Katherine Franke in Conversation with Shaniqua Bowden
Katherine Franke is the James L. Dohr Professor of Law (retired) at Columbia University, where she served on the law faculty for 25 years, and where she also founded and directed the Center for Gender & Sexuality Law. She served on the Executive Committees of Columbia’s Institute for the Study of Sexuality and Gender, and the Center for Palestine Studies. She also led a research team that documented Columbia Law School’s relationship to slavery and its legacies. She is among the nation's leading scholars writing on law, sexuality, race, and religion drawing from feminist, queer, and critical race theory.
Her first book, Wedlocked: The Perils of Marriage Equality (NYU Press 2015), considers the costs of winning marriage rights for same sex couples today and for African Americans at the end of the Civil War. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2011 to undertake research for Wedlocked. Her second book, Repair: Redeeming the Promise of Slavery’s Abolition (Haymarket Press 2019), makes the case for racial reparations in the United States by returning to a time at the end of slavery when many formerly enslaved people were provided land explicitly as a form of reparation, yet after President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated the land was stolen back from freed people and given to former slave owners.
Professor Franke serves on the Advisory Board of Palestine Legal, the steering committee of the Academic Advisory Council of Jewish Voice for Peace, the editorial board of GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, and on the Advisory Board of Columbia University’s Center for Justice. Prior to 2018, before she was permanently banned from entering the state of Israel, she served as an academic mentor for the human rights faculty at Al Quds University in East Jerusalem.
Repair:
Redeeming the Promise of Abolition
"With eloquence, skill, and an unstinting eye on justice, the second updated edition of legal scholar Katherine Franke's Repair: Redeeming the Promise of Abolition, is as powerful as it is timely. Focused on the Sea Islands of South Carolina where the promise of land after emancipation began, Franke confronts the "original sin from which the evil of structural racism has grown...". She turns to the voices of Black enslaved people themselves to make the case that the value of their labor and lives were stolen, and a debt is owed. She then imagines alternate futures, and maps a path toward reparations, not to feign some type of artificial closure, but to approximate some modicum of justice. This is a must-read book for organizers and historians alike." --Barbara Ransby
Shaniqua Bowden
Shaniqua Bowden's journey with green spaces began in her hometown of South Boston, Virginia, where she spent her childhood. Later, she moved to New York City and has since called Kingston, NY, home for just over a decade now.
Currently serving as the Director of Cultural Engagement and Sustainable Living at the Kingston Land Trust (KLT), Shaniqua is at the forefront of initiatives that promote land access for BIPOC farmers and growers. Her leadership of the Land in Black Hands initiative underscores the importance of equitable land ownership and stewardship within communities of color.
Shaniqua's work is guided by a commitment to advancing ecological repair, driving racial justice and social equity, democratizing communities and wealth, retaining and restoring cultural diversity, and relocalizing economic power. She ensures that the voices of BIPOC community members are centered throughout the projects, upholding principles of BIPOC leadership, communal decision-making, and knowledge-sharing.
Shaniqua's impact extends beyond land initiatives; she has been instrumental in Kingston's housing initiatives, including her pivotal role in developing a community land trust (CLT) in Ulster County. Moreover, she was involved in crafting a report on collaborative efforts between land trusts and housing organizations to create affordable eco-dwellings for those experiencing homelessness, aligning with KLT's commitment to socially responsible conservation.
With a bachelor's degree in cultural anthropology and a concentration in environmental studies from Bard College, Shaniqua brings a unique perspective to her work. Shaniqua has devoted her career to fostering healing and relationship-building between individuals and the land. In addition to her role at KLT, Shaniqua consults on behalf of the organization, further expanding her impact within the community. She is passionate about exploring the intersection of culture, heritage, and land conservation, leveraging these insights to drive meaningful change. Her dedication to promoting cultural engagement, sustainable living practices, and equitable access to land reflects KLT's purpose and vision for a more inclusive and just society.