Tag Archives | women’s & gender studies

Fall 2022 WGST Special Topics in Social & Political Organization

By thomaspr on April 12, 2022 in Announcements, WGS Curriculum

WGST 321.01 Women, Globization, & Migration

CRN 16273, Online with Scheduled Online Meetings, Thursdays 4PM-6:45PM

Dr. Malia Womack

Women are vulnerable to poverty and commonly lack access to adequate social, cultural, institutional, and material resources necessary for survival. The collective identity “woman” comprises more than half of the world’s population yet is regularly marginalized in local, transnational, and global economies. The collective identity “woman” is also internally diverse. Many women endure compounded oppression (which makes them more vulnerable to impoverishment) related to identity traits including but not limited to sexuality, gender expression, sex, race, skin color, languages, age, geographic location, education, familial relationships, and gender-based violence. This course explores the experiences of diverse and intersectional women in an increasingly globalized world and in various geographic locations. In this class students will consider how gender discrimination, intersectionality, migration, economies, and globalization are deeply and intimately related. Students will reflect on their own positionality within global power hierarchies and will engage in the course material in a self-reflexive and investigative manner.

WGST 321.02 Latin American Feminists & Human Rights

CRN 16278, Online Exclusively

Dr. Malia Womack

International human rights are designed based on the ideology that all people deserve basic rights because of their shared humanity. However, Latin American feminists commonly argue that the international human rights processes are rife with inequalities at the local, transnational, and global levels, are not effectively enforced, are resources for Western imperialism, and are Western and male centric. This class problematizes human rights failures. In particular, the class explores how human rights treaties and operations (in their present form) cannot adequately address the complexity of lived experiences, diversity, and intersectionality. This course documents how feminists throughout Latin America have mobilized against colonialism, poverty, gender discrimination, and other inequalities by engaging in domestic as well as transnational activism around international human rights. Latin American feminists have unrelentingly promoted equality and are transforming how human rights are understood throughout Latin America and the world.

WGST 323 ST: Queer Friendship, Kinship, Comradeship, & Community as Liberation Praxis

By thomaspr on April 11, 2022 in Announcements, WGS Curriculum

This special topics course is an immersive and experiential study of the ways in which LGBTQ+ people engage queer friendships, kinship, comradeship, and community as liberation praxis. Centering WOC, QTBIPOC, and white anti-racist feminists and the traditions they have co-created including healing, disability, and transformative justice among others, we will explore theories, perspectives, and approaches to queer friendship, kinship, coalition, and community. Honoring our particular situatedness, a substantial portion of the course will highlight historical and contemporary examples of relational social justice work among QTBIPOC and white anti-racist LGBTQ+ social justice collectives and grassroots community organizations in the South. Lastly, we will take up somatic and relational culture informed community building practices as a part of in-class activities and outside-of-class assignments, experientially learning with one another and others ways of fostering and sustaining queer friendship, kinship, comradeship, and community.

Women & Pilgrimage Book Launch

By thomaspr on April 8, 2022 in

Join the program next week for a WGS-sponsored book launch for Women and Pilgrimage. The event is taking place Monday, April 11, 3-5pm to hear from multiple authors featured in the book, many of whom are our faculty colleagues. We will gather with refreshments in the Alumni Center, and you can pre-register for the Zoom option: here.

From the publisher:

Women and Pilgrimage presents scholarly essays that address the lacunae in the literature on this topic. The content includes well-trodden domains of pilgrimage scholarship like sacred sites and holy places. In addition, the book addresses some of the less-well-known dimensions of pilgrimage, such as the performances that take place along pilgrims’ paths; the ephemeral nature of identifying as a pilgrim, and the economic, social and cultural dimensions of migratory travel. Most importantly, the book’s feminist lens encourages readers to consider questions of authenticity, essentialism, and even what is means to be a “woman pilgrim”. The volume’s six sections are entitled: Questions of Authenticity; Performances and Celebratory Reclamations; Walking Out: Women Forging Their Own Paths; Women Saints: Their Influence and Their Power; Sacred Sites: Their Lineages and Their Uses; and Different Migratory Paths. Each section will enrich readers’ knowledge of the experiences of pilgrim women. Readers’ understanding will be further enhanced by the book’s:· interdisciplinary nature: The contributors hail from a wide range of disciplines, including Anthropology, Political Science, French, Spanish, Fine Art, and Religious Studies;
· uniqueness: The text brings together previously scattered resources into one volume;
· feminist perspective: Much of the subject matter utilizes feminist theories and methodologies and argues that further research will be welcome.

