Events

Join Chatham Square Library in welcoming presenter Funmi Akinnawonu, alumna of the New Leaders Council of NYC, who will be joined by panelists Dr. Shatima J. Jones and Tiffany Peacock, M.A.. 

This event will be a discussion of African hair braiding traditions and hair salons, and their significance as a cultural practice, a source of labor, and an area for advocacy. Funmi will discuss the dynamics between arts and culture, and its connection to particpation in civic life within the Lower East Side community and the City. Join us for an engaging presentation and conversation! 

About Funmi Akinnawonu: Funmi Akinnawonu is a Senior Policy Analyst at FPWA where she focuses on systemic and structural issues that perpetuate economic deprivation. She previously advocated for access to counsel issues for immigrant New Yorkers facing deportation. She also previously worked on humanitarian-based immigration cases as a Legal Fellow at the Mississippi Center for Justice. She is a graduate of New York University and Vanderbilt University Law School. 

About Dr. Shatima J. Jones: Dr. Shatima J. Jones is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University. Dr. Jones is currently writing a book, The Headmasters of Brooklyn: Barbering, Blackness, and Brotherhood and teaches (De)Tangling the Business of Black Women’s Hair. 

About Tiffany Peacock, M.A.: Tiffany is currently a PhD Candidate in Sociocultural Anthropology and the Program Coordinator for The Women's Center at Florida International University. Her research areas examine the politics of hair and beauty, identity construction, racialization, Blackness, and social movements within the African Diaspora.

Event Contact Information
Jasmine Cintron Soto
[email protected]