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SC-WGS Summer Institute

By thomaspr on October 31, 2024 in Events, WGS Faculty & Affiliated Faculty

SC-WGS SUMMER INSTITUTE

INAUGURAL “FEMINIST CAMP” IN SOUTH CAROLINA CREATES COMMUNITY

REFLECTIONS BY DR. CAROLINE GUTHRIE (she/her) AND STUDENT ATTENDEE, ARIN KAPLAN (they/them)

Caroline Guthrie presents Film and Representation at the SC-WGS Institute on May 22, 2024. Photo credit: Arin Kaplan

In collaboration with universities across the state, the inaugural South Carolina Women’s and Gender Studies Undergraduate Summer Institute was held at the University of South Carolina (Columbia) from May 19 to 23, 2024. Students focused on thematic streams of art and media, community-centered research, and health. They also got the opportunity to connect with department founders, local activists, and community organizations. The institute was designed for personal and professional enrichment.

What struck me most during my time at the SC-WGS Institute was how successful it was in creating an environment that lived up to the collaborative goals of many feminist teaching practices. When my Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies class covers feminist praxis, we put a great deal of emphasis on the fact that a truly intersectional praxis doesn’t only learn from traditionally prestigious sources. So much of the work of feminist pedagogy is re-centering voices that are too often excluded from “the canon.” However, it is also hard to break out of that traditional top-down framing in a college classroom. After all, the university is one of the traditionally prestigious sources, and students have been trained their whole lives to learn within top-down framing. It can be challenging to try to reframe learning as a community effort.

However, when I arrived at the Institute, that kind of feminist learning environment – where the insights students gained through experience and the training of experts join in meaningful collaboration – had been established, along with an atmosphere of delightful conviviality. The group was incredibly welcoming. It was no surprise that the participants were engaged and fun to teach during my presentation, but students also invited me to join them for dinner (we had a lovely time) and to come with them to get matching tattoos (I declined but appreciated being included). Students brought a similar attitude of friendly curiosity to both learning sessions and socializing, and I really enjoyed being in a community such a vibrant community.

– Dr. Caroline Guthrie, Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Communication and WGS affiliate faculty

An Evening With Tara Bynum

By thomaspr on January 31, 2023 in Events

WGS is co-sponsoring an amazing event with Tara Bynum. She’ll discuss her recent book, Reading Pleasures: Everyday Black Living in Early America.

Join us on Tuesday, Feb. 7th at 7PM at the Avery Research Center, 125 Bull St., Charleston, SC 29424

From the publisher UI Press: In the early United States, a Black person committed an act of resistance simply by reading and writing. Yet we overlook that these activities also brought pleasure. Tara A. Bynum tells the compelling stories of four early American writers who expressed feeling good despite living while enslaved or only nominally free. The poet Phillis Wheatley delights in writing letters to a friend. Ministers John Marrant and James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw memorialize their love for God. David Walker’s pamphlets ask Black Americans to claim their victory over slavery. Together, their writings reflect the joyous, if messy, humanity inside each of them. This proof of a thriving interior self in pursuit of good feeling forces us to reckon with the fact that Black lives do matter.

A daring assertion of Black people’s humanity, Reading Pleasures reveals how four Black writers experienced positive feelings and analyzes the ways these emotions served creative, political, and racialized ends.

Women’s (In)Equality Day

By thomaspr on August 17, 2022 in Events

On Women’s (In)Equality Day, join local reproductive rights & justice educators, leaders, caregivers, activists, & allies for activities, demonstrations, & conversations that leverage the powers of Healing, Education, Liberation, and Love (H.E.L.L.) in the ongoing struggle for bodily autonomy and access to reproductive care.

Wednesday, August 24, 2022

9:30 AM – 1:00 PM

Arnold Hall – 96 Wentworth St

All are welcome!

9:45-10:45 Healing & Community Building
11:00-12:00 Resource Fair & Refreshments
12:00-1:00 Information Panel & Q&A with Local Reproductive Justice Organizations

Feminism in Motion 2022 Event Recap & Pictures

By thomaspr on May 10, 2022 in Events

Thank you to everyone who came out to our fourth annual Feminism in Motion celebration! See below for a digitized version of the program, scans of some of the feminist doodles that our attendees created during the event presentations and rich discussions, and pictures from the day’s festivities.

