Dr. Karma Chávez.
Karma R. Chávez (she/her) is Chair and Bobby and Sherri Patton Professor in the Department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies at the University of Texas - Austin. She is co-editor of Keywords for Gender and Sexuality Studies (New York University Press, 2021); Queer and Trans Migrations: Dynamics of Illegalization, Detention, and Deportation (University of Illinois Press, 2020); Text + Field: Innovations in Rhetorical Method (Penn State Press, 2016) and Standing in the Intersection: Feminist Voices, Feminist Practices in Communication Studies (SUNY Press, 2012); and author of Queer Migration Politics: Activist Rhetoric and Coalitional Possibilities (University of Illinois Press, 2013); Palestine on the Air (University of Illinois Press, 2019); and The Borders of AIDS: Race, Quarantine, and Resistance (University of Washington Press, 2021).
Keynote:
“Throwing Stones: Weapons of the Weak and Lethal Violence on Borders of Mexico/US and Palestine/Israel”
In this talk, Chávez considers the rhetorical significance of rock throwing in militarized border zones, namely Mexico-US and Palestine-Israel. In particular, she discusses how this act of non-lethal violence used by oppressed and colonized peoples becomes a commonsense rationale for imperial states and actors to justify their use of lethal force. Chávez further considers the ways that the act of throwing a rock is central to configuring the colonized and oppressed as uncivilized terrorists which interacts with mainstream media and political rhetoric including what Adela Licona has called the non/image to fashion oppressive militarized states as civil and humane.
