June Baker Higgins Gender Studies Conference 2007

GENDER AND WAR

April 13, 2007

Bellin, Student Center

Keynote Speaker @12:30 pm: Jasbir Puar (Rutgers University)

“Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times”

Jasbir Puar is a core faculty member of the department of Women’s and Gender Studies at Rutgers University. Her diverse and influential work on queer diasporas, globalization, transnational feminisms, queer biopolitics, race and sexuality, and discourses of counter/terrorism has appeared in many publications.

Film Screening and Discussion @11:00 am: Amy Costello (PBS reporter)

“PBS Frontline:  Sudan: The Quick and the Terrible”

The Conference is free and open to the public.

Lunch and snacks are free of charge

No pre-registration is required. If you are in a college or university nearby, your students are welcome, but please let us know whether you will be bringing entire classes or larger groups so we can order enough food.

Sponsored by CCSU’s Women, Gender and Sexuality Program, Ruth Boyea Women’s Center, the Committee on the Concerns of Women and Student Activities.

For more information, contact the co-coordinators of the Women, Gender and Sexuality program (WGSS): Dr. Katherine Hermes 860-832-2818 or Dr. Karen Ritzenhoff 860-832-2692.

Full Program

8:45-9:15                     Breakfast and Registration (Bellin) 

9:15-10:45                   Panel Session I: Women, War and History (Bellin)

                                   Moderator: Heather Prescott (CCSU, History)

                                   Jen Purcell (United Kingdom): “’Why Must We So Frequently
                                   Save the King?’: British Housewives and the Nation in the Second
                                   World War”

                                   Kris Larsen (CCSU, Physics): “Athena and Urania: The
                                   Experiences of Women Astronomers During WWII”

                                   Randy C. Balano (Office of Naval Intelligence, Washington):
                                   “At the Tip of the Trident: Integrating Women Into the Fleet”

11:00-12:00                 Film Screening (Bellin)

                             Amy Costello, “Sudan: The Quick and the Terrible”

                            Reporter Amy Costello travels dangerous back roads into Sudan’s
                            war-torn Dafur region to learn about the roots of what many
                            consider to be an ongoing genocide. Costello takes a close-up look at
                            the plight of the Dafuris and examines the consequences of continued
                            civil war.

12:00-1:30             Lunch (Bellin) 

12:30                    Keynote Speaker: Dr. Jasbir Puar (Rutgers University): “Terrorist
                                                      Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times.”

1:45-3:15              Panel Session IIa: Changing Military Culture (Bellin)

                             Moderator:  John Tully (CCSU, History) 

Carol Burke (University of California, Irvine): “The Case of Spc. Suzanne Swift”  

Karen Garner (SUNY Empire State College): “Women and Democracy: How the WWII Past Echoes in the Present” 

Norma Honaker (United States Military Academy, West Point): “At the Tip of the Spear: What Women Service Members Tell Us About Advancements in the Masculine World Of the U.S. Armed Forces”  

Panel Session IIb: Women and War Through Theater Representation (Philbrick Camp Room)

Moderator: Shizuko Tomoda (CCSU, Modern Languages)

Student panel participants: Bridget Walsh, Lianne Difabbio, Julianne Thouin, Megan Dwyer (all CCSU, Honors Program)

3:30-5:00              Panel Session III: Slavery and Struggle (Bellin)

                             Moderator: Cindy Pope (CCSU, Geography) 

Holly Kent (Lehigh University): “’The Antagonistic Principles of Slavery and Freedom Have Come to a Death-Grapple’: Women Writing War in Kansas, 1854-1860”  

Mary Ann Mahoney (CCSU, History): “Creativity under Restraint: Enslaved Afro-Brazilian Families in Brazil’s Cacao Area 1870-1889”

During the Conference (in the Bellin Gallery) there will be a display by the Hartford Vet Center, facilitated by Maria Cerniauskas-Upton, LMFT.  The Vet Center is a part of the Veterans Healthcare Administration. These facilities are small, community-based clinics that offer ongoing services to veterans who have served in combat and peace-keeping operations, to women and men who have experienced sexual assault/sexual harassment during military service, and they offer bereavement counseling for the families of service personnel who died while on active duty. (Hartford Vet Center, 30 Jordan Lane, Wethersfield, CT 06109).

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