Women’s and Gender Studies at Wake Forest University
No. 36/Spring 2005 Anne Boyle, Director Linda Mecum, Editor 336/758-3758 wst@wfu.edu www.wfu.edu/academics/wgs
News & Notes News From the Director Anne Boyle
Approaching both the end of an academic year and the end of my term as Director of Women’s and Gender Studies, I want to take time to evaluate our recent activities, look forward to new directions, and thank all of those who have made these years exciting and productive. The last two and a half years have been largely dedicated to curriculum revision, our first program review, outreach to members of our own community, the welcoming of visiting scholars, and lots of internal re-organization. I thank the many faculty, students, and administrators who have joined together to strengthen and redefine our mission. Special thanks are due to Linda Mecum, whose grace and skillfulness keep us all afloat. In addition, I thank all who have helped navigate us through shifting waters and chart a new course for Women’s and Gender Studies. When our external review committee suggested that we establish a core WGS faculty, those involved in the program showed little surprise. Most affirming to me has been the realization that we do have a very active core of faculty—though we have not formalized their contributions—and a very active core of students. Both have worked to create and sustain an energetic, generous, open-minded, and scholarly atmosphere in which we value and support discussion, research, publication, collaboration, and just practices. We will miss, in future years, such core faculty members as Professor Teresa Ciabattari (Sociology) and Professor Evie Shockley (English) who will assume fine positions at Sonoma State and Rutgers respectively. And we will miss, as we always do, our graduating seniors who leave Director (Continued on page 2)
Reflections of Two Young Feminists Anjali Garg (’05) and Liz Lundeen (’07)
On March 4-5, 2005 we represented Wake Forest University at the Duke University Jean Fox O’Barr Symposium in Women’s Studies on Gender and Ethnic Conflict along with Dr. Evie Shockley (English). In a whirlwind day and a half, we listened to lectures from several influential feminist scholars speaking about various global conflicts which were analyzed through a gender lens. While listening to panelists and audience members debate the issue of gender consciousness, we could not help but reflect on our own thoughts about gender consciousness and our place within the current wave of feminism. As two young feminists who are struggling to find a balance between theory and practice, we found that many of the speakers curiously—and irritatingly—failed to address the necessity for such balance. Listening to highly educated activists and scholars speak about real conflicts from such a detached theoretical feminist perspective was both frustrating and off-putting for two students Reflections (Continued on page 4)
Upcoming Events April 7, 2005 Construction of Gender and Sexuality in Emily Dickinson’s Poetry Dr. Suzanne Juhasz, U.of Colorado, Boulder 4:00 p.m., DeTamble Auditorium (Tribble) April 9, 2005 Public Sector Career Day 12:00-4:00 p.m., Benson Center April 18, 2005 WGS Senior Colloquium 11:00-1:00 p.m., Autumn Room (Reynolda) Graduating minors will present their scholarly and community service contributions. May 15, 2005 WFU Honors and Awards Ceremony 2:00 p.m., Brendle Recital Hall WGS senior academic and leadership awards will be presented May 15, 2005 Women’s and Gender Studies Graduation Reception for Minors, Family, & Faculty 4:00 p.m., Tribble Hall Main Lobby June 9-12, 2005 National Women’s Studies Association 26th Annual Conference Orlando, Florida
Recent Events February 24, 2005 Voice and Inequality: The Transformation of American Civic Democracy Dr. Theda Skocpol, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology; Director, Center for American Political Studies, Harvard U. February 21, 2005 Inner-City African American Women’s Adolescence as Stressful Life Events Dr. Marlese Durr, Associate Professor of Sociology and Anthropology, Wright State March 1-2, 2005 Phyllis Trible Lecture Series: Miriam, Mary and Mary Magdalene in Art, Literature and Music Feminist Perspectives Phyllis Trible, Wake Forest U. Diane Apostolos-Cappadona, Georgetown U. Mary F. Foskett, Wake Forest U. Deirdre J. Good, General Theological Seminary, NYC
