What's My Role? Social Change in Crisis and Beyond with Deepa Iyer

What's My Role? Social Change in Crisis and Beyond

Deepa Iyer, author of Social Change Now: A Guide for Reflection and Connection, will provide a roadmap for how we can engage in effective and sustainable social change efforts as individuals and organizations during times of crisis and beyond.

Deepa Iyer is a South Asian American writer, strategist, and lawyer. Her work is rooted in Asian American, South Asian, Muslim, and Arab communities where she spent fifteen years in policy advocacy and coalition building in the wake of the September 11th attacks and ensuing backlash. Currently, Deepa leads projects on solidarity and social movements at the Building Movement Project, where she conducts workshops and trainings, uplifts narratives through the podcast, and facilitates solidarity strategy for cohorts and networks.

Deepa’s first book, (The New Press, 2015), chronicles community-based histories in the wake of 9/11 and received a 2016 American Book Award. Deepa’s most recent book (2022), a guide based on the social change ecosystem map that she created, is called Social Change Now: A Guide for Reflection and Connection. Her debut children’s picture book, We Are The Builders, will be released in the fall of 2024.

Deepa serves on the advisory council of the Emergent Fund, and has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland in the Asian American Studies and Public Policy programs. An immigrant who moved to Kentucky from Kerala (India), Deepa graduated from the University of Notre Dame Law School and Vanderbilt University.

This lecture is made possible through the generous support of the . CEW+ Leadership Council Member Emerita Menakka Bailey created the fund in honor of her mother, Christobel Kotelawela Weerasinghe, a lifelong advocate of cross-cultural dialogue and advancement for women.

The lecture is also supported by a partnership with ENGAGE at the School of Social Work and funding from the CEW+ which promotes diversity and cultural awareness by bringing women leaders to campus.

Host or Publisher CEW+ at U-M