New York—November 22 2023
The Organizing Committee of the Ann Snitow Prize is thrilled to name Shariana Ferrer-Núñez its fourth annual honoree. The $12,500 award recognizes a feminist of outstanding vision, originality, generosity, and effectiveness, whose work combines intellectual and/or artistic pursuits with feminist and social justice activism.
The Awards Ceremony will take place, via Zoom, on December 12 at 6 PM EST. Shariana will be introduced by activist and lawyer Zoán Tanís Dávila Roldán and she will speak on “Movement-born theory and the intellectual in critical times.”
Shariana Ferrer-Núñez is a Caribbean Black feminist and queer organizer based in Puerto Rico. In addition to being a cofounder of La Colectiva Feminista en Construcción, she is one of the coordinators of the Escuela Feminista Radical (ESFRA). Her political practice seeks to dismantle systems of oppression while creating other forms of social and communal life. She is the co-author of Nosotras Contra la Deuda with Zoán Dávila Roldán.
Ferrer-Núñez was selected by judges Alexandra Brodsky, Xhercis Mendez, Cyril Ghosh, and Shawnda Chapman. The judges admired Ferrer’s linking of feminism and anti-violence, antiracist, and decolonization work. “Shariana Ferrer-Núñez’s sharp Black decolonial feminist analysis and political work calls attention to the settler colonial and extractive relation that the U.S. has to Puerto Rico and the very real need to decolonize, not just in theory, but in practice. Her campaigns, from organizing against the debt to eradicating violence against women, move between languages, and are powerfully grounded in community while also being transnational in scope. She is an inspiration to those of us who know the importance of ‘taking to the streets’ to fight for our collective liberation.”
“Shariana is the thread that weaves our revolutionary and emancipatory dreams with love, strength, and discipline,” write La Zoan T. Dávila Roldán and Melody Fonesca in their nomination letter. As the force behind La Colectiva, Ferrer-Núñez has “made an entire generation believe that another life, a dignified life, a life anchored in black feminist and decolonial principles, is possible in the archipelago of Puerto Rico.”
“I am deeply grateful and honored to be the 2023 recipient of the Ann Snitow Award. What makes this award even more special and significant was the fact that I was nominated by my compañeras and comrades of La Colectiva Feminista en Construcción. This is a recognition of the political, grassroots, and radical thought possible through collective engagement. It comes with a responsibility to continue the struggle toward liberation, to nurture critical thinking and combative scholarship, and to make it accessible to all.”
—Shariana Ferrer-Núñez, winner of the 2023 Ann Snitow Prize
We extend our congratulations to Shariana and our gratitude to the judges, the members of the Organizing Committee and the Nominating Committee, and our generous donors.
Stay well,
The Ann Snitow Prize Executive Committee