Director (Continued from page 1) Wake Forest to pursue careers in teaching, writing, and public service and to attend graduate school. As we wish these cohorts well, we must renew our commitments not only to continue our efforts to reach out to new members of the community, but also to work to improve our culture so we can retain and support those who choose to dedicate their energies to the life of the mind and the quality of life for all people. In light of this commitment, it may be helpful to review our recent accomplishments as we plan for the next years. Visiting Scholars This spring, the community continues to feel the intellectual reverberations of last fall’s visiting scholar, Prof. Wanda Balzano, who recently delivered a colloquium talk entitled “Abroad and at Home: The Question of the Foreigner in Kate O'Brien's ‘Mary Lavelle.’” The presentation, sponsored by the students of WISE (Women’s Initiative for Support and Empowerment), was followed by a reception and lively discussion among faculty and students. Prof. Balzano brought to us not only great expertise in gender theory, Irish literature written by women, and Irish film studies, but also an inspiring presence. We were all infected by her generous participation in the community; students appreciated her availability and the care with which she met or initiated so many interactions with them, and we all appreciated her knowledge, wit, munificence, and fine sense of humor. Next spring, we anticipate a visit by Rose Stremlau, who is currently completing her dissertation on Cherokee families at Chapel Hill under the directorship of historians Theda Perdue and Michael Green. An expert on gender violence and Native American studies, Stremlau presented her work, “Rape Narratives on the Northern Paiute Frontier: Sarah Winnemucca, Sexual Sovereignty, and Economic Autonomy” to an enthusiastic group of women’s and gender studies faculty and students in March. She plans to design courses in violence and in Native American studies and looks forward to team-teaching WGS 221, and coordinating a Native-American film series next spring. Program Review Our internal review committee, chaired by Helga Welsh, Associate Professor of Political Science, and our external reviewers, Patsy Schweickart, Professor of English and Women’s Studies at Purdue University, and Sharon Krefetz, Associate Professor of Government at Clark University, commended our program for exemplifying the values of a liberal arts university and for strengthening the curriculum and revitalizing our mission. Reviewers cited the recent innovations in our team-taught, core course, WGS 221, Introduction to Issues in Women’s and Gender Studies, as particularly noteworthy. Also noted were our highly motivated and intellectually engaged students, and the “number of dedicated, productive, and respected teacher-scholars” -2-
who teach cross-listed and core courses and serve on various WGS committees. Among the recommendations offered by the reviewers are the following: the establishment of a core faculty; the creation of line for a visiting faculty fellow, a graduate concentration or certificate, the attainment of divisional status for at least one WGS course, and continued discussion regarding the advisability of a major. Women’s Forum In conjunction with women faculty and administrators from the college and WFU’s professional schools, we have organized the Women’s Forum, a group of faculty and administrators whose mission is two fold: 1) to promote and sustain a healthy and stimulating working environment in which the contributions and needs of women are fully acknowledged and fully rewarded, and 2) to promote collegiality across all schools of the university. In part created to facilitate a healthy relationship between two goals that many of us share—the academic study of women and gender and our work toward social justice—the Women’s Forum is a crosscampus coalition of women dedicated to promoting an environment that fosters mutual respect and rewards collaboration; to supporting and fostering an environment that enhances cross-cultural awareness and protects the dignity of all women, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or physical ability; to demonstrating fairness, honesty, sincerity, and a commitment to consistent adherence to our mission, vision, and values; and to encouraging the open exchange of ideas and facilitating the growth and advancement of individuals. We have established working groups to research the following issues and are now advocating for specific changes in policies and practices: 1) more family friendly policies, including revised maternity, parental, and adoption leave policies and daycare, 2) women’s leadership at WFU, 3) professional development and networking, and 4) equity issues, such as discrimination and harassment. In fact, at our April 11th meeting, the working group on work-life balance will present a proposal for a revised parental leave policy for Reynolda campus faculty that is modeled on a policy adopted and administered by President-elect Hatch while he was the Provost of Notre Dame. We also will identify various options for a child care facility for the Reynolda Campus, and propose that Wake Forest University study and adopt a plan to provide greater flexibility in tenure-track careers, an idea recently endorsed in a report by the American Council on Education. For more information about the Women’s Forum, please contact Linda Mecum at 758-3758 or mecumlh@wfu.edu. Thus, we have accomplished much, and we are poised to face difficult challenges, but we will face new times with courage, intelligence, imagination, respect, and good will.
