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Speaking Engagement Highlights
A Natural Hair Care Night:
Kinks, Coils, and Curls
In February 2024, Dr. Jones was invited by student organizers from NYU’s Opportunity Program (OP), Organization of Black Women (OBW), Women of Excellence, Strength, and Tenacity (WEST) to give a talk about the natural hair care movement. The organizers also arranged a hands-on activity where students were taught by their colleague, Asiya Kamara, how to execute a few protective hairstyles.
Keep on Movin’:
Beauty, Love, and Justice
Each year, NYU MLK Week includes an exciting array of events and programs curated to honor the legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and to commemorate his historic 1961 NYU visit. In February 2024, Dr. Jones was invited by the MLK Scholars Program and Gallatin’s Diversity Council to give a talk as part of NYU MLK week.
In Martin Luther King’s Blueprint speech, he emphasized the importance of Black people embracing their skin color and hair texture. MLK urged the youth to commit to the principles of beauty, love, and justice. He ended the speech with a call to action, “Keep moving!” In her talk, Dr. Shatima Jones discussed the legacy of MLK’s words and their connection to the Black is Beautiful movement during the 1960s and the more recent Natural Hair Care movement.
Step Afrika!
“Step Afrika! is the first professional company dedicated to the tradition of stepping…Step Afrika! promotes stepping as an educational tool for young people, focusing on teamwork, academic achievement, and cross-cultural understanding (https://www.stepafrika.org/about/).”
In September 2023, Professor Shatima Jones was invited to facilitate a discussion after the show with C. Brian Williams (founder), Mfon Akpan (artistic director), Pelham Warner (dancer), and Valencia Springer (dancer). Prof Jones asked the panelists questions about the connections between dance and spirituality, the importance of non-verbal communication (i.e. gestures, sounds, and rhythmic movement) in Black cultures, and the timeliness of and takeaways from the show given its celebration of American history and Black cultures.
Adjusting the Crown: Respectability, Colorism, and Black Femme Identity
The Cotillion is a play written and directed by Colette Robert. In May 2023, Dr. Jones was invited to participate in a panel after the show to discuss the histories of Black women’s hair, colorism and respectability politics among additional topics.
NYU's MLK Week Culminating Marquee Event
Each year, NYU MLK Week includes an exciting array of events and programs curated to honor the legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.—and to commemorate his historic 1961 NYU visit. In February 2023, Dr. Jones was invited to be a panelist on the culminating marquee event of NYU MLK week.
“Black Hair Matters:
Teaching and Living Race Amidst Civil Strife” at Trauma, Tresses, and Truth:
Untangling Our Hair Through our Personal Narrative (virtual conference)
Bronx Documentary Center
Dr. Jones was invited by The Bronx Documentary Center to provide post commentary on a viewing of Good Hair (2009) by Chris Rock. She spoke about: (1) the commodification and moralization of Black women’s hair; (2) how institutions and individuals have historically attempted to dictate what Black women should do with their bodies, as well as have full access to Black women’s bodies; and (3) the difference between laughing at trauma and using laughter to work through trauma, given the comedic tone of the film as Black women shared their experiences of chemical scalp burns, balding, and attempts to meet various beauty standards.
NYU Black Graduation
Keynote Speaker
NYU Loving Key, Commentator
Dr. Jones was invited by the Center for Multicultural Education and Programs at New York University to provide commentary on a viewing of Loving (2016), a film based on the monumental court case, Loving versus Virginia 1958, which overturned anti-miscegenation laws. She discussed the history of anti-miscegenation laws and how it was one way to reify race, justify racial inequality, and protect the definition of “whiteness” and “family.”
NYU Girl's Lounge Curl Salon
The NYU Curl Salon is an open dialogue focusing on culture, race, gender, and politics as it relates to hair. We bring to light the experiences that Black and other communities of color have had with their hair—the trials and tribulations, the celebrations and triumphs, and the nuances and complexities that have shaped their identities. The focus for this particular dialogue is the Evolution of Hair. Future dialogues will explore a variety of topics related to hair, culture and politics at NYU, in the United States and across the Diaspora.
The Dear Black Girl Summit at NYU
The Dear Black Girl Summit is designed to celebrate Black women by creating space for meaningful discussion, learning, and support. This half-day conference will allow black women from and around the NYU and NYC community to network and engage with peers, faculty, and administrators around various topics relevant to the experiences of black women.
Young Women In Leadership
Listen to a clip of Prof Jones speaking about the importance of mental health and therapy, and how fertility options may ease the stress for women who are contemplating when to start a family and pursue their career.
Click the link here Young Women In Leadership to watch more of the conference on women, work, and family.