Gender Studies Symposium Schedule
39th Annual Gender Studies Symposium
Tensions of Possibility
March 11-13, 2020
All symposium lectures, workshops, performances, and panel discussions are free and open to the public. No registration is required.
Watzek Library Displays
Visions of Suffrage: Approaches to Women’s Suffrage in Oregon, 1890-1920
In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of suffrage, this exhibit looks back at the history of Oregon, where women secured the vote in 1912. Located on the top floor of Watzek, “Visions of Suffrage” examines the efforts of three different women, each vital to the fight for suffrage in Oregon: Abigail Scott Duniway, Esther Pohl Lovejoy, and Harriet “Hattie” Redmond. Through documents and photographs of and about these women, the exhibit demonstrates the diversity of tactics, philosophies, and organizations that ultimately made Oregon one of the first states with universal suffrage.
Curated by L&C students Bryan Miller ’20 and Ben Warner ’22.
This exhibit will remain on display on the top floor of Watzek Library through the end of the spring semester.
Wednesday, March 11
11:30 a.m. –1 p.m., Council Chamber
Liberation Movements and Activist Politics
Moderator: Reiko Hillyer, L&C associate professor of history
Vidya Ann Jacob, visiting research scholar, L&C Law, “Climate Change and Gender Inequality: A Way Forward”
Chasia Elzina Jeffries, University of Southern California ’21, “They’ll Only Stop Killin’ Us, If You Say Please: The Role of #BlackLivesMatter, Black Twitter, and Flint, Michigan in Modern Day Respectability Projects” ** This individual presentation has been rescheduled to “Power and Memory” on Thursday from 3:30–5 p.m.**
Nina Kranzdorf, University of Puget Sound ’19, “A More Expansive Definition of We: Israeli Pinkwashing as Propaganda and Queer Liberation as Solidarity with Palestine” (This presenter has withdrawn from the symposium.)
Match Kay, L&C ’20, “Protecting Mother Earth: Masculinities in Ecoterrorism”
11:30 a.m.–1 p.m., Thayer
Workshop: Lookin’ For Love: Sex and Intimacy in Fat, Broken, and Non-normative Bodies
A conversation about fatness, disability, gender, and sexuality.
Facilitated by Kelsey Hamilton Davis, L&C ’14, graduate student at Pacific Northwest College of Art, and Marie Conner, Pacific Northwest College of Art MFA ’19
1:45–3:15 p.m., Council Chamber
Justice, Law, and Freedom
Moderator: Sarah Warren, L&C associate professor of sociology
Hanna White, L&C ’14, graduate student in library science, University of Washington, “The Equal Rights Amendment in the 21st Century: Ratification Issues and Intersectional Effects”
Michaela Park, Reed College ’20, “Feminist Topographies: The Politics of #MeToo and Feminist Political Terrains”
Altana Elings-Haynie, Reed College ’20, “The Politics of the Present: Gender, Neoliberalism, and the Law”
Charlotte Powers, L&C ’21, “Limits of Legality: New Zealand’s ‘Legalization’ of Abortion and the Prolonged Fight for Freedom”
1:45–3:15 p.m., Gregg Pavilion
Scandalous Women
Moderator: Andrea Hibbard, L&C assistant professor with term of English
Samantha Mueller, L&C ’21, “Creature and Creator: An Exploration of the Life of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley”
Mia Garrelts, L&C ’22, “Euphemia Gray and John Ruskin: A Story of Separate Spheres and Scandal”
Sydney Snyder, L&C ’22, “The Scandal of Olive Thomas”
Madisyn Taylor, L&C ’21, “Rihanna as the ‘Strong Black Woman’: Analyzing Rihanna’s Decisions Following the Chris Brown Assault”
3:30–5 p.m., Council Chamber
Film screening with discussion: Trans Dudes with Lady Cancer
With filmmakers Yee Won Chong and Brooks Nelson
7 p.m., Templeton Campus Center, Council Chamber
Keynote Presentation
After All: On Dereliction and Destitution
