²©88ÑÇÖÞ

Student Research, Scholarship & Creative Activities Conference

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Shayda Kafai

Shayda Kafai (she/her) is an Associate Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies in the Ethnic and Women’s Studies department at ²©88ÑÇÖÞ. As a queer, disabled, Mad Iranian femme, she commits to practicing the many ways we can reclaim our bodyminds from systems of oppression. To support this work as an educator-scholar, Shayda applies disability justice and collective care practices in the spaces she cultivates. Shayda’s writing and speaking presentations focus on intersectional body politics, particularly on how bodies are constructed and how they hold the capacity for rebellion. She is the author of Crip Kinship: The Disability Justice and Art Activism of Sins Invalid (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2021) and the co-editor of the anthology Mad Scholars: Reclaiming and Reimagining the Neurodiverse Academy (Syracuse University Press, 2024).