‘No Limits!’ Women’s & Gender Studies Conference March 4-5

Women’s & Gender Studies “No Limits!” conference is taking place today and Saturday (March 4-5) in the Ponderosa Rooms of the Nebraskan Student Union at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

Presentations are being given by students and faculty from five states — Iowa, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Missouri and South Dakota. Campuses involved include: University of Northern Iowa, University of Missouri in Columbia, Hastings College, Nebraska Wesleyan, University of Nebraska at Kearney, University of Nebraska – Lincoln, University of Nebraska at Omaha and University of South Dakota,

Contact person: Dr. Linda Van Ingen, associate professor, Department of History, and director of the UNK  Women’s & Gender Studies Program.
(308) 865-8772

NOTE TO MEDIA:  See schedule below for student presentations and note the featured performances/presentations.


“CONFLUENCE:” 
Eco-Feminist Literary Reading Performance by NU MFA Writing Faculty: Lee Ann Roripaugh & Allison Hedge Coke
 
10:45-11:15, Ponderosa Room, NSU, Friday, March 4.


Lee Ann Roripaugh’s 
third volume of poetry, On the Cusp of a Dangerous Year, was released by Southern Illinois University Press in 2009.  A second volume, Year of the Snake, also published by Southern Illinois University Press, was named winner of the Association of Asian American Studies Book Award in Poetry/Prose for 2004.  Her first book, Beyond Heart Mountain (Penguin Books, 1999), was a 1998 winner of the National Poetry Series, and was selected as a finalist for the 2000 Asian American Literary Awards.  A Professor of English at The University of South Dakota, Roripaugh’s work incorporates images and details from nature and biology as a way of engaging with themes of transformation and cyclical renewal.

Allison Adelle Hedge Coke’s 
books include Dog Road Woman, Off-Season City Pipe; Rock Ghost, Willow, Deer; Year of the Rat; & Blood Run. Nine edited collections include Effigies & Sing. Numerous awards include: American Book Award, three Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers Awards, a King-Chavez-Parks Award, & an Abiko Quarterly Editor’s Choice Award by Cid Corman. Hedge Coke holds the Reynolds Endowed Chair, UNK, & received fellowships & residencies from the Center for the Great Plains, MacDowell Colony, Weymouth Center, Hawthornden Castle, & Lannan at Marfa. Hedge Coke’s work has been cited in feminist scholarship and includes poetry and prose concerned with labor, cultural philosophy, and eco-ethos.


“SPEAKING INTERSECTIONS” by Lenelle Moise
7pm, Ponderosa Room, NSU, Friday, March 4.


Lenelle Moïse 
creates jazz-infused, hip-hop bred, politicized texts about Haitian-American identity, creative resistance and the intersection of race, class, gender, sexuality and spirit. She recites from hand-made scrolls, from memory, with fervor and with movement. In addition to featured appearances at theatres, bookstores, cafes and conferences across the USA and Canada, Moïse has published her writings in anthologies, including “Word Warriors: 35 Women Leaders in the Spoken Word Revolution” and “We Don’t Need Another Wave: Dispatches from the Next Generation of Feminists.” Lenelle lives in Northampton, Mass., and earned an MFA in Playwriting from Smith College in 2004.

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE:

Women’s & Gender Studies Conference
“NO LIMITS! Eco-Feminism & Artful Healing”
UNK – Nebraskan Student Union, Ponderosa Rooms
Contact:  Dr. Linda Van Ingen (vaningenL1@unk.edu)  308-865-8772March 4 & 5, 2011

Friday, March 4
Friday, 10-10:45am – Check-in (coffee/rolls)

Friday, 10:45-11:15 – “Confluence:” Eco-Feminist Literary Reading Performance by NU MFA Writing Faculty Allison Hedge Coke, Associate Professor of English, UNK
Lee Ann Roripaugh, Associate Professor of English, University of South Dakota

