Friday, November 14 GENERAL CONFERENCE FRIDAY, NOV. 14
by various institutions within India and the diaspora. Since its inception as a nation-state, Sikhs have been minoritized and marginalized in India as a religious community. What this means for women within the communities and families will be the focus of this paper. If Sikh men are feminized, constructed and represented in media and literature as the Other and then bear the brunt of state-sponsored and Hindu fundamentalist violence, how, then, do these events impact Sikh women? Once we examine this question, we can then begin to examine the hidden and elided Sikh women’s stories in literature, films, poetry, or personal narrative. The examination will show a resistant and empowering presence of female narratives that struggle to arrive at the mainstage of Sikh identity politics.
160. Complicating the Past, Present, and Futures for Feminist Spaces in Higher Education 10:45am–12:00pm Sheraton San Cristobal MODERATOR
ww Cindy Vanzant, Wright State University
PARTICIPANTS
Rethinking the Historical Roots of Women’s Centers: Deans of Women, Continuing Education for Women (CEW), or Feminist Activism? ww Amber L. Vlasnik, Wright State University This paper explores and challenges the disparate origin stories for U.S. campus-based women’s centers. Most commonly linked with second-wave feminist activism in the 1960s and 1970s, this narrative minimizes the importance of deans of women and the continuing education for women movement as precursors and concurrent origins of women’s centers. It also relegates the origins of women’s centers to decades past, neglecting the complicated beginnings of more recently founded centers and centers founded at historically Black colleges and universities. This paper puts these multiple histories in conversation with each other to envision a more complicated and pluralistic origin story.
Harmless and Witty or Dangerous for Women? A Critical Examination of a Campus Ritual ww Julianne Weinzimmer, Wright State University Students at a Midwestern university have a ritual of naming their off-campus houses and displaying these names on house signs. Through a socio-feminist perspective, this paper analyzes the house signs as cultural texts on undergraduate gender and sexuality norms. The ostensibly humorous signs reinforce hegemonic masculinity and emphasized femininity; sexually objectify women; and promote a social scene of partying, drinking, and casual heterosexual sex—all associated with higher risk of women’s sexual assault—as standards for campus social belonging. This ritual may impede gender equality in higher education and should be critically reexamined by the campus community.
Exploring Alternative Spaces for Pursuing Social Justice in the Women’s Studies Classroom ww Hope Jennings, Wright State University ww Jennifer Marie Money, Wright State University Women’s studies classrooms aim to create feminist spaces on campus and in the curriculum through student centered
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2014 NWSA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
pedagogies and a commitment to effecting social change by helping students achieve multicultural competencies. Due to pressures within higher education, there has been an increased shift from traditional learning environments to virtual spaces where the instructor’s role often becomes less interactive and students’ direct contact with others from diverse backgrounds is lost. Through data collected from a year-long grant study, we explore how feminist educators might continue to create dynamic strategies for teaching social justice and diversity through emerging spaces and delivery methods.
161. Friday Poster Presentations 11:15am–12:45pm PRCC Third Floor Lobby PARTICIPANTS
“Are you my Mother?”: The Transnational Migration of Domestic Caregivers and its Role in Redefining Motherhood in the 21st Century ww Kemorine Reid, Independent Scholar Our project aims to provide an analysis of the transnational migration of women working in the domestic and caregiving sectors in the Global North and the complex identities that are created as a result of this system. This will be presented through examples of the female employer, migrant worker and her mother. By examining the current immigration policies on the status of migrant domestic workers in Canada and the United States as well as reviewing the work of feminists scholars such as Makeda Silvera we aim to present an intersectional analysis of their lived experiences.
“You are Not my Mother”—The Transnational Migration of Domestic Caregivers and its Role in Redefining Motherhood in the 21st Century ww Luisa Daniela Marin Platero, World University Service of Canada ww Kemorine Reid, Independent Scholar Our poster will present our analysis of the transnational migration of women working in the domestic and caregiving sectors in the Global North and the complex identities that are created as a result of this system. This will be presented through examples of the female employer, migrant worker and her mother. By examining the current immigration policies on the status of migrant domestic workers in Canada and the United States we aim to present an intersectional analysis of their lived experiences and the micro and macro forces at play.
Agency in Girlhood ww Polly Peters, Portland State University If we are to consider the future generation of feminist activists and scholars today’s girls, greater attention must be given to understanding contemporary girlhood. By meeting girls where they are, feminist discourses can validate experiences of girlhood, empowering girls throughout their youth and adolescence. With the objective to facilitate conversation and seek solutions in making feminism relevant and relatable to girls, this project will also center girls’ agency by providing examples of girls’ perspectives on feminism and engagement with activism. Positive change transcends the academy with the support of a feminist vision that recognizes and empowers girls throughout their girlhood.