Dr. Greta LaFleur on Wednesday, February 19

On Wednesday, February 19 at 5:30 pm in Falvey 205 Dr. Greta LaFleur of Yale University will give a talk titled, "Beyond the Natural: Engineering Sexual Diversity in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century North America." The event is sponsored by the English Department and Program in Gender and Women's Studies.

 

Alice Dunbar-Nelson Pride Day --April 11, 6 pm online!

 Honor author and activist, Alice Dunbar-Nelson, through a round table discussing Dunbar-Nelson as a queer Black woman and the challenges of recovering Black LGBTQ+ History! Featuring English major Kashae Garland, Dr. Brigette Fielder, Denise Burgher and English professor Dr. Jean Lutes.

 

Today, 5:30 pm Idea Accelerator Lab: “Twice Militant: Women’s Intersectional Anger from the 1381 Uprising to #SayHerName”

Tonight Dr. Carissa Harris will give a lecture in the Esmonde Colloquium Series that draws connections between the women's anger that allegedly sparked the 1381 Uprising, according to medieval and early modern chronicle accounts and collective anger at police violence against Black women more recently.

Patricia Carbine, Founder of Ms Magazine, Speaks to Villanova Students

On Monday, March 10, students in GWS and English had the chance to meet with one of the founders of Ms. magazine, Patricia Carbine (pictured below with co-founder Gloria Steinem), who urged us students on in their fight for gender equity: "I salute all of you, and I envy all of you, and the thing that I want to say last is I am counting on you."

Senior English major Charlie Gill wrote about this exciting event here.

Dr. Jean Lutes to Speak at New-York Historical Society's Annual Max Conference on Women's History

On Friday, March 19, Dr. Jean Lutes will be part of a panel titled "The Women's Pages: A Hard Look at Soft News," sponsored by the New-York Historical Society's annual Max Conference on Women's History. This year's conference theme is "Breaking News, Breaking Barriers: Women in American Journalism." 

The panel, which is free and open to the public, starts at 1.00pm and will be held virtually on Zoom. It will also be recorded and made available to the public shortly after.

Visit here more information and to register for the Zoom link.

A Conversation with Dr. Travis Foster: Genre and White Supremacy in the Postemancipation United States - February 8

On Monday, February 8, Villanova English professor Dr. Travis Foster will join Dr. Lara Langer Cohen (Swarthmore College) and Dr. Edlie Wong (University of Maryland) for a conversation about his recently published book Genre and White Supremacy in the Postemancipation United States. The event starts at 7.30pm. Please register here to receive the Zoom link.

Register for Annual Luckow Family Lecture: Rob Nixon, October 27

Please join Villanova English this month for the department's annual Luckow Family Lecture. Rob Nixon, Barron Family Professor of Humanities and Environment at Princeton University, will be joining us by Zoom on Tuesday, October 27 at 5.30pm, to present a talk, "The Less Selfish Gene: Forest Altrusim, Neoliberalism, and the Tree of Life." 

Please register here to receive the Zoom link for the event.

Masculinities Symposium - January 31

Villanova faculty, graduate and undergraduate students are invited to a one-day symposium on "Masculinities" on Friday, January 31. The event will take place at the Inn at Villanova, starting at 8.30am. Speakers include Villanova English faculty Dr. Travis Foster and Dr. Jean Lutes.

Visit here to pre-register for the symposium.

For the program and other information, please contact kelly-anne.diamond@villanova.edu.

Call for Papers: Gender and Women's Studies Student Research Conference - April 3, 2020

The 31st Annual Gender & Women’s Studies Student Research Conference is on Friday, April 3, 2020. It is an exciting opportunity to showcase your work, discuss your interests with students and faculty from Villanova and other area universities, and see the broad range of intellectual disciplines encompassed by Gender and Women’s Studies. Essays and creative work must engage gender, sexuality, or feminist theories. All papers must have been written during Spring or Fall 2019 or written specifically for the conference. Papers submitted for the conference may also be eligible to win one of three cash prizes.

Paper Eligibility, Submission Guidelines, and Prizes information:

http://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/artsci/gws/ecs_conference/papers.html

Submission Deadline: Friday, February 7, 2020

Conference presented by Villanova's Gender & Women's Studies Program and The Greater Philadelphia Women's Studies Consortium. Questions? Email gws@villanova.edu. 

English Majors honoured for their essays at Gender and Women's Conference

Congratulations to Senior English major Corina Scott, who won the award for the best undergraduate paper at this year's Gender and Women's Studies Conference!

Corina's paper, "Violence and the Mechanism of Testing," was written for a class she took with Dr. Alice Dailey, who said: "Corina studies how in three texts—Chaucer’s The Clerk’s Tale and Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice and Pericles— male characters invent testing plots to exert control over their wives and daughters.

"These include the test by which Chaucer’s Griselde proves her patience and obedience by surrendering her children up to her sadistic husband; in The Merchant of Venice, the test by which Portia’s suitors are emasculated, dismissed, or rewarded according to her dead father’s will; and in Pericles, the pseudo-test by which men seeking to marry the princess of Antioch end up losing their heads, whether they pass or fail, so that her father can continue his incestuous abuse of his daughter.

"Corina argues that in this literature, the test is a mechanism for “mystifying” violence, by which she means that the test plots cover up aggression against women or other men, and instead re-present that aggression as a seemingly benign game, riddle, or challenge.

"In her meticulous, nuanced analysis of the test plots, her work uncovers the troubling way women characters are made to function as “mediums” through whom toxic masculinity is “exercised and performed.” Corina’s essay exemplifies the astute, penetrating, beautifully written analysis that has characterized her work throughout her time at Villanova." 

