Amy Goodman is the host of Democracy Now!, a daily, independent, award-winning news program airing on over 1,500 public television and radio stations worldwide, with millions of subscribers across all major social media platforms. Amy has received numerous awards for her work, including the Right Livelihood Award for “developing an innovative model of truly independent grassroots political journalism.”

She has co-authored six New York Times bestsellers, and is the subject of the new documentary, 

Steal This Story, Please!,  by Oscar-nominated directors Tia Lessin and Carl Deal.

Michelle’s research and teaching interests focus on migration, Latino/a and Latin American studies, dance, and critical legal studies. Her book, Disappearing Rooms: the Hidden Theaters of Immigration Law (Duke University Press, 2023) analyzes three sites of immigration law: family detention, asylum hearings, and deportation (“removal”) procedures. Rather than adopt a macroscopic perspective, Disappearing Rooms analyzes individual scenes that Castañeda witnessed as a Spanish language interpreter and performance maker with immigrant advocacy organizations and the Sanctuary movement. Working at the intersection of performance studies and legal studies, Disappearing Rooms elucidates the politics of legal procedures through their choreographic, scenographic, and theatrical dimensions. In the tradition of “writing as performance,” the book not only analyzes the theatricality of these rooms but also offers a rehearsal space in which to imagine alternatives to criminalization. 

Cinthya Santos Briones is a New York–based interdisciplinary artist, educator, and researcher. Trained in Ethnohistory and Anthropology, she spent over a decade conducting research at Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). Her practice brings together photography, ethnography, archival materials, textiles, writing, and participatory art to construct layered narratives grounded in migration, memory, spirituality, and social justice. Centered on collaboration and community engagement, her work amplifies collective histories often erased or overlooked. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing and Photography from Ithaca College and currently teaches in the Studio Arts Practice MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA). Her projects have received support from Magnum Foundation, National Geographic, the Mellon Foundation, BRIC, and El Museo del Barrio, among others. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vogue, The Intercept, The Nation, and La Jornada. She is also engaged in community organizing and advocacy, supporting immigrants’ rights, asylum processes, and unaccompanied migrant youth.