“For so long we have proposed considering the politics of this or the politics of that – the politics of transgender, the politics of sex, the politics of performance, the politics of resistance – what if politics itself, as a concept and a framework is not the solution but the problem. In other words, what if this need to legitimate everything via the political as we currently understand politics (activities associated with governance) is part of the problem in that it leads to certain kinds of projects and it disallows others – the propulsive projects that engage making, doing, being, building, becoming, knowing, declaring, proposing, dealing, moving and so on. The version of the political which I have just outlined comes complete with its own model of time and temporality: we are committed, within the logic of “just do it,” to a version of the future that breaks with the past completely, moves in a determined fashion in a forward direction and already knows what kind of future awaits. This is the version of a temporal politics that new work I am doing on queer utopian projects from the 1970’s breaks with, offering instead to go back in order to find alternative futures nested in past dreams. The projects I will survey today from a queer, pre-digital, punk world of 1970’s New York City, thrive in a critical utopian space that demands not simply a new world, but a complete and utter dismantling of this world, the here and now. For this reason, using concepts like “dereliction” and “destitution,” I will think about a temporality that resists making, being, doing and invests instead in unmaking, unbuilding and divesting. If capitalism demands acquisition and amplification, the anarchitectural projects surveyed here offer minimalist structures, collapse, nothing and dis-appearance.”
Jack Halberstam, professor of gender studies and English, Columbia University
Welcoming remarks and introductions by GSS co-chairs India Roper-Moyes ’20, Rayce Samuelson ’20, and Sharon Soffer ’20.
Thursday, March 12
9:30–11 a.m., Stamm
“Be Yourself”: A Look at Expression of Gender and Identity in a DID System
Moderator: Gemini Galaxy, University of Puget Sound ’21
Gemini Galaxy, University of Puget Sound ’21
Shane Bailey, University of Puget Sound ’21
Elizabeth Lotte, University of Puget Sound ’21
Skylar Bastedo, St. Martin’s University ’21
9:30–11 a.m., Council Chamber
“Possibilities For Growth”: Engaging with Feminist Anti-Violence Work
Moderator: Melissa Osmond, L&C associate director for health promotion
Samuel Z Shelton, PhD student, Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Oregon State University, “Integrating Crip and Disability Justice into Feminist Anti-Violence Education”
Jessica Riaño, Reed College ’20, “Social Change or Social Service? Feminist Possibilities in Contemporary Domestic Violence Work”
Kyle Beck, L&C ’20, “Investigating Survivors’ Experience with the Lewis & Clark Sexual Misconduct Policy”
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE FOLLOWING TWO PANELS HAVE BEEN COMBINED AND WILL TAKE PLACE IN COUNCIL CHAMBER.
11:30 a.m.–1 p.m., Stamm Council Chamber
What’s in a Label?
Moderator: Therese Augst, L&C associate professor of German
Krista Anara Cibis, graduate student, Pacific Northwest College of Art, “Branded: A Taxonomy of Clothing Labels”
Amaris Moon Bouchard, L&C ’20, “The Limits and Possibilities of Language”
11:30 a.m.–1 p.m., Council Chamber
In Search of a Queer Utopia
Melissa Powers, graduate student, University of Florida, “Looking for Alien Futures in The Xenofeminist Manifesto: Xenofeminism as a Queer Utopian Politics”
Tess Olsson, Pacific Lutheran University ’20, “Exploring Unthinkable Politics through the Web Series Carmilla”
Elan Bowman, University of Puget Sound ’20, “Online Role Playing as Queer Utopia? Gender Exploration and Affirmation in a Virtual Social Space” (This presenter has withdrawn from the symposium.)
1:45–3:15 p.m., Council Chamber
On Screen: Representations of Gender and Sexuality
Moderator: Rishona Zimring, L&C professor of English
Sage Walters, L&C ’18, “Freaks: Disabled Bodies in Horror Media”
Sami Sloan, University of Puget Sound ’20, “‘Not only for love, not only for money, but for the queer community’: MTV’s Are You The One and the Politics of Queer Representation on Reality Television” (This presenter has withdrawn from the symposium.)
