CSWS Annual Review

reflections by Anu Sugathan, Maia Wellborn, and Nishat Parvez
The Ford Lecture Hall is buzzing as students and faculty chat animatedly, plates of food and drinks in hand. At the front of the high-ceilinged room in the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, guest of honor Dr. Durba Mitra chats amiably with CSWS Director Sangita Gopal. There’s a delay while museum staff work to fix the podium’s microphone, but no one is in a rush. Here in this windowless lecture hall, friends and colleagues catch up, laugh at jokes, and talk excitedly about their latest research. There’s a communal feeling in this space that reflects the focus of tonight’s talk: What if gathering together liberated us?

My thoughts are with Dolly Parton, who has left us to shine in the sweet hereafter. I feel wonder at this woman, who for five decades crafted a unique career as an artist, philanthropist, and businesswoman, and who was adored across the ideological silos that seem to ceaselessly divide us. I first encountered her as a young girl in the song “9 to 5” and distinctly remember being mesmerized by the small frame, big hair, and that potent combination of toughness and joy that radiated from her.