Schedule

To access the recordings of this year’s keynote presentations, please scroll down to the event listing.

Watzek Library Special Collections and Archives Exhibit
Development & Deconstruction: Gender Identity in the Genre of Fantasy

Gender roles have been constructed and challenged in myths, folktales, and classical stories. More recently, contemporary writers explore their own personhood through literature and art. This is extended to radical underground critiques and counter-cultural representations of gender in modes such as zines and comics. This exhibition explores these ideas. On display on the top floor of Watzek Library. Curated by Katie Boutin ’24, McKenna Jones ’24, Alex Knutson ’23, Sascha Tappan ’25, and Burgin Utaski ’22. 

Wednesday, March 9

3–4 p.m., Gregg Pavilion
Poetry Reading by sage braziel, L&C ’24

7 p.m., Olin 301 and Zoom
Keynote Presentation
Holding On to Hope in Human Beings: Transformative Justice for Troubled Times
Kai Cheng Thom, expert practitioner in group facilitation and conflict resolution, and award-winning author of five books of poetry, fiction, and memoir, including Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars and I Hope We Choose Love

Welcoming remarks and introductions by GSS co-chairs Carley LaPlaca ’22 and Hazel McGraw ’22.

Current L&C students, faculty, and staff who wish to view the recording of this event should contact Professor Kim Brodkin at kbrodkin@lclark.edu.

Thursday, March 10

9:30–11 a.m., Watzek Library 245
Workshop: Writing Erotica
Facilitated by Irene Hilman, L&C ’25
Participation is limited to those who registered in advance. We are no longer accepting registrations. If you received an email notifying you that you are on the waiting list, we will contact you via email if space opens up.

10–11 a.m., Zoom
Conversation with keynote speaker Kai Cheng Thom
This event is restricted to current L&C students, faculty, and staff who registered in advance. Registration is now closed. If you received an email indicating that you are on the waiting list, we will contact you if any additional spaces open up.

11:30 a.m.–1 p.m., Albany Quadrangle, Smith Hall
Panel: Bodily Interpretations
Moderator: Rishona Zimring, L&C professor of English and director of gender studies
Lucas Leary, University of Puget Sound ’22, “Escaping the Captivity of Gender with Non-Human Avatars”
Sarah Leonard, L&C ’22, “Revelation of the Witch: Ausdruckstänze (Expressive Dance) and the Self-Reflection of Mary Wigman Through Hexentanz (Witch Dance), 1914, 1926, 1934” 
Addison King, L&C ’22, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the Monstrous Body”
Gabriel Huerta, L&C ’22, “The HIV/AIDS Epidemic and Sexual Dissidents: A Movement’s Welcome to Diana, Princess of Wales”

1:30–3 p.m., Albany Quadrangle, Smith Hall
Panel: Intimacy and Isolation
Moderator: Sepideh Bajracharya, L&C assistant professor of anthropology
Mei Bailey, L&C ’22, and Ashley O’Leary, L&C ’22, “Little Liberated Spaces: A Constellation of Care and Intimacy between Women Living Together”
Immanuel Harice, L&C ’22, “Existing within the Margins: Black Transamorous Men Search for Community”
Sydney Snyder, L&C ’22, “Compulsory Sexuality and the Erasure of Asexuality”

1:30–3 p.m., Gregg Pavilion
Performance: Musical Undoings: Breaking the Role
“Breaking the Role” is a musical theater concert that gives performers the chance to take on a role or song that they love, but would probably never be cast in, whether because of gender identity or expression, or a different vocal range or style. We want to share the songs we love in a new voice.
Coordinated by Cole Nakashima, L&C ’22.
Featuring L&C students Negasi Brown ’23, Emma Greene ’24, Elias Guerrero-Reach ’25, Sylvia Jane Krueger ’22, Mack Mae ’25, Cole Nakashima ’22, Ezri Reyes ’22, and Ben Stormer ’23.
Accompanied on piano by Katie Pfaff ’21.
Introductions by Katherine FitzGibbon, L&C professor of music and director of choral activities.

3:30–5 p.m., Albany Quadrangle, Smith Hall
Panel: Media and Culture
Moderator: Therese Augst, L&C associate professor of German studies
Carley LaPlaca, L&C ’22 and symposium co-chair, “Lesbians in the Limelight: The Cultural Implications of the Broadway Musical Fun Home”
Aldebaron Levin, L&C ’23, “The Sexuality of the Ass: The Evolution of the ‘The Donkey’ as Evidence of Cultural Trends Towards Censorship”
Kyle Serrott, doctoral student, American studies and culture, Washington State University, “Has the Future of Queer Arrived? Montero as Utopia”
Ashley O’Leary, L&C ’22, “‘Penetrating Nature’s Hiding Places’: Masculinist Scientific Ideals and the Subjugated Female Body in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” This presentation has been canceled.
Anna Campbell, L&C ’23, “Lesbian Camp as Seen in But I’m A Cheerleader”

 

3–6 p.m., Zoom
Art for Social Change Open Studio
Art for Social Change Open Studio meets weekly. These sessions support the work of the larger group, Art for Social Change. Open studio sessions explore social, racial, or political topics while creating art and having dialogue discussing the impact of these topics on our communities. Art in relationship transforms lives, builds community, examines social constructs, raises critical consciousness, and contributes to creating a more just society.
Sessions are free and open to the public. No prior art experience is necessary.