Faculty Congratulations Dr. Brook Davis (Theatre) and Ms. Sharon Andrews (Theatre) presented “Our Reality: The Story of Us and Them,” at the Mid-Atlantic Theatre Conference in Kansas City, Missouri, March 4, 2005. Davis and Andrews also jointly received the Teaching and Learning Center Innovative Teaching Award recently. Dr. Michaelle Browers (Political Science) presented “The Emergence and Submergence of Women in the Political Discourse of Arab Nationalists and Islamists” at the “Women's Activism and the Public Sphere: Local/Global Linkages Workshop” at the Mediterranean Social and Political Research Meeting, the European University Institute, Florence, March 16-20, 2005. Browers also presented “Theorizing Gender and its Absence in Arab Debates over Civil Society” at the Social Science Research Council and American University of Beirut Conference on Public Spheres in Beirut, Lebanon, October 22-24, 2004. Browers had two articles published: “The Secular Bias of Ideology Studies and the Problem of Islamism,” Journal of Political Ideologies 10:1 (February 2005), pp. 75-93, and “Shahrur’s Reformation,” Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques 30:3 (Fall 2004), pp. 445-67. Browers will be taking a group of students to Fez, Morocco, during the first summer session to engage in a cultural immersion experience and a study of language, gender, identity and socio-political change in that country. Dr. Michele Gillespie (History) had an article published: “Antebellum Southern Women’s History,” in Blackwell Companion volume on The Civil War and Reconstruction, edited by Lacy Ford , London and N.Y.: Blackwell, 2004; “The Politics of Race and Gender: Mary Musgrove and the Georgia Trustees," Reprinted from Clinton and Gillespie, eds. The Devil's Lane in Mary Beth Norton, Major Problems in American Women’s History, 3rd edition, Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Dr. Angela Hattery (Sociology) and Dr. Earl Smith (Sociology) presented “The Dirty Little Secret: Intimate Partner Violence in the African American Community,” January 28, 2005, Miami, Florida. Hattery and Smith developed and are teaching this semester a new First Year Seminar course, “Gender, Power and Violence in Four Institutions: Fraternities, the Military, Sports, and Prisons.” Dr. Mary DeShazer (English/WGS) is teaching in London this spring. She will return in the fall to teach WGS 221: Issues in Women’s and Gender Studies with Gary Ljungquist (Salem College), and WGS 377: U.S. Women Poets. Dr. Charles Richman (Psychology) will participate in a symposium, “American Jewish and Black Relations: Current and Past,” at the American Education Research Association in April 2005, Montreal, Canada. He will conduct a workshop, “Self-Defense for Women,” at the 13th Annual Congress on Women’s Health, June 2005, Hilton Head, SC. Richman wrote a book chapter for “Black and Jewish Americans: Myths or Facts (2005); in, Hughes, S. What We Still Don’t Know About Teaching Race. He has developed two new courses, “Contemporary Issues: Psychology and/or/versus Religion,” Spring 2005, and “American Jewish Experience,” Spring 2006. Mr. Shannon Gilreath (Law/Divinity) will teach a new special topics course this fall in WGS, Sexuality and the Law. Gilreath’s new book, Sexual Politics: The Gay Person in America Today, has been accepted for publication by University of Akron Press. It will appear in the fall of 2005.
