In 2019 she started the campaign #twerkwithlizzo, combining fun with larger issues relating to racism, sexism and fatphobia as a form of "pleasure activism". Her
twerking with
Lizzo went viral.[2]
Cultural significance
Schalk twerked with
Lizzo onstage on October 10, 2019.[3] She twerked onstage with
Janelle Monáe on the Age of Pleasure tour in Indianapolis, Indiana, on September 10, 2023.[4] She talked with
Jonathan Van Ness on his Getting Curious podcast in an episode from October 26, 2022, about Black disability politics.[5]
In 2021, Schalk received the
University of Wisconsin System Outstanding Women of Color Award, which is intended to honor women "for their leadership in making significant and lasting contributions to their campuses, their communities or both."[6]
In 2019, Schalk received the LGBTQ Advocate of the Year award from the OutReach LGBT Community Center in Madison, Wisconsin.[7]
Publications
Schalk has published numerous journal articles,[8][9][10] book chapters,[11][12] essays,[13] reviews,[14] and popular articles.[15][16] In 2018, she published a monograph titled Bodyminds Reimagined: (Dis)ability, Race, and Gender in Black Women’s Speculative Fiction.[17] In 2022, she published the book Black Disability Politics.[18] It is also available online through open access downloads from the publisher.[19] Her books were published through Duke University Press.
^Schalk, Sami. “De-politicized Diversity in the American Girl Brand” Research on Diversity in Youth Literature 2.2 (2020). Article 7.
^Schalk, Sami. “Strategic Alterations and Afro-Asian Connections in Paul Beatty’s Tuff.” Mosaic. 51.1 (2018). 55-70.
^Schalk, Sami. “BeForever?: Disability in American Girl Historical Fiction.” Children’s Literature. 45 (2017) 164-187.
^Schalk, Sami. “Teaching the Social Construction of Disability through the Work of Octavia E. Butler.” Approaches to Teaching Octavia E. Butler. ed. Tarshia Stanley. Modern
Language Association of America Press, 2019. 97-102
^Schalk, Sami. “Resisting Erasure and Conflation: Reading Race and (Dis)ability in Speculative Media.” Routledge Companion to Disability and Media. eds. Haller, Goggin, and Ellis. London: Routledge UP, 2019. 137-146.
^Schalk, Sami. “Foreword to the Special Issue on Disability Studies: Bodyminds, Science Fiction and Disability Studies” Journal of Science Fiction. 3.2 (2019): 10-11.
^Schalk, Sami. “Review of Barriers and Belongings: Personal Narratives of Disability” The ALH Online Review. Series XI. 2017. n. pag. Web.