“Gender cannot be separated from race and class, we need to address the systemic causes of exploitation!”
“Gender cannot be separated from race and class, we need to address the systemic causes of exploitation!”
“Gender cannot be separated from race and class, we need to address the systemic causes of exploitation!”
Angela Y. Davis, American political activist and emeritus professor of the University of California Santa Cruz, was invested doctor honoris causa by UPF, in a ceremony that was followed by over 500 people on streaming via the University website, also broadcast on social networks with the hashtag #DavisHonorisUPF.
The academic ceremony, which was held in the auditorium of Ciutadella campus at 7 pm on 9 March, was held online and was presided over and chaired by UPF rector Jaume Casals. Accompanying him were Tània Verge and Linda G. Jones, full professor and professor, respectively, of the UPF departments of Political and Social Sciences and of Humanities, who gave the laudatio, and Elena Larrauri, full professor of Criminology at the Department of Law, who was Angela Y. Davis’s patron.
The political activist, who could be seen throughout the proceedings on a large screen installed in the auditorium, was at her home in the city of Oakland, California (USA).
Thus, UPF showed its recognition of her extensive academic and intellectual career including valuable analysis of the relationship between gender, race and social class, and her active militancy in defence of civil rights, justice, equality and freedom of individuals.
She is the seventeenth person to be made honoris causa by UPF, since the first recognition of Desmond Tutu (1999-2000) until the last, received by Gonzalo Pontón (2019-2020 academic year), and the fourth woman, after Maria João Pires (2018-2019).
The event, whose production involved students on the University’s bachelor’s degree in Audiovisual Communication, included a performance by the UPF Theatre Workshop, with the accompaniment of Sa Nau Dansa and Mariona Ferrer playing cello, with an excerpt from the piece “Angela i els vuit mil policies”, by Maria Aurèlia Capmany, and a performance by “The Sey Sisters”.