Reflection on Rooting and Reckoning: International Women's Day Online Conference 2025

The 2025 International Women's Day Conference, hosted by the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute at the University of Guelph, was a great success.

Participant presence and engagement made the event so meaningful.

Through discussions, presentation, and artistic offerings we engaged in the important work of rooting and reckoning. Featuring Keynote Speaker Rania El Mugammar, who spoke on theme 'Rooting and Reckoning: Supporting the Supporters'. Her presentation addressed abolition, care work, radical solidarity, and long struggle for justice. Speaking from the Black radical tradition, she calls for deep-rooted kindship and resistance against state violance, dominator culture, and the myth of scarcity. With references to Gwendolyn Brooks, Audre Lorde, Malcolm X, and Arundhati Roy, Rania urges us to imagine beyond crisis and commit ot building sustainable movements for liberation.  ✨ ‘We are each other’s harvest; we are each other’s magnitude and bond.’ ✨”

Rooting and reckoning is ongoing work, joyful work, deep work, and collective work. Please see the attached file for a graphic recording of this year's keynote presentation. 

With appreciation, 

Organizing Committee, 2025 International Women's Day Online Conference