Io Blanchett, Reed College ’20, “Filmic Feminisms: Confronting Essentialism in Varda’s Vagabond”
1:45–3:15 p.m., Gregg Pavilion
Workshop: The Possibilities of Building Your Own Feminist Killjoy Survival Kit
Facilitated by Emma L. Larkins, Kylie Nicole Gemmell, Quincy Meyers, Sharadha Kalyanam, and Souksavanh Keovorabouth, PhD students in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Oregon State University This workshop has been canceled.
1:45–3:15 p.m., Thayer
Workshop: Intimacy as a Path of LGBTQ Liberation
Facilitated by Keely C. Helmick, L&C GSEC ’07 and licensed professional counselor, and Paige Matthews, licensed professional counselor intern
This workshop imagines ways for queer and trans folks to use their relationships not only as a place for healing but as a tool for personal and collective liberation.
3:30–5 p.m., Council ChamberRoundtable: Gender Anarchy: (Re)imagining Dis/Utopia, Intimacy, Selfhood, and the Body
With Julia Hall, Evža K. Anderson, Emerson L.R. Barrett, and Mateo Rosales Fertig, PhD students in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Oregon State University
This panel has been canceled.
3:30–5 p.m., Stamm
Power and Memory
Moderator: Oren Kosansky, L&C associate professor of anthropology
Becky Alley, Bolivar Art Gallery Director at University of Kentucky, “Embodied Data: Materializing Statistics as Feminist Gesture”
Olivia Babcock, University of Puget Sound ’22, “Reexamining the Epic of Sundiata: Gender and Power Dynamics in the Mali Empire” (This presenter has withdrawn from the symposium.)
Jamie Strickler, L&C ’20 and former GSS chair, “Western Feminism, a Tool for Colonialism: Cross-Cultural Justices in the Middle East and North African Region”
Chasia Elzina Jeffries, University of Southern California ’21, “They’ll Only Stop Killin’ Us, If You Say Please: The Role of #BlackLivesMatter, Black Twitter, and Flint, Michigan in Modern Day Respectability Projects” [rescheduled from “Liberation Movements and Activist Politics” on Wednesday]
7 p.m., Templeton Campus Center, Council Chamber
Keynote Presentation
Radical Disruptors: What We Can Learn From Queer Women of Color
Feminista Jones, writer, retired social worker, and community activist
Welcoming remarks and introductions by GSS co-chairs India Roper-Moyes ’20, Rayce Samuelson ’20, and Sharon Soffer ’20.
Friday, March 13
*** DUE TO COVID-19, ALL SYMPOSIUM EVENTS FOR FRIDAY, MARCH 13 HAVE BEEN CANCELED.***
9:30–11 a.m., Stamm
Identificatory Tensions: Existing Outside of Gender, Sexuality, or Race?
Moderator: Kim Cameron-Domínguez, L&C assistant professor of anthropology
Robert Gallagher, Pacific Lutheran University ’20, “Valued Categories: Race, Gender, and Sexuality as Modes of Regulation”
Katelyn Smitley, Pacific Lutheran University ’20, “Nowhere to Hide: Identity as Social Ascription”
Madi Foster, Pacific Lutheran University ’20, “No Strangers: The Inevitability of Identity”
9:30–11 a.m., Council Chamber
Assumptions and Representations
Moderator: Magalí Rabasa, L&C assistant professor of Hispanic studies
Emma Catanzaro, University of Puget Sound ’20, “A Truly Queer Cast: LGBT+ Actors’ Perceptions of Implicit and Explicit Bias in Theatre Casting” (This presenter has withdrawn from the symposium.)
Charlotte Strange, Wesleyan University ’19, “FUTURESEX/LOVESOUNDS: Queer Noise and the Sounds of Pornographic Representation”
Bronte Segura, University of Puget Sound ’20, “Exploring the Limits and Possibilities for Asexual Expression in BDSM Practice” (This presenter has withdrawn from the symposium.)
