IMPORTANT
Casa Arcoíris: Community Resistance Among Militarized Borders
Thursday, November 14, 2024 · 4 - 5:30 PM
The Department of Gender, Women's, + Sexuality Studies presents:
Community Resistance Among Militarized Borders: Casa Arcoiris as a Home for Justice and Dignity for Migrant LGBTQ+ Peoples
The ongoing militarization of Kumeyaay territory, better known as
the Tijuana-San Diego border region, since colonial and missionary times
have attempted to define how we should understand race, indigeneity,
sexual and gender expression and identity. The US and Mexican settler
governments in this region have only prioritized creating institutions
rooted in establishing a regime of power and control through the
capitalization of natural resources, urban development, migrant
exploitation and indigenous erasure.
Andrea Gaspar (Casa Arcoiris co-founder and board member) is a queer Mexican Ñuu Savi person born in San Diego and raised in Tijuana, Kumeyaay Territory. She is earning her PhD in Ethnic Studies from the University of California San Diego. Her current work focuses on the development of life-affirming institutions and community spaces centering the healing and autonomy of Indigenous, Black, migrant, queer and trans peoples. She has sixteen years of community and coalition organizing experience on education, racial, economic, environmental and housing justice.
Edith Méndez (Casa Arcoiris general coordinator) is a Social Work graduate with a community focus from the University of Guanajuato. Feminist, lesbian, IVE (Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy) companion, activist, and artist. She has collaborated with different civil associations and public institutions accompanying community organizational processes, attention to gender violence, community cultural management, and intervention with Indigenous migrant populations, LGBTIQ+, and women in vulnerable situations.