In fall 2023, Ruth Pion — the first fellow in the newly established “Threatened Dominican Scholars Fellowship Program”, made possible by a grant from the Mellon Foundation — is in residence at the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute (CUNY DSI). She will be sharing a panel with Gina Goico, a doctoral student at Cornell University and 2022 CUNY DSI Research Fellow. Ruth has degrees in Anthropology and Gender Equality from the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo and the University of Castilla La Mancha, respectively. She has managed and worked on various archeological projects studying the history of slavery in the Dominican Republic. Gina Goico’s multidisciplinary art engages themes of historical memory, intergenerationally, and love as a liberatory praxis, among others. They will share their experience on a series of topics that include academic and artistic censorship, discrimination, and the structural and social barriers to exhibition of their work in Dominican society and abroad. The conversation will be followed by an open Q&A session with the audience.

About the speakers

Ruth Pion

An Afro-Caribbean woman, social researcher, and anti-racist and decolonial activist from the Dominican Republic with a strong interest in the history of black people, Ruth Pion is the creator and CEO of the AfrohistoriaRD project, which seeks to connect with the history of enslaved African people on the island of Hispaniola through immersive and educational experiences such as historical tours, workshops, and various training and interactive programs designed for all audiences. Ruth has participated as a panelist speaker in various national and international platforms to discuss issues regarding racism, antiracism, feminism, gender, black history, and social movements in the past few years. She is the co-founder of the Junta de Prietas collective, and she collaborated in the elaboration of the “Guía para la Formación en Perspectiva Antirracista”, a didactic guide to support grassroot organizations on integrating an antiracist perspective in their work.

Ruth has degrees in Anthropology and Gender Equality from the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo and the University of Castilla La Mancha, respectively. She has managed and worked on various archeological projects studying the history of slavery in the Dominican Republic. In fall 2023, she is the inaugural Threatened Dominican Scholar at CUNY DSI, a program made possible by the generous support of the Mellon Foundation.

Gina Goico

A multidisciplinary artist, educator and self-proclaimed necia. Through their work, Gina navigates their identity and the spaces where they exist in the Dominican Republic and the United States. Through their career they have come to create a diverse body of work that ranges from embroidery to installations, ink drawings, and performance. Gina also facilitates spaces for temporary communities and dialogues around healing intergenerational trauma through love. Gina was a Van Lier Fellow and artist in residence with Smack Mellon. They also participated in AIM fellowship at The Bronx Museum of the Arts, The Laundromat Project, Kelly Street Resident Artist, among others. They have exhibited in the US and the Dominican Republic, and continue to actively support socio-political initiatives in the island and in the diaspora. In 2022, Goico was granted the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Research Fellowship. They hold an AAS in Fine Arts and Illustration from Altos de Chavon the School of Design in the Dominican Republic, a BFA in Fine Arts from Parsons, and a MA in Arts Politics from NYU. They are currently a doctoral student in the Department of Performing & Media Arts at Cornell University.