drawn on both history and analyses of current economic, social, and political perspectives to propose reparative practices that range from monetary compensation to targeted policies that address racial disparities in wealth, housing discrimination, and education access, among others. Livestream of seminars can be found at the SAS–N YouTube page https://www.youtube.com/@rutgerssasn/streams.
Date: Wednesday, April 23, 2025 | 9:00 pm – 6:00 pm | Express Newark, 54 Halsey St. Newark, NJ 07102
Click here to watch recording!
Jack Tchen PhD, Director Clement A. Price Institute on Ethnicity, and the Modern Experience, Co-Organizer and Moderator Amir Moosavi, PhD, Assistant Professor English, Co-Organizer and Moderator 
Kali Rubaii PhD, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Purdue University, Presenter
Shourideh C. Molavi PhD, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Forensic Architecture, Presenter
Mariam Abazeri, PhD, Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Presenter
Brian Murphy PhD, Associate Professor of History, Rutgers–Newark, Co-Organizer and Moderator 
Kandyce Perry, Office of Environmental Justice Director, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Panelist
Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette, New Jersey’s Commission of Environmental Protection, Panelist
Maya K. van Rossum, Founder of the Green Amendment For The Generations Movement, Panelist
Quinn Yeargain PhD, Associate Professor of Law, Michigan State University, Panelist
Gaiutra Bahadur, Associate Professor of Journalism and English Rutgers– University Newark, Co-Organizer and Moderator 
Anita Bakshi PhD, Assistant Professor Department of Landscape Architecture, Rutgers University – New Brunswick, Panelist
Wayne Mann, Ramapough Lenape Nation
Micah Fink, Emmy-nominated producer and Director of Mann v. Ford, Panelist -
Event Details: The seminar Reparative and Restorative Paradigms for Environmental Justice, examines local and global perspectives to the existential challenges posed by climate change. The seminar will consider how reparative and restorative approaches to environmental justice may offer more inclusive opportunities to re-imagine the terms of citizenship and self-government; ones that embed the interconnectedness of humans and their ecology in culture, politics, and laws. Recent conversations about reparations in the United States have drawn on both history and analyses of current economic, social, and political perspectives to propose reparative practices that range from monetary compensation to targeted policies that address racial disparities in wealth, housing discrimination, and education access, among others. Livestream of seminars can be found at the SAS–N YouTube page https://www.youtube.com/@rutgerssasn/streams.
Date: Thursday, April 24, 2025 | 11:00 pm – 4:00 pm | Express Newark, 54 Halsey St. Newark, NJ 07102
Click here to watch recording!
Mayte Green Mercado, Ph.D., Lead Principal Investigator 
Jack Tchen, Director Clement A. Price Institute on Ethnicity, and the Modern Experience
Liz Ševčenko, Co-Director, Humanities Action Lab
Vincent Mann, Turtle Clan Chief of the Ramapough Lenape Nation
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, PhD, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Georgetown University
Mia White, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, The New School
Maria Lopez-Nuñez, Former Deputy Director for the Ironbound Community Corporation
Jean-Pierre Brutus, Senior Counsel Economic Justice Program New Jersey Institute for Social Justice