For the first time ever, the judges this year picked a second paper for an honorable mention, Gracie Stagliano's "For the Love of Light Skin: The Dangerous Mulatta in Chester Himes' A Rage in Harlem and Walter Mosley's Devil in a Blue Dress," which she wrote while serving as a teaching assistant for Dr. Jean Lutes's class, "Crime Fiction and Gender."

Dr Lutes said: "Gracie's paper examines a figure she calls “the dangerous mulatta” -- a figure that repudiates racist representations of mixed-race heroines by offering an alternative vision, a female character who refuses to be tragic.

"Gracie’s paper is especially impressive because of its nuanced analysis of whiteness, or relative proximity to whiteness, as a tremendous asset when operating in a racist system.

"She makes an instructive comparison between the mixed-race women featured in these two very different crime novels, and she calls attention not only to the racial and moral ambiguities these characters embody, but also to the oppression of the patriarchal legal world they inhabit and resist."

National Young Feminist Leadership Conference - March 9-11

The National Young Feminist Leadership Conference is inviting students from Villanova to participate in its annual conference next month. The three-day summit brings together hundreds of students and young feminist activists from across the country. At the conference, participants discuss critical feminist issues such as anti-violence work, abortion access, racial justice, immigrant rights, queer liberation, health justice and more. NYFLC also aims to be an activist training that teaches students skills and organizing strategies as well. The panels vary from detailed discussions on specific policies, to conversations on the organizing tactics behind specific wins, to strategies of resistance, such as storytelling.

On top of panels, we also host hands-on trainings (such as how to communicate with the media, how to plan an action, etc.), identity caucuses, Town Halls, and plenaries. At the conference, there is an Action Room, where students can engage in direct actions and gather to meet one another and build community as well. And, on the third and last day, we host a Congressional Advocacy Day, where students are first trained on how to effectively hold their elected officials accountable and then engage in lobbying on the Hill.

The 15th annual NYFLC conference will be held from March 9-11, right outside of Washington DC.

If four or more Villanova students register, NYFLC is offering groups a specific discount code making the cost of registration $45 per person. This includes the cost of attendance, breakfast all three days of the conference, as well as snacks throughout, and lunch on Congressional Visit Day. You can register for the conference and book hotel rooms here using the group discount code Villanova2019.

Students can also apply to speak on a panel at the conference. Those chosen will receive free registration, be featured in our program, and may be able to acquire financial support from Villanova as a result.

2019 Gender and Women's Studies Research Conference - Call for Papers

The 30th Annual Gender & Women’s Studies Student Research Conference will be on Friday, April 5, 2019. It is an exciting opportunity to showcase your work, discuss your interests with students and faculty from Villanova and other area universities, and see the broad range of intellectual disciplines encompassed by Gender and Women’s Studies. Essays and creative work must engage gender, sexuality, or feminist theories. All papers must have been written during Spring or Fall 2018 or written specifically for the conference.

Every spring, the Gender and Women’s Studies program organizes the Gender and Women's Studies Student Research Conference to highlight and celebrate gender focused work produced by students from across the university during the previous year. Undergraduate and graduate students present their work on panels or through performance. The afternoon culminates with a keynote address by a nationally recognized scholar or performer. The conference is free and open to the public. 

Paper Eligibility and Submission Guidelines:

http://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/artsci/gws/ecs_conference/papers.html

Submission Deadline: Friday, February 8, 2019

Conference presented by Villanova's Gender & Women's Studies Program and The Greater Philadelphia Women's Studies Consortium. 

Questions? Email gws@villanova.edu

GWS Student Research Conference: Call for Papers

GWS Conference: Call for Papers

GWS Student Research Conference

Every spring, the Gender and Women’s Studies program organizes the Gender and Women's Studies Student Research Conference to highlight and celebrate gender focused work produced by students from across the university during the previous year. Undergraduate and graduate students present their work on panels or through performance.

Congratulations to all our English majors who participated in this year's stimulating conference!

Particular congratulation to essay prize winners Laura Tscherry (best graduate paper) and Steve Purcell (best undergraduate paper)!

Laura Tscherry, Prof. Megan Quigley, Steve Purcell

Valerie Steele: Chanel and Her Rivals

Mani Pedi: A Sketch Comedy Show

Let the merry melodies of the darling dystopian sisters guide you through the end of the world. A sketch show from Philadelphia's all gal comedy team, Mani Pedi. It's the apocalypse and it's a swell time. Mani Pedi has performed in festivals all over the country as well as to sold-out shows in Philadelphia.

There will be PIZZA before the show and an opportunity for students to learn more about the GWS program!

VU Women in Tech Conference

Register and find more info about schedule/speakers here.

Jessica Lynn's Transgender Journey

Gender Dynamics and Disruption in the 2016 Elections

Dr. Kelly Dittmar, Rutgers University, Camden
Wednesday, October 26 at 6pm
Connolly Cinema
Approved ACS Cultural Event
Co-sponsored by Gender and Women's Studies and Political Science

How have candidates – women and men alike – navigated the gendered terrain of politics in 2016, particularly at the presidential level? Have they disrupted gender expectations, or adhered to traditional rules of the game? And how have voters and media responded? Dr. Dittmar will discuss these questions in evaluating the ways in which gender has influenced candidate strategy and media coverage, as well as gender differences in voter preferences, priorities, and behavior in the 2016 presidential election. Included in this discussion will be recognition of the gender dynamics at play in Pennsylvania’s US Senate race, where a woman is competing to be the first woman senator from the commonwealth, and other down-ballot contests.