Phoenix Bruner, L&C ’21, “The Flapper Turns 100: A Comparative Analysis of Flappers and Present-Day Androgynous Women”
11:30 a.m.–1 p.m., Council Chamber
Conditions of Access: Identities and Health Care
Moderator: Deborah Heath, L&C associate professor of anthropology and director of gender studies
Luca Sax, L&C ’22, “The Intersection of Transgender Identities and Socioeconomic Status in Medical Emergencies”
Kat Wise-Carter, L&C ’20, “Queer Mental Health”
Hayley Williams and Jesse Allen, graduate students, DePaul University, “Success Not Counted Sweetest: Reimagining Disability Justice in the Neoliberal University”
Shelby Rockelein, L&C ’19, “Death Doulas: The Cultural Reclamation of Dying”
1:45–3:15 p.m., Stamm
At Home: (Re)Placing the Family
Moderator: Daena Goldsmith, L&C associate dean of faculty development and professor of rhetoric and media studies
Jacey de la Torre, Reed College ’20, “Apollo 11”
Miriam Wojtas, graduate student, University of Washington, “Grandma’s Racist Cake: Reading Racist Discourses in Traditional Polish Foodways”
Victoria Wagner Woods, Reed College ’20, “A Hegelian Critique of Gender in Elements of the Philosophy of Right”
Kendall Arlasky, L&C ’21, “Captive Domesticity: Gender, the Home, and Escape in Marina Carr’s Portia Coughlan and John Millington Synge’s The Shadow of the Glen”
1:45–3:15 p.m., Council Chamber
From the Archives: Creating and Revisiting Narratives
Moderator: Zachariah Selley, L&C associate head of special collections and college archivist
Shir Bach, Reed College ’21, “Trans Surgery in Portland, 1965-2003”
Megan Lallier-Barron, curator of Oregon State Hospital Museum of Mental Health, and Theresa E. Rea, archivist, Oregon State Archives, “Privacy in Public Records: How Reactions on Social Media Affected How We Think About Potentially Sensitive History”
Odhan Mullen, University of Puget Sound ’20, “Challenging Cistory: Trans Oral History as a Method of Social Change”
3:30–5 p.m., Council Chamber
No More Stolen Sisters: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW)
Presented by Katie McDonald, Mary Bodine, Corrina Ikakoula, Caroline Rouwalk, Jade Unger, and Siena Lopez-Johnson, members of Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) American Indian Alaska Native Employee Council
This panel is co-sponsored by L&C ethnic studies program.
We regret that this session has been canceled.
7:30 p.m., Fir Acres Theatre
Keynote Event
Marie Antoinette
Directed by Rebecca Lingafelter, L&C associate professor of theatre
* Tickets are required for this event. Symposium participants are eligible for free tickets to the performance on Friday, March 13. Obtain free tickets here with code GSS20.
Marie Antoinette by David Adjmi is a riotous and sharply written play about the monstrous things people do in gilded cages. The play employs historical fact as well as the cultural mythology of Marie Antoinette to paint the portrait of a woman who is both elevated and held captive by her gender, circumstance and historic moment. The play re-imagines the possibilities present for the Queen of France as she navigates her personal pleasure, her family’s peril and her larger political and social responsibilities. The Lewis & Clark Theatre Department production will draw out resonances with our current time, highlighting our complicity in perpetuating a culture that puts celebrities, and women in particular, onto pedestals defined by beauty, fashion and sexuality. The production will also explore the rumblings of revolution that are just underneath the surface of our attempt to be picture perfect, and the violent repercussions of ignoring the suffering of many for the pleasure and comfort of a few.
Please join us for a post-show conversation with director Rebecca Lingafelter, GSS co-chair India Roper-Moyes, Associate Professor of French Isabelle DeMarte, and Professor of English Rishona Zimring. Light refreshments will be served. Let us eat cake!