Ketner Emerging Leaders Scholarship Cohorts for 2021-2022

By thomaspr on March 16, 2022 in Announcements, Scholarships & Awards

WGS is excited to highlight the recipients of 2021-2022 Ketner Emerging Leaders Scholarship.

The Ketner Emerging Leaders Scholarship was established to reward students with a record of working to achieve social justice, to encourage students to become integrally involved in activities to promote social justice, and promote leadership that leads to social justice. The intent is to inspire and financially aid students who are actively engaged in creating and promoting social justice locally, nationally, and globally. It is the Donor’s wish that through this scholarship, and the experiences that recipients have at the College, that Ketner Emerging Leaders will be change agents who identify social problems and devise steps to ameliorate those problems. Ketner scholars are not simply volunteers. They are change agents that are committed to making a positive impact locally, nationally, and globally.

Scholarship applications are available from December 1st through February 8th every year. Learn how to apply through CofC’s Cougar Scholarship Awarding System (CSAS) here. Stay tuned for the 2022-2023 cohort announcement!

Engaging with Definitions of Southern Matriarchy with the authors of Through Mama’s Eyes

By thomaspr on March 15, 2022 in

Join WGS in partnership with the Avery Research Center for a virtual discussion Engaging with Definitions of Southern Matriarchy with the Authors of Through Mama’s Eyes. Preregister for this Zoom event here.

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. This book contains 17 interdisciplinary essays that each look at the way standard tropes of southern matriarchy are interpreted and challenged through literature, history, and the sciences. Like the program that inspired the book, each essay can be used as an invitation to engage in deeper conversations and research about southern matriarchy and its perceptions as a whole. This book is a compilation of curiosity and intrigue surrounding a societal structure that has influenced so many aspects of so many cultures across America—the Southern Matriarch.

About the editors:

Cheylon Woods is the Head and Archivist of the Ernest J. Gaines Center, which is located at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Mrs. Woods has actively worked to assist in the preservation of rural African American communities and the stories of the Matriarchs who worked tirelessly to hold those communities together.

Kiwana T. McClung is a Baton Rouge, Louisiana native, an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture & Design at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and faculty advisor to the UL chapter of NOMAS, the student organization for National Organization for Minority Architects (NOMA). Kiwana’s research concerns the socio-spatial intricacies of our increasingly globalized and multicultural societies and how they affect the built environment, architectural education, and the profession.

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.

WGS Book Club Presents: Conversation with the Authors of “Where is the Justice? Engaged Pedagogies in Schools & Communities”

By thomaspr on January 26, 2022 in Community Events, Events

Women’s & Gender Studies in partnership with the Sustainability Literacy Institute at CofC are hosting a virtual conversation with the authors of “Where is the Justice? Engaged Pedagogies in Schools & Communities” on Friday, Feb. 11th at 1PM. Zoom meeting ID and passcode are on the flyer. We look forward to you joining the discussion, and keep reading to learn more about the book!

From the publisher:

This inspirational book is about engaged pedagogies, an approach to teaching and learning that centers dialogue, listening, equity, and connection among stakeholders who understand the human and ecological cost of inequality. The authors share their story of working with students, teachers, teacher educators, families, community members, and union leaders to create transformative practices within and beyond public school classrooms. This collaborative work occurred within various spaces—including inside school buildings, libraries, churches, community gardens, and nonprofit organizations—and afforded opportunities to grapple with engaged pedagogies in times of political crisis. Featuring descriptions from a district-wide initiative, this book offers practical and theoretical resources for educators wanting to center justice in their work with students. Through question-posing, color images, empirical observations, and use of scholarly and practitioner-driven literature, readers will learn how to use these resources to reconfigure schools and classrooms as sites of engagement for equity, justice, and love.

Book Features:

Provides a sound approach to deeply taking up the work of justice and engaged pedagogies.
Presents linguistic, cultural, theoretical, and practical ideas that can be used and implemented immediately.
Includes reflective questions, found poetry, lesson ideas, storytelling as narrative, and examples of engaged pedagogies.
Shares stories from a district-wide initiative that embedded engaged pedagogies within classrooms, counseling offices, and libraries.
Showcases original artwork and images in full color by Grace D. Player, one of the coauthors.

About the authors:

Valerie Kinloch is the Renée and Richard Goldman Dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Education and president of the National Council of Teachers of English (2021–2022). Her books include Race, Justice, and Activism in Literacy Instruction. Emily A. Nemeth is an associate professor in the Department of Education at Denison University. Tamara T. Butler is executive director of Avery Research Center, College of Charleston. Grace D. Player is an assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Connecticut.

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