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Presenter Bio
Dr. Whitney Bauman: “Queer Reattunements: Transformations Toward a Critical Planetary Romanticism.”
Presenter bio: Whitney Bauman is Professor of Religious Studies at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, FL. He is also co-founder and co-director of Counterpoint: Navigating Knowledge, a non-profit based in Berlin, Germany that holds public discussions over social and ecological issues related to globalization and climate change. His areas of research interest fall under the theme of “religion, science, and globalization.” He is the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship and a Humboldt Fellowship, and in 2022 won an award from FIU for Excellence in Research and Creative Activities. His publications include: Religion and Ecology: Developing a Planetary Ethic (Columbia University Press 2014), and co-authored with Kevin O’Brien, Environmental Ethics and Uncertainty: Tackling Wicked Problems (Routledge 2019); 3rd edition of Grounding Religion: A Fieldguide to the Study of Religion and Ecology, co-edited with Kevin O’Brien and Richard Bohannon, (Routledge 2023). He is also the co-editor with Karen Bray and Heather Eaton of Earthly Things: Immanence, New Materialisms, and Planetary Thinking (Fordham University Press 2023). His next monograph is entitled, A Critical Planetary Romanticism: Literary and Scientific Origins of New Materialism (Columbia University Press, Forthcoming 2024).
Dr. David Andrew Griffiths: “Intersex Connections”
Presenter bio: Dr David Andrew Griffiths is a senior lecturer in the department of Sociology at the University of Surrey, UK. He is a founding member of the university’s Sex, Gender and Sexualities Research Centre. His research brings together gender and sexuality studies, feminist science studies, and cultural histories of medicine and health. He is interested in queer approaches to the body that challenge medicalising or pathologizing perspectives. He has published research on the recent and contemporary history of intersex in Britain in leading international journals.
Lou Florez: “We Become Those That We Praise: Liberative Ecologies and the Role(s) of Ancestral Venerations”
Presenter bio: Lou Florez is a diviner and metaphysical reader who facilitates spiritual connectivity and transformational empowerment throughout his myriad roles as a Priest, lecturer, author, medicine maker, and activist. His work is inherently interdisciplinary and intersectional—bridging the fields of herbalism, ecology, divination, poetry, psychology, religious studies, gender and sexual studies, mixed-media art, and perfumery. Lou is the cofounder and executive director of Water Has No Enemy (WHNE), a nonprofit committed to healing justice. WHNE seeks to honor the timeless and enduring indigenous wisdom stolen from communities of color through centuries of slavery, colonization, and institutionalized oppression and reclaim it for today’s world. The organization offers a collaborative space for changemakers to explore healing justice because we believe that true healing occurs at all levels—from the individual and social levels to our relationship to the natural world. Lou (Awo Ifadunsin) was initiated into Orisha priesthood (2007-2008) under his godmother Iyanifa Love Ifalade Ta’Shia Asanti and received his Itefa (high priesthood) in Ile Ife, Nigeria (2016). Lou was elevated by his elders to the position of Co-presiding Priest for his spiritual congregation, Ile Ori Ogbe Egun (2021).
Amy Bohorquez: “Ensuring Support for LGBTQIA+ Students When Teaching the Impact of Climate Change”
Presenter bio: Amy Bohorquez is a biologist and educator working and living in Oakland, California. Amy has been biology faculty at Laney College, Oakland, for more than twenty years. A former community college student herself, Amy’s research focuses on ensuring student well-being is paramount for curriculum design when covering difficult topics including climate change and systemic medical/scientific oppression, with emphasis on students of non-dominant cultures. Working to decolonize science courses through contemplative practices, Amy’s research centers students, encourages self-reflection for all community members, and reexamining the material we teach. As a queer faculty member, Amy is also a founding member of the Lavender Project at Laney College which is a collaborative group of students, classified professionals, faculty, and administrators who’s goal is to improve the welcomeness of our academic environments for all students, ensure all students feel safe and welcome.
Moderator: Dakota Limon, PhD Student in Ecology, Spirituality, and Religion at CIIS
Presentation Description
This panel explores intersections of queer identity and ecological concerns, discussing transformative approaches, challenges to medical perspectives, ancestral connections, and support for LGBTQIA+ students in understanding climate change.
Ecological Possibilities in Queer Lifeways
This panel explores intersections of queer identity and ecological concerns, discussing transformative approaches, challenges to medical perspectives, ancestral connections, and support for LGBTQIA+ students in understanding climate change.
