Podcast—Creating Coalitional Gestures

Welcome to Creating Coalitional Gestures: A BIWOC Podcast by and for Black, Brown, and Indigenous Women of Color in Writing Studies

This is a digital space by and for self-identified women, both cis and trans, as well as non-binary scholars of color.

This podcast is a collaboration between Spark, the Writing and Working for Change Series, and scholars in Rhetoric and Writing in an effort to create resilient strategies for surviving, changing, and thriving in academia. We are pro black, pro brown, pro women, pro indigenous. We envision this podcast as a healing justice project seeking to transform the impact of BIWOC on the field of Writing Studies.

Listen on Spotify , Anchor, or Google Podcasts.


Season 2

Episode 1 [August 11, 2021]: Interviews with Professor Cindy Chavez, University of California Merced, and Dr. Natasha Jones, Michigan State University

Topic: “The new normal” and misinformation about critical race theory and antiracist pedagogies, include in the The Big Rhetorical Podcast Carnival

Download a full transcript of Episode 2.1

Season 1

Episode 5 [August 5, 2021]: Interviews with Drs. Jaquëtta Shade-Johnson, Darin Jensen, and Iris Ruiz

Topic: Continuing activism and community-based work in the midst of the pandemic

Download a full transcript of Episode 5

Episode 4 [October 21, 2020]: Interview with Dr. Candace de León-Zepeda, Associate Professor of English at Our Lady of the Lake University

Topic: Dr. de León-Zepeda’s book on Gloria Anzaldúa, Latinx rhetorics and pedagogies of activism

Download a full transcript of Episode 4

Episode 3 [July 31 2020]: Interview with Dr. Sherri Craig, Assistant Professor at West Chester University

Topic: research identity and being Black in academia

Download a full transcript of Episode 3


Episode 2 [July 2, 2020]: Interview with Dr. Alexandria Lockett

Topic: pedagogy as BIWOC practitioner at a premier HBCU

Download a full transcript of Episode 2


Episode 1 [May 11, 2020]: Interview with Dr. Iris Ruiz

Topic: race and writing program administration

Download a full transcript of Episode 1


A headshot of Dr. Iris RuizCreator and host Dr. Iris Ruiz is a Continuing Lecturer for Merritt Writing Program and also lectures for the Ethnic Studies department at CSU, Sonoma. Her work includes a monograph, Reclaiming Composition for Chicano/as and other Ethnic Minorities: A Critical History and Pedagogy, a co-edited book, Decolonizing Rhetoric and Composition Studies: New Latinx Keywords for Theory and Pedagogy, in which she also contributed a chapter on the keyword “Race,” and other notable articles that focus upon race, racism, decolonial theory, decolonial pedagogy, and histories of race and Writing Program Administration.

Her work on race and WPA works was published in the CWPA Journal. Her current research focuses upon decolonial theory, Chicanx Studies, cross-generational trauma, and the politics of critical scholarship and citation practices. She aims to continue to work toward transformative and anti-racist leadership, scholarship and pedagogical practices.