Friday, beginning 10:45am –Studio Art Exhibit
Ponderosa Room E, Curator Lori Santos, Assistant Professor of Art & Art History, UNK
Sabrina Albiero, UNK
Alie Brabec, UNK
Adam Coble, UNK
Kacee Conley, UNK
Laura Jensen, Vermont College
Charles Schluckebier, UNK

Friday, 11:20-12:35
Session #1:    Gendered Constructs in Public Spaces
Room D, Moderator Carol Lilly, Professor of History, Director of International Studies, UNK
Paul Skinner (UNK), “The Impact of Fight Club on the Discourse of Masculinity”
Ashley Ermer (Nebraska Wesleyan), “Fake Testicles: An Outcry of Power”
Laura Logan (Kansas State), “Gender, Race, Sexuality and Public Harassment: The Case of the ‘Killer Lesbians’”

Session #2: Women and Islam
Room C, Moderator Jessica Henry, Professor of Communication & Director of Women’s & Gender Studies, Hastings College
Mallory Hunter (UNO), “Overcoming Obstacles: Wife, Mother, Provider”
Allyson Jurek (UNO), “The Sex Trade of Women in the Middle East and Arabian Peninsula: Investigating Causes, Results, and Solutions”
Katy Arnold (UNO), “Stoning: How Islamic is it Really?”

Labyrinth Walk
Room A, Linda Shaw, MS, LMHP, LADC Counselor, Director of Women’s Center, WGS Advisory Council, UNK

Friday, 12:40-1:20        Lunch ($10)  (Room B)

Friday, 1:25-2:40
Session #3:  Artful Healing
Room C, Moderator Stephanie Furrer, Associate Professor of Psychology, Hastings College
Sarah Kollars (UNK), “Support Groups for Adolescent Girls in the Community”
Ashley Frear Cooper (UNL), “Disparities in Physical and Mental Health Outcomes in the United States: Taking an Intersectionality Approach”
Janine M. Brooks (UNO), “Girl, You Are Amazing!”

Session #4:  Challenging Stereotypes of Muslim Women: Overview and Focus on Saudi Arabia
Room D, Moderator Karen Falconer Al-Hindi, Professor of Geography, Director of Women’s & Gender Studies (UNO)
Osamah Alhenaki (UNO)
Faisal al-Dosari (UNO)
Alea Hall (UNO)

Labyrinth Walk
Room A, Linda Shaw, MS, LMHP, LADC Counselor, Director of Women’s Center, WGS Advisory Council, UNK

Friday, 2:45-4:00
Session #5:  Transnational Feminism through Study Abroad
Room C, Moderator Tone Mendoza, Reference Librarian , WGS Advisory Council, UNK
Rebeca Acosta (UNK), “Mujeres Atrapadas (Entrapped Women) in Colombia”
Caroline Neujahr (UNK), “Gendered Constructs in China”
Abbie Olson, Stephanie Klein, Ashley Hochstein (UNK), “Women’s Issues in Israel”

Session #6:  Adolescent Girls and Superheroes
Room D, Moderator Carrie Kracl, Assistant Professor of Education, WGS Advisory Council, UNK
Celeste Lempke (UNK), “Saving Young Girls from Ourselves: The Importance of Superheroine Fantasy”
Cynthia Ostrom (UNK), “Of Superhuman Bondage: Themes of Dominance and Submission in 1940s Wonder Woman Comics”

Dancing with Colors
Sandhills Room, Janice Fronczak, Associate Professor of Theater, WGS Advisory Council, UNK

Friday, 4:05-5:20        

Session #7:  The Second-Wave of Feminism
Room C, Moderator Amy Rundstrom, Assistant Director of Academic & Career Services, UNK
Jennifer Richardson (UNK), “Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz”
Rebecca Ann Sevela (UNK), “Shulamith Firestone”
Elizabeth Schnieder (USD), “Nebraska and the ERA”

Session #8:  Self-Concepts and Identity
Room C, Moderator Lori Santos, Assistant Professor of Art & Art History, UNK
Shasta Inman (UNL), “Questions: A Monologue in Two Personas”
Emily Kubalik (UNK), “Individual and Social Factors that Influence Self-Concept Resiliency of Women and Men”
Kylee Britzman (UNL), “A Journey into Women’s Studies: Where to Go From Here?”

