Alison Phipps, a political sociologist from Newcastle University in the United Kingdom, will be the guest speaker at the next Conversations on Race and Policing, which will begin at an earlier time, 10 a.m., on Wednesday, April 30.

Phipps’ talk, "Sexual Violence as a Pretext for Disposal: Rape, Race and Carcerality," will take place on the program’s Zoom page and is free and open to the public.

A political sociologist and scholar of gender with interests in feminist theory and politics, the body and violence and neoliberal racial capitalism, Phiipps is the author of many articles and books, including  “Me, Not You: The Trouble with Mainstream Feminism” and “The Politics of the Body: Gender in a Neoliberal and Neoconservative Age,” wjocj was the winner of the 2015 FWSA Book Prize.

She has served as chair of the Feminist and Women's Studies Association UK and Ireland and was a co-founder of the Safe Studies Network (now Universities Against Gender-Based Violence). She is currently co-leading the Feminist Gender Equality Network's gender-based violence group and is one of the patrons of the Association of Gender Studies in Africa. She recently launched a new collective called Abolition Feminism for Ending Sexual Violence, with her Newcastle colleagues Nikki Godden-Rasul and Tina Sikka. 

The Conversations on Race and Policing program began after the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, and its aftermath. Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer, triggering extensive protests, demands for systemic reform in policing, and profound dialogues on race and racism. This also led to the inception of Cal State San Bernardino’s Conversations on Race and Policing, abbreviated as CoRP.

In subsequent court cases, three other former Minneapolis police officers implicated in Floyd’s death were given prison sentences.

The series has featured scholars, journalists, law enforcement officers, lawyers, activists, artists, educators, administrators and others from throughout the nation who shared their experience and expertise on issues related to race and policing.

More than 110 forums have taken place since, and video recordings of the sessions are posted online on the Conversations on Race and Policing Lecture Series Archive. 

At the next program, at noon on May 7, will feature Thaddeus Johnson of Georgia State University, who will present “Reducing Community Violence to Close the Racial Gap in U.S. Imprisonment.”

The series organizers currently include CSUSB faculty, staff, alumni, and community members, as well as collaborators from other institutions: Amber Broaden (CSUSB and CSU Dominguez Hills, psychology), Stan Futch (president, Westside Action Group), Michael German (Brennan Center for Justice), Robie Madrigal (Pfau Library), Jeremy Murray (CSUSB History), Matt Patino (Crafton Hills College adjunct faculty and CSUSB alumnus), and Mary Texeira (CSUSB sociology).

For more information, contact Madrigal at rmadriga@csusb.edu or Murray at jmurray@csusb.edu.

Also visit the Conversations on Race and Policing webpage.