7 p.m., Agnes Flanagan Chapel
Keynote Event 
Fantasy and Sex Work
Moderator: Magalí Rabasa, L&C associate professor of Hispanic studies
Cat, Haymarket Pole Collective
Kat and Saiya, PDX Sex Workers Resource Project
Matilda, Stroll PDX

Welcoming remarks and introductions by GSS co-chairs Iyanah Fuller ’22 and Carley LaPlaca ’22.

Captions will soon be added to this video.

Friday, March 11

9:30–11 a.m., Albany Quadrangle, Smith Hall
Panel: Patriarchy, Security, and the State
Moderator: Andrea Hibbard, L&C assistant professor with term of English
Ben Warner, L&C ’22, “Renegotiations of Gender: Propaganda and Public Discourse in Britain, 1914-1916”
Sang-hyoun Pahk, assistant professor of sociology, Pacific University, “Local Food and the Fantasy of the (White) Family Farm”
Dharmakrishna Mirza, graduate student, women, gender and sexuality studies and ethnic studies, Oregon State University, “Untouchable Masculinities: Interrogating Colonial Constructions of Dalit Masculinity”
Amelia Madarang, L&C ’22, “Fighting Food Insecurity: A Systematic Review of WIC”

We regret that this event has been canceled.
11:30 a.m.–12:15 p.m., Gregg Pavilion
Reading and Discussion: Bittersweet Tangerine
Zack Robie, Pacific University ’23
Inspired by personal experience, “Bittersweet Tangerine” is a fictional story about social constructs of virginity through a queer lens. Please note that this story addresses sexual assault and other traumatic events in its discussion of intimacy, fantasy, gender exploration, love, and healing.

11:30 a.m.–1 p.m., Albany Quadrangle, Smith Hall
Roundtable: Transforming Futures: Fantastical World Making as Resistance and Healing
Mateo Rosales Fertig, Libia Marqueza Castro, emerson l.r. barrett, and aman agah, doctoral students in women, gender, and sexuality studies, Oregon State University
This roundtable will discuss ways in which fantasy serves as a tool for constructing imaginative and radical worlds. We invite a conversation to think about fantasy as a form of rest and resistance, specifically in healing the communities we come from.

1:30–3 p.m., Albany Quadrangle, Smith Hall
Roundtable: Imaginative Practice // Technological Desire: Liberatory Imaginings in Art, Technology, and Gender Abolition
Presenters will reflect on theory, technology, and artistic practice in fantasizing about justice-based and speculative futures. Among the questions they will consider are how ideas of queer futurity and gender abolition manifest in artistic practice, how technology may advance and hinder our cultural imaginations, and what may be the foundations of a revolutionary education.  
Angélica Becerra, postdoctoral research associate in digital technology and culture, Washington State University
June T. Sanders, assistant professor, Washington State University
Eman Ahmed, Washington State University ’22
Colin Finch, undergrad student, Washington State University

1:45–2:45 p.m., Fir Acres Black Box Theatre
Workshop: Rejecting the ‘Just Kiss’ Narrative: Creating a Foundation for Intimacy on the Collegiate Stage
Facilitated by Haley Wildhirt, L&C ’22
Imagine your boss telling you to “just kiss” a coworker––no context, no support, just kiss. It would undoubtedly be uncomfortable and could easily turn into a negative experience for everyone involved. Yet the “just kiss” moment is what actors experience on a regular basis when they are asked to stage intimacy. This workshop will unpack why the current methods for staging intimacy are harmful and will give attendees a glimpse into the expanding field of intimacy direction. Please note that this workshop will include brief mentions of sexual assault and fictional sexual violence.
Participation is limited to those who registered in advance. We are no longer accepting registrations. If you received an email notifying you that you are on the waiting list, we will contact you via email if space opens up.

3:30–5 p.m., Albany Quadrangle, Smith Hall
Roundtable: Intimacies of Our Bodies’ Gender Stories
Carina Buzo Tipton, Mateo Fertig, Christopher Hughbanks, Souksavanh Keovorabouth, Sharadha Kalyanam, and Wiliama Sanchez, doctoral students in women, gender, and sexuality studies, Oregon State University
Presenters will share stories of the body as a site of cultural gender world-making and decolonial and anticolonial resistance, exploring what it means to redefine or reclaim “fantasy” in resistance to dominant western, colonial framings.

7 p.m., Agnes Flanagan Chapel
Keynote Presentation
Reimagining Bodyminds and Liberation in Pandemic Times
Sami Schalk, associate professor of gender and women’s studies at University of Wisconsin-Madison whose interdisciplinary research focuses on disability, race, and gender in contemporary American culture, especially speculative fiction and Black literature

Welcoming remarks and introductions by GSS co-chairs Iyanah Fuller ’22 and Hazel McGraw ’22.

Captions will soon be added to this video.