Women’s
Studies lecture series continues through Nov. 20 at ASU
The Women’s Studies Program at Appalachian State
University will present a series of lectures fall semester focusing
on women’s and gender studies.
The series “Distinguished Lectures on Women, Sex, and Gender”
will feature talks by scholars from various disciplines who will
explore issues such as teenage girls and Internet predators, women
and careers in information technology, men and masculinity in
today’s job market, rape and binge drinking on college campuses
and the “gender” of school shootings.
The presentations run from 5 to 6:15 p.m.in Room 114 Belk Library
and Information Commons. The lectures are free and open to the
public. For more information, call 262-7603 or e-mail womens_st@appstate.edu.
Dr. Denise Martz from Appalachian’s Department of Psychology
will present “Is ‘Fat Talk’ Really So Phat in Popular
Culture?” on Thursday, Aug. 28. “Fat talk” is a
form of dialogue in which individuals, usually females, speak
negatively about their bodies in social circles.
On Thursday, Sept. 4, Dr. Michael Kimmel from State University
of New York-Stony Brook’s Department of Sociology will present
“Mars and Venus, or Planet Earth: Women and Men in the 21st
Century.” Kimmel argues that men and women far more similar
than they are different, and that politically, their interests
are allied. Kimmel is the author of “Guyland: The Perilous
World Where Boys Become Men.”
Dr. Sarah Greenwald from Appalachian’s Department of Math
will present “Math is Not Only a Young Man’s Game”
on Thursday, Sept. 11. This presentation begins at 5:15 p.m. In
her talk, Greenwald will provide an overview of research studies
on perceptions and success in mathematics, including those related
to women mathematicians. She will also discuss ways to balance
stereotypical representations with role models whose style of
doing mathematics is identifiable as being similar to the way
students do mathematics and to diverse mathematicians who have
well-rounded lives.
Tristan Bridges from the University of Virginia will present “Dangerous
Boys and Daring Girls: What Bestselling Children’s Books
are Teaching Kids about Gender” on Thursday, Sept. 18. Using
examples from popular culture, Bridges will address some of the
nuances of gender in everyday life.
Dr. Curtis Ryan from Appalachian’s Department of Government
and Justice Studies will present “Islam and Women’s
Rights in Middle East Politics” on Thursday, Sept. 25. Ryan
specializes in international and Middle East politics, with particular
interests in inter-Arab relations, Islam and politics, alliances,
democratization, security, and international terrorism. He will
address women’s rights in Islam in both theory and practice.
Dr. Neva Specht presents “She Writes like a Man: Gender and
the Historical Profession” on Thursday, Oct. 2. Specht is
an associate professor in Appalachian’s Department of History.
Her presentation will explore how historian Barbara Tuchman’s
gender coupled with her lack of academic credentials left her
open for increased scrutiny from Ph.D.-trained historians. Tuchman
is one of the best-known historians of the 20th century and published
11 books, numerous articles, essays and reviews and garnered two
Pultizer prizes—all without earning a Ph.D.
Dr. Ed Behrend-Martinez from Appalachian’s Department of
History will present “Shrew-taming and Correction: Western
Traditions of Wife Battery” on Thursday, Oct. 9. He will
discuss his archival research on the history of domestic
violence in Spain and its significance in understandings domestic
violence in the United States and elsewhere.
Christine Watkins from Invision Inc. in New York will discuss
“A Woman in Charge: Creating and Running a Company in a Male-Dominated
Field” Thursday, Oct. 23. Watkins is the founder and CEO
of Invision Inc., the leading provider of revenue management solutions
to television networks and other sellers of national commercial
time.
“She’s Got a Gun” will be presented Thursday, Oct.
30, by Dr. Nancy Floyd from Georgia State University. Floyd explores
the world of women and guns in the United States through the photographs
she took when visiting gun ranges on ladies’ nights. She
uses documentary photography, history, sociology and personal
experiences as guides to understanding American women’s complex
and fascinating relationship to firearms.
Dr. Trina Seitz presents “Gender Parity and the Execution
of Rosanna Lightner Phillips” Thursday. Nov 6. Seitz is an
associate professor in Appalachian’s Department of Sociology.
Her presentation focuses on the 1943 execution of Phillips, and
African American and N.C. native who was executed in the state’s
gas chamber for the 1942 slaying of her white Durham County employer.
Seitz has completed a first book on the history of the death penalty
in North Carolina from 1909-1940.
A talk on “Asheville’s Allen School and the Education
of African-American Girls” will be presented Thursday, Nov.
13 by Dr. Patricia Beaver, a professor of anthropology at Appalachian
and director of the university’s Center for Appalachian Studies.
From the 1880s through the 1970s the Allen School in Asheville
served the education needs of many young girls from western North
Carolina’s African-American communities. Beaver and Appalachian
studies graduate students have interviewed former faculty and
students of the Allen School and collected archival materials,
which are now housed in the W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection Archives
in Belk Library and Information Commons on campus.
Jean-Anne Sutherland presents “Isn’t a Good Mother Supposed
to Feel Guilty?: Mothering, Guilt and Shame” Thursday, Nov.
20. Sutherland is an assistant professor of sociology at UNC Wilmington.
She will discuss the gendered nature of parenting, letting the
voices of mothers reveal the foundations of guilt and shame that
lie in current constructions of motherhood, specifically the good
mother, the mommy wars” and mothering in the home.
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