UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Omi Salas-SantaCruz, President’s Postdoctoral Fellow in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Penn State, will give the talk "Wellness-Territorio: A Decolonial Feminist Geographical Method for the Study of Trans* Student World-Making" at the next Department of Geography's Coffee Hour lecture. The talk will be held at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 2, and via Zoom.

Salas-SantaCruz will delve into the intersections of critical geography, decolonial thought and transgender identities, examining how a group of trans Latinx students in an urban public university redefine trans health and wellness in response to university trans care services.

Salas-SantaCruz’s talk will reveal how spaces of belonging, both physical and conceptual, are navigated and transformed in the pursuit of epistemic justice, community building and resistance against colonial logics in university programs. Focusing on "land as body" and intersubjective relationality, the presentation will demonstrate the perspective of critical geography in understanding the spatial and relational aspects of decolonial, trans students' world-making.

Salas-SantaCruz earned their doctorate in education with a designated emphasis in critical theory and gender, women and sexuality from the University of California, Berkeley. They also earned a master of sociology from Columbia University. Their research examines questions at the intersections of coloniality, race, Latinidad, trans inclusion and practices of being.

Salas-SantaCruz's talk is part of the spring 2024 "Coffee Hour" seminar series hosted by Penn State’s Department of Geography. To learn more and access the Zoom information, visit the Coffee Hour event webpage.