News from and about our Minors Jenny Billings (’06) is Co-President of the English Student Alliance, Editor of Can I Poet With You, a literary magazine, an Old Gold and Black student newspaper columnist, and a member of College Republicans. A Dean’s List student each semester at WFU, Jenny is a Junior Achievement participant/leader, a teacher's assistant in two Winston-Salem Middle Schools, leader of 'Cover to Cover' book club for teens, and a mentor/volunteer at the Hand to Hand Resource Center. Since joining Weight Watchers in March of 2004, Jenny has lost over 110 pounds! Leighton Britton (’05) currently interns with the Development Director of AIDS Care Service, Inc., in Winston-Salem where she is gaining experience in grants writing, fundraising, and non-profit development. She plans to pursue a career in this field. Leighton is on the Dean's List and volunteers with Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Sarah Clore (’05) has applied to Teach for America after graduation. She would like to move to sunny California and do something both fun and meaningful with her life!! Heather Hobgood (’05) plans to attend UNC-Charlotte after graduation to obtain paralegal certification, and then work as a paralegal before going to law school. Sarah McArver (’05) will be attending Washington University, St. Louis, in the fall to pursue a masters degree in social work. Sarah was awarded a $20,000 scholarship for her two years of study. Kaycie Newbern (’05) is returning to Jackson Hole, WY, for a year after graduation. She then plans to go to law school. Anjali Garg (’05) will be working as a Fellow at the Office of Rural Health Policy in the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, DC, before attending graduate school on a merit-based Truman Scholarship for students who plan to pursue careers in government or public service. Meredith Gallaspy (’05) is a Dean’s List student and is completing an internship in the Domestic Violence Unit at Legal Services of North Carolina, Inc. Her plans are to move to Washington, DC, after graduation and work for a non-profit organization. -3-
WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES WELCOMES NEW MINORS! Nicole Fitzpatrick ‘07 Mary Scott Hardwick ‘07 Kristi Harshman ’07 Rachel Rich ’06 Rebecca Schwartz ‘06 Reflections (Continued from page 1)
passionate about Women’s and Gender Studies, but also politics. We vented our frustrations over lunch—reflecting on the reality of the human impact of the ethnic conflicts the women spoke about, and trying to figure out if we were really in the right field as students of Women’s and Gender Studies. We wondered if this was the future of feminism: all theory and no practice. We were so excited about the weekend and found ourselves frustrated and disappointed about the state of the discipline. We knew that we had learned a great deal from the speakers, but were concerned that we would leave being even more confused about where to find our place after graduation as young feminists determined to change the world. The answer to this dilemma came at the end of the conference with closing keynote speaker Cynthia Enloe of Clark University (an International Relations feminist scholar). We had become interested in Professor Enloe after reading selections from her various publications, and studying her works in our political science classes. We particularly admire her ability to apply her feminist thoughts and conclusions to current international and national events, rather than using a strictly theoretical approach to women’s studies. At the symposium, Professor Enloe lectured about the current global disarmament effort for small arms and its gender implications. Enloe epitomizes the definition of a public intellectual and situated her own work within the larger theme of the conference: gender and ethnic conflict. She put a human face on the theoretical and practical aspects of global disarmament and forced the audience to critically examine our own place not only within this movement, but gendered ethnic conflicts more generally. After Enloe spoke, we ran up to her like crazed fans and thanked her for her thoughts. We told her our frustrations over finding our place as more “second wave” feminists who are being swept away by the “third wave.” Enloe encouraged us to take our feminist leanings and infiltrate public life: that it is our generation who will have to find that balance between theory and practice. We left the symposium energized and reflective on the state of women’s studies, thinking about how we will leave our mark as the scholars who spoke with us did. News and Notes is published twice each year, fall and spring, to report on Women’s and Gender Studies developments. We welcome comments and suggestions from our readers at wst@wfu.edu
WGS and Crosslisted Courses Fall 2005 WGS 221
Issues in Women’s and Gender Studies (DeShazer/Ljungquist) WGS 310 Gender, Power, and Violence (Smith,E/Hattery) WGS 321 Seminar: Women and Reproduction (Smith,T) WGS 359 Fathers and Daughters (Nielsen) WGS 377A Sp. Tp.: U.S. Women Poets (Same as ENG 302A) (DeShazer) WGS 377B&C Sp. Tp.: Race, Class, and Gender in American History (Same as HST 310C&D) (Caron) WGS 377D Sp.Tp.: Sexuality and the Law (Gilreath) WGS 396 Independent Study WGS 397A Internships: Non-PREPARE (Nielsen) WGS 100A-H RAD: Rape and Aggression Defense for Women (Gerardy/Slater) AES 151 Race and Ethnic Diversity in America (Smith,E) COM 340 American Rhetorical Movements to 1900 (Zulick) ENG 340 Studies in Women and Literature (Boyle) HMN 290 Innovation and Inclusivity (Wiethaus) POL 277 Feminist Political Thought (Browers) PSY 265 Human Sexuality (Batten) PSY 364 Prejudice, Discrimination, Racism, and Heterosexism (Richman) REL 345 African-American Religious Experience (Cooper) REL 370 Women and Christianity (Swartzentruber) SOC 153 Contemporary Families (Staff) SOC 305 Gender in Society (Harris) SOC 337 Aging in Modern Society (Longino) For more about any of these courses—description/day/ time/location/—visit our website: www.wfu.edu/ academics/wgs
Non-Profit Organization US Postage PAID Winston-Salem, NC Permit No. 69
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