WGSS Workshop: How to Write an Op-Ed
How to Apply for a PhD Webinar
WGSS Awards and Graduation Celebration, May 2020
WGSS Virtual Brown Bag Seminar: Graduate Research
First Brown Bag Seminar of Spring 2020
Noted Graphic Artist Visits WGSS 2135
Brown Bag Lunch Seminar: Professor Ivy Ken
Alumni Speaker Series: Envisioning Change
Brown Bag Lunch Seminar: Professor Nemata Blyden
Brown Bag Seminar: The Missing Memphis School
Media and Gender Guest Speaker
WGSS Workshop: How to Write an Op-Ed
Thank you to all who attended the “How to Write An Op-Ed” Virtual Workshop. The event was a success with students from all levels of experience learning about the best strategies to write a successful opinion editorial and get published. If you missed this event, watch the recorded session!
How to Apply for a PhD Webinar
WGSS hosted a webinar on “How to Apply to PhD Programs” for graduate and undergraduate students. Professors Daiya, Deitch, Strader, and Matthiesen shared their advice on how to prepare a strong application, pick the right program, etc. whiles MA student Sarah-Anne Gresham shared her experience from a student perspective, as she leaves to join the PhD program in WGSS at Rutgers University in the Fall. Students looking for PHD programs in WGSS, American Studies, History, and Jurisprudence all over the country joined this webinar and they left with a lot of insight. Tips on getting the best research paper, weighing GRE scores, interview skills, getting the best recommendations, and so much more were discussed.
WGSS Awards and Graduation Celebration, May 2020
On Saturday, May 16th, the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) program recognized this year’s WGSS’ award winners along with the WGSS class of 2020 during a virtual celebration. Congratulations again to WGSS award winners!
We are very proud of our award recipients and graduates and would like to congratulate them once again on their numerous accomplishments. We would also like to thank all of the professors, families, and attendees that attended this event and made it a success.
WGSS Virtual Brown Bag Seminar: Graduate Research
We had record attendance dialing in for our last WGSS BBL Seminar of the year! We thank our wonderful presenters for participating and creating new and timely conversations in the field of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Shontrice Barnes, Michelle Nguyen, and Breya Johnson led a thought provoking discussion on their latest research in the WGSS field. Shontrice Barnes’ “Bootylicious: The Reclamation of Black Femininity and Sexuality” presentation discussed how she adopted the black feminist tradition of “bootylicious” to “step out of the confines of normative whiteness when conducting research.” Her research went on to create a methodology centered on healing, loving, and caring for the Black body in order for Black womxn to reclaim their sexuality and femininity.
Michelle Nguyen presented on “Sex Selective Abortion Bans.” Michelle shed light on Asian women charged with feticide after losing their babies and the effects of stereotypes on Asian women and their fertility. She also shared how U.S. policy has contributed to “sex selection” and what methods can be used to change cultural attitudes around son-preference.
Breya Johnson showcased “Black Women’s Experiences with ‘Social Death.'” In her presentation, she highlighted Toni Morrison and her ideology on the importance of writing about and recognizing pain. Breya revealed the endemic of Black women dying from suicide or attempted suicide and shed light on the idea of the “walking dead,” Black women who are living but with grief and pain that comes from larger forces such as anti-Blackness and colorism. Thank you to all the presenters and those who were in attendance! If you missed the discussion, we invite you to watch the recording.
Lecture by Professor Priyamvada Gopal The Afterlife of Anticolonialism: The Question of Decolonization
The Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program was happy to host Professor Priyamvada Gopal (Churchill College, Cambridge) to speak on the question of what it means to ‘decolonize’ scholarship with reference to anticolonial thought as it emerged in the mid twentieth-century. Drawing upon her book published in 2019, Insurgent Empire: Anticolonial Resistance and British Dissent, Professor Gopal spoke about how she seeks “to bring discussions of empire back into the public domain, to come at it from a different angle, and to give my own students a way to engage with decolonization and empire.” The lecture addressed the history of anti-colonial dissent in England and abroad, as well as how women’s voices are unevenly represented in this archive.
Professor Gopal ended the lecture by encouraging us to fight against oppressive forces, saying that “There is no question of seeing freedom as simply bestowed or human rights as given to us. Power repeatedly tells us ‘you be quiet, we’ll give you stuff when we think it’s right.’ We have to conceptualize ourselves as agents when facing oppression. There is no option but to push back. Fostering that critical oppositional spirit and keeping it alive is the ultimate and ongoing work of decolonization.” Thank you to Professor Moshenberg for organizing this important lecture, and to Prof. Gopal for the brilliant and inspiring talk!
First Brown Bag Seminar of Spring 2