Re-Imagining Justice

We are proposing a year-long speaker and event series entitled “Re-Imagining Justice.” These events will be open to the public, striving to bring conversation and awareness to these issues. This speaker series will focus on current efforts to re-envision how we carry out justice in our communities with the aim of developing a more community-centered meaning of justice and safety. The series will span the academic year at Northwestern, October to June. We will host six events, two each quarter. Five of these events will consist of panel discussions that highlight different topics. Each panel will feature a different topic focus. Topics include restorative justice, peace circles, prison abolition, and the role of policing. This speaker series will feature a panel of at least three individuals who can speak on these topics from different perspectives. First, we will host an academic expert from across the humanities departments at Northwestern including faculty and graduate students from History, African American Studies, Media Studies, Creative Writing, Theater, and other disciplines. Second, we will host a local community organization or activist who is currently involved in work in this area. Third, we will host a former NPEP student or another individual who has been formerly incarcerated who can speak to these issues from their lived experience. The series will be held via either Zoom or a hybrid of Zoom and in-person both due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and in order to reach a wider audience beyond the Northwestern Evanston community. Building on our successful programming last year during the pandemic, we hope to expand the reach of this series and engage the community in more dialogue about the possibilities of a more just society.