Presented by Eléonore Lépinard, Professor in Gender Studies Institute of Social Sciences at the University of Lausanne Date: Monday, October 7th  Location: Building 14, 14E-304 (map)   Abstract: Muslim women wearing simple headscarves (hijab) have been at the center of intense public scrutiny for several decades in many European countries, and they experience widespread ordinary forms of gendered and racialized discrimination. This study of veiled Muslim women’s reported experiences of stigmatization in France and Switzerland identifies types of interactions that are conceptualized as pedagogies of coloniality. These interactions follow similar scripts in which interlocutors, who are members of the majority group, ask hijabi women to unveil or to veil differently even though it is not legally required in the context of the interaction. This presentation will explore the intersection and articulation of sexism and Islamophobia, as well as class and age, as necessary components enabling the negotiations to submit and discipline veiled Muslim women. It will detail the various processes of otherization at play, and the hierarchies that these interactions attempt to enforce and maintain, including between women. Bio: Eléonore Lépinard is Professor in gender studies at the Institute of Social Sciences at the University of Lausanne. Her main areas of research are in the […]

Sara Zewde is founding principal of Studio Zewde, a design firm practicing landscape architecture, urbanism, and public art. Recent and ongoing projects of the firm include the Mander Recreation Center Campus (Philadelphia, PA), the Midtown Activation Project (Seattle, WA), and Graffiti Pier (Philadelphia, PA). Zewde previously held faculty appointments at Columbia University and at the University of Texas School of Architecture. She holds the Master in Landscape Architecture from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, a master in city planning from MIT, and a BA in sociology and statistics from Boston University. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University. The Green-Taylor Lectures is a speaker series celebrating the intersections of Black Studies, Architecture and Design. Over the course of the year, the series will feature voices from across these fields in an effort to illuminate both the unique history of African American architects here at MIT—the Institute's first Black graduate, Robert R. Taylor, as well as two of the first Black women to attend MIT, Marie Turner and Gloria Green, all studied architecture during their time on campus—and contemporary work in the field that honors the role of worldmaking in the Black expressive tradition.