Labyrinth Walk
Room A, Linda Shaw, MS, LMHP, LADC Counselor, Director of Women’s Center, WGS Advisory Council, UNK

Friday, 5:30pm        Dinner – complimentary (Room B)
Chamber Music provided by UNK String Project

Friday, 7:00pm        Keynote:  “Speaking Intersections” by Lenelle Moïse
Room E                Haitian-American Artist/Poet  http://www.lenellemoise.com/meet.html
Saturday, March 5
Saturday Early Birds, 5am  Sandhill Cranes

Saturday8:30-9am – Check-in (coffee/rolls)

Saturday9:00-10:15am
Session #9:  Hearing Women’s Voices
Room C, Moderator Linda Van Ingen, Associate Professor of History, Director of Women’s & Gender Studies, UNK
Tiffany Bullen (University of Northern Iowa), “Sleeping Bear, Gichigami and the Century of Trees: Ecopoems of the Great Lakes”
Heather Towndrow (UNK), “Their Hearts May Be Bleeding but Are Not Yet on the Ground”
Laura Madeline Wiseman (UNL), “Queen of the Platform: Inventions of the Life of Matilda Fletcher”

Session #10:  Art and Art History
Room D, Moderator Darleen Mitchell, Professor of Music, WGS Advisory Council, UNK
Britiany Daugherty (UNO), “Rajput Women: Representations Comparable to Western Gender Constructions”
Sabrina Albiero (UNK), “Nenettes: The Labyrinth of Mind”

Session #11:  Social Implications: Homelessness, Sexual Assault, Abortion
Room A, Moderator Laura Logan, Ph.D. Candidate, Kansas State & UNK Alumna
Sara Robertson (Hastings College), “Hope for the Future: A Thematic Analysis of Female Homelessness”
Bethany Ridling (UNL), “The Importance of Recognizing all Types of Sexual Assault: A Review of the Literature on Same-Sex Sexual Assault”
Kate Wintz (University of Missouri, Columbia), “Nebraska State Lines and the Female Body”

Saturday, 10:20-11:05        Workshop with Lenelle Moïse

Saturday, 11:10-12:25
Session #12:  Ethnographic Approach to the American Muslim Experience in Nebraska
Room C, Moderator Diane Wysocki, Professor of Sociology, UNK
Katherine Dyche (UNO), “’Islamic Adoption’: Implications of Islamic Adoption Laws and Traditions”
Furkan Dindar (UNO), “Take it Off, Put it On…Excuse Me? This is my Body!”
Tessie Seiler (UNO), “Religious Freedoms for Female Iraqi Refugees”

Session #13:  Women’s Agency in American History
Room D, Moderator Amber Lewis, MA Candidate, KHS Social Studies Teacher, WGS Advisory Council, UNK
Sylvia Hall (UNL), “Art Matronage: A Movement”
Michaela Kneip (UNK), “Mexican Immigration and Migrant Issues from 1965-1985: A Woman’s Journey”
Rebecca Wingo (UNL), “Reform, Rebellion, and Empowerment: White and Native Women Reformers in the Late Nineteenth Century”

Session #14:  Gender Differences? Women, Business and Media
Room A, Moderator Tami Moore, Associate Professor of Family Studies, WGS Advisory Council, UNK
Haili Copas-Starke (UNO), “Merely Flirtatious Behavior: Sexual Harassment and the Workplace”
Adam Wagler (UNL), “Turning Points with New Media: Discourses Created by Interactive Advertising Campaigns”
Bailey Eldredge (Hastings College), “Can You Hear Me Now? The Relationship Between Gender Differences, Musical Background, and the Perception of Musical Illusions”

Saturday, 12:30-2:00pm        Lunch ($10)  (Room B)
Women’s & Gender Studies Alumni Panel
Amber Lewis, Laura Logan, Tessa Roberts, Elizabeth Schnieder
*****
Thank you for your participation!