Dr. Sarah Jane Brubaker Virginia Commonwealth University SSSP President (2025-2026)

ANNOUNCING Logo concept and design by Dawn Iehstoseranonnha of PassTheFeather.ca 76th Annual Meeting August 6-9, 2026 Westin New York at Times Square New York City, NY

The Board of Directors has approved an in-person meeting. Health and safety protocols mandated by local authorities will be enforced during the meeting, in alignment with SSSP’s Accessibility Statement, Liability Waiver, and Anti-Harassment Policy. The preliminary program is available. Register for the 2026 Annual Meeting. Early bird registration ends June 1. Reserve your hotel room at the Westin New York at Times Square for the discounted rate of $239 plus tax, per night. Book your hotel room and complete your meeting registration today.

Resisting Colonization of Lifeworlds

As we face multiple crises at global, national, and local levels, in higher education, social movements, and in the SSSP itself, we seek ways to conceptualize both causes and solutions. Colonization of lifeworlds is a powerful way of thinking about systems based on logics of profit, domination, and coercion. Such systems have taken over - and threaten to destroy - spaces where we give life and build and sustain community through solidarity, love and mutual care, and participatory engagement in civic life. These are spaces where we celebrate and respect all forms of life, where we share our creativity and joy, and where we create space for hope. Colonization, in all its forms, depends on and requires processes such as objectification, commodification, corporatization, financialization, criminalization, militarization, and bureaucratization, among others. The logics of these forms of social relations have invaded our lifeworlds and undermined our humanity, our species-being, our interspecies relationships and commitment to caring for all forms of life. How can we work together to recreate and elevate the logic of lifeworlds in resistance to the forces of colonization?

Dr. Sarah Jane Brubaker, SSSP President
Virginia Commonwealth University