2022 FeMo Program

FeMo 2022 Feminist Doodles

2022 FeMo Picture Gallery

Charleston Conference Photography by Reese Moore

GSEC’s Gender Equity Week Schedule for 2022

By thomaspr on March 14, 2022 in Community Events, Events

Here are some event highlights:

Monday, March 14th – Women on Fire Roundtable: This event will kick-off Gender Equity Week. As outlined on CofC’s Critical Conversations webpage, “During Women’s History Month – celebrated annually each March – the College of Charleston reflects on the myriad contributions women and gender-diverse communities have made, and continue to make, on the growth and identity of the institution.

Wednesday, March 16th – Engaging with Definitions of Southern Matriarchy with the authors of Through Mama’s Eyes. From the publisher: Through Mama’s Eyes: Unique Perspectives in Southern Matriarchy looks at the concept of Southern matriarchy and how it has influenced American society. In 2016, the Ernest J. Gaines Center hosted a public program that explored the way women use physical space in literature. That program created many discussions of how the term matriarch is understood and applied, especially in the southern regions of the United States. Southern matriarchy is something that has been idolized and parodied in popular formats, such as movies and film, and the purpose of this book is to explore all of the faceted interpretations of southern matriarchy and its impact on our society.

Thursday, March 17th – Beyond the Binary: A Facilitated Convo on Gender Expansiveness. This is a student- led dialogue to learn about the current legislative context around anti-truth bills as they relate to gender expansiveness and also to better understand how to support gender expansiveness at CofC from students’ perspective.

We encourage students and faculty to join in on this week of fun, learning, and inclusivity!

Women on Fire

By thomaspr on March 1, 2022 in Events

Please join WGS in partnership with Master of Public Administration and Political Science on March 14th at 4:00pm for “Women on Fire,” an event where we will host a virtual discussion with seven dynamic women leaders in Fire Service, Paramedics, and EMS who are making a difference both in the field and in the greater Charleston region. This will be a unique opportunity to learn more about how these women leaders climbed the ladder to success as well as how they navigated obstacles along the way.

This event will kick-off Gender Equity Week. As outlined on CofC’s Critical Conversations webpage, “During Women’s History Month – celebrated annually each March – the College of Charleston reflects on the myriad contributions women and gender-diverse communities have made, and continue to make, on the growth and identity of the institution.

‘The purpose of Gender Equity Week is to build community and invite reflection on the many ways that gender shapes our identities, experiences and societal structures locally and globally,’ said former GSEC Interim Director Kristi ‘Kaj’ Brian. ‘The events throughout the week are designed to inspire and empower our students and our community. Students will have the opportunity to learn from the authors, panelists and presenters while building the awareness and skills necessary to negotiate for equitable wages, to navigate gender dynamics at work and to explore the importance of gender pronouns and expansive gender identities.’

In support of the College’s mission to create equity in learning and living on campus and beyond, GSEC promotes non-discrimination policies and equal protection for all individuals regardless of ability, race, class, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation or religion. GSEC advocates for a culture of resistance against inequality, judgment, prejudice and bias in all its forms.

Nearly 100 years ago, the first female student, Pierrine St. Claire Smith Byrd (Class of 1922), graduated from the College. It would be nearly half a century, in 1967, before the first Black women, Carrie Nesbitt Gibbs ’72 and Angela Brown Gilchrist ’72, were admitted. Change can be slow, often frustratingly so. Gender Equity Week and yearlong efforts by campus partners ensure it never stalls.”

Trailblazers: Black Women Who Helped Make America Great

By thomaspr on February 18, 2022 in Events

Join WGS on Monday, February 28th at 4PM for a virtual conversation with the authors of Trailblazers: Black Women Who Helped Make America Great. Register for the Zoom chat here.

Excerpts from 2Leaf Press’ TRAILBLAZERS press release:

NEW YORK, NY —Black women have inspired, elevated, and transformed society throughout the ages and across generations. While often breaking through barriers of racism and sexism, with underwhelming recognition or documentation, they managed to achieve greatness. TRAILBLAZERS, Black Women Who Helped Make America Great, American Firsts/American Icons by Gabrielle David shines a light on these historically marked footholds, which often led to widespread cultural change. TRAILBLAZERS is a six-volume series examining the lives and careers of over 400 brilliant women from the eighteenth century to the present who blazed uncharted paths in every conceivable way. The volumes will be released over the course of 2021 and 2022. The first volume is scheduled to publish November 1, 2021 exclusively at University of Chicago Press (http://bit.ly/trailblazers1-ucp), and is available on major online outlets on December 6, 2021. TRAILBLAZERS acquired discretionary grants from the Open Meadows Foundation, The New York Women’s Foundation, Women’s Sports Foundation, and sponsorship from the National Sorority Phi Delta Kappa, Inc., Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and The International Association of Blacks in Dance. Their financial aid and partnership,represents this volume’s featured sections, Activism, Dance, and Sports.

Each TRAILBLAZERS volume is organized into three to four sections. Besides providing biographical information written in accessible prose for a broad audience, replete with powerful photographs, David also provides a historical timeline for each section written from a Black woman’s viewpoint that maps out the significance of the featured women that follow. Volume 1 features an assortment of seventy activists, dancers, and athletes. We learn about the significance of activists like Ella Baker, Pauli Murray, and Addie Wyatt, who represent the hundreds of unnamed women who participated in the civil rights and labor movements, and women following their path, like Michelle Alexander, Glynda Carr and Leah Penniman. We re-discover dancers Jeni Legon and Margot Webb, who are honored alongside Josephine Baker, Katherine Dunham, Janet Collins, and a new generation including Cynthia Oliver, Misty Copeland, Dormeshia, and Camille A. Brown. And then Athletes who disrupted the world of sports, including the nearly forgotten tennis champion Ora Washington and Alice Coachman, the first Olympic gold medalist, to Debi Thomas, Maritza Correia McClendon, and tennis phenom Serena Williams. Throughout the series, as David re-introduces many of these women into the public sphere, they are not always in predictable ways. For example, Debbie Allen makes a brief appearance in this volume, not as actress or director, but rather as the dancer she initially trained to be, reminding us that Black women are multifaceted, multitalented, and complex. What binds these women together is that as they persevered, often challenging and shaking-up the status quo. With painstaking research, David created an affordable and visually appealing accessible reference book. From the foremothers who blazed the trail, to the women who followed in their footsteps, TRAILBLAZERS offers powerful and inspiring role models for women and girls from all cultural backgrounds. An importance reference book for people who are intellectually curious and want to learn more about Black women in America. TRAILBLAZERS, a clarion call for recognition of the transformative work Black women’s accomplishments, is a vital reference guide for use in schools, libraries, and homes.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: GABRIELLE DAVID is a multidisciplinary artist who is a musician, photographer, digital designer, poet and writer. She attended LaGuardia Community College (CUNY) and New School University. David is the publisher of 2Leaf Press and serves as chair of the board of 2Leaf Press Inc. Over the years, she has participated in and organized poetry reading panel discussions, festivals and workshops, and has published articles and essays in numerous publications. David is co-editor of What Does It Mean to be White in America, Breaking the White Code of Silence, A Collection of Personal Narratives (2016), the editor of Branches of the Tree of Life (2014), and co-editor of Hey Yo! Yo Soy! 40 Years of Nuyorican Street Poetry (2012). She is the author of the poetry chapbooks, Spring Has Returned and I Am Renewed (1996), and This is Me: A Collection of Poems and Things (1994).

ABOUT DR. CHANDRA WARING: Dr. WARING is an Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. Her research focuses on the growing bi/multiracial population. Her interest in race stems from being raised in a multiracial family in a three very different contexts: Germany, Georgia and Connecticut. Waring’s work has been published in numerous publications and she earned her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Connecticut in 2013, where she was a Multicultural Fellow.

Gender Identity in Second Language

By thomaspr on February 17, 2022 in Events

Join Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies and WGS on Tuesday, Feb. 22nd for Gender Identity in Second Language at 7PM in Arnold Hall or on Zoom! Register at bit.ly/spring22ilanyona.

Ilan Yona is a doctoral student at Middlebury College who researches the relationship between the acquisition of highly gendered languages such as Hebrew and student gender identity. He argues that highly genderized languages represent sexually oppressive structures for students, especially in terms of how they identify themselves in such languages. Hebrew is highly gendered language, and can pose certain problems for students coming to it from less gendered languages. This lecture will explore mutual interactions among the three elements of gender, identity, and second language acquisition.

WGS Intersections: Dyani White Hawk A Conversation

By thomaspr on February 16, 2022 in Events, Intersections

Join WGS and Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art on Thursday, Feb. 17th at 5:30 p.m. for another WGS Intersections! Don’t miss DYANI WHITE HAWK a Conversation. The panel will feature Lisa Collins (Wassamasaw Tribe), Beckee Garris (Catawba Nation), Chief Michelle Wise Mitchum (Pine Hill Indian Tribe), and Dana Muckelvaney (Edisto Natchez-Kusso Tribe). Moderators are Dr. Kris De Welde (Director & Prof. of WGS), Dr. Brennan Keegan (Religious Studies), and Dr. Annette Watson (Political Science).

This is a virtual event. Watch at halsey.cofc.edu/live. Free and open to the public.

About her exhibit HEAR HER (from Halsey’s website):
Dyani White Hawk’s work illuminates the lived experiences of Native Peoples. With her video, photography, and works in other media, she aims to use language of visual art to bring light to the chasm between our understanding of history and the truth. Her work weaves together forms from the canon of Western art along with the visual languages and traditions of Native people. In doing so, her work spotlights Native women, whose strength and fortitude through centuries of colonization have helped their people’s languages and cultures to survive.

On view in Hear Her, White Hawk’s video installation LISTEN presents a series of Native women speaking the language of their people. Each film takes place on the land of each participant’s nation, and viewers hear the respective languages without translation. As such, White Hawk puts a focus not only on the resonance of each speaker, but she also reveals society’s collective ignorance of the people, culture, and language of those native to the land on which we live. Chapter 1 of LISTEN features eight videos and White Hawk plans to continue the series to include 24 videos. The Halsey Institute commissioned White Hawk to create a video to honor the Catawba Nation, located in South Carolina.

White Hawk’s photography installation I Am Your Relative confronts the gross stereotypes and distorted caricatures that dehumanize and commodify Native women. This installation, along with LISTEN, helps White Hawk shine a light on the misrepresentation of Native Peoples while reinforcing the fact that we are all connected as human beings.

Dyani White Hawk: Hear Her is sponsored in part by South Carolina Humanities, a not-for-profit organization; inspiring, engaging and enriching South Carolinians with programs on literature, history, culture and heritage. This exhibition is also supported by the Center for Sustainable Development at the College of Charleston, which provides students with the opportunities and resources to engage in our community sustainably.

Image Credit: @dwhitehawk in Collaboration with photographer Tom Jones, “I Am Your Relative” [detail], 2020, photo sculpture, © Dyani White Hawk. Courtesy of the artist and Bockley Gallery, Minneapolis, MN.

A Conversation with Abby Stein

By thomaspr on February 15, 2022 in Events

Join Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies and WGS on Thursday, Feb. 17th for A Conversation with Abby Stein at 7PM in Arnold Hall or on Zoom! Register at bit.ly/spring22abbystein.

Abby Stein is a Jewish educator, author, speaker, and activist. She was born and raised in a Hasidic family, attended Yeshiva, and completed a rabbinical degree in 2011. In 2012, she left the Hasidic world to explore a self-determined life. In 2015, Abby came out as a woman of trans experience. Since then, she has been working to raise support and awareness for trans rights and those leaving the ultra-Orthodoxy. Her book Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman, is a coming-of-age memoir that examines identity, gender, and religion through personal experience.

From the publisher, Seal Press:

“The powerful coming-of-age story of an ultra-Orthodox child who was born to become a rabbinic leader and instead became a woman

Abby Stein was raised in a Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn, isolated in a culture that lives according to the laws and practices of eighteenth-century Eastern Europe, speaking only Yiddish and Hebrew and shunning modern life. Stein was born as the first son in a dynastic rabbinical family, poised to become a leader of the next generation of Hasidic Jews.

But Abby felt certain at a young age that she was a girl. She suppressed her desire for a new body while looking for answers wherever she could find them, from forbidden religious texts to smuggled secular examinations of faith. Finally, she orchestrated a personal exodus from ultra-Orthodox manhood to mainstream femininity-a radical choice that forced her to leave her home, her family, her way of life.

Powerful in the truths it reveals about biology, culture, faith, and identity, Becoming Eve poses the enduring question: How far will you go to become the person you were meant to be?”

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