ADVANCED REGISTRATION RECOMMENDED
Join environmental journalist Audrea Lim in a discussion with Jaskiran Dhillon, Essence Gaines, and Keyssh Datts at Making Worlds Books regarding her debut book, Free the Land: How We Can Fight Poverty and Climate Chaos. Lim will explore how Indigenous dispossession, racial segregation, gentrification and the climate crisis share a common root in the commodification of land and the ways in which we can imagine more just alternatives to fossil-fueled capitalism, community building and a more sustainable, equitable world.
Audrea Lim is a Brooklyn-based freelance writer and journalist whose work focuses on land, energy, and the environment. Her writing has appeared in Harper’s, the New York Times, the Guardian, the New Republic, and The Nation. Lim is the editor of The World We Need and the author of Free The Land. She was a visiting scholar at the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at New York University and was a 2022 Macdowell fellow.
Jaskiran Dhillon is an anticolonial scholar and organizer who grew up on Treaty Six Cree Territory in Saskatchewan, Canada. She is the author of Prairie Rising: Indigenous Youth, Decolonization, and the Politics of Intervention (2017) and co-editor of Standing with Standing Rock: Voices from the #NoDAPL Movement (2019). Her new book, Notes on Becoming a Comrade: Solidarity, Relationality, and Future Making is forthcoming with Common Notions Press and her new research focuses on the militarization and securitization of the Canadian Arctic border in the wake of climate change. Jaskiran is an associate professor of global studies and anthropology at The New School and served as the founding president of The New School's AAUP Chapter. She is also a cooperative member and director of Making Worlds Bookstore & Social Center in West Philadelphia.
Keyssh Datts is a community organizer and filmmaker from Southwest Philadelphia. They are the founder of DecolonizePhilly, an environmental justice organization focused on gentrification, gun violence, and environmental justice. They were also a 2022 Lenfest Generation Award recipient and in 2019, received the community leader award from state representative Dwight Evans. As a filmmaker, they've written and narrated the film exhibition piece Succulent City, highlighting urban farmers in Philly for the Smithsonian Futures Exhibit.
Essence Gaines (she/they) is an avid reader and educator who wants to continue inspiring and increasing Black children’s reading skills. Before receiving her Black Studies degree from Community College of Philadelphia, she read Black authored books to Black children at Dover Street Library. Recently, she worked at Sankofa Freedom School as a Servant Leader Intern for 1st and 2nd graders using Sankofa’s Summer curriculum.
DecolonizePhilly is focused on putting power back into community members' hands to create/cultivate a new society centered on sustainability, community healing, and joy. We are ½ direct action and ½ media. We do this by producing social justice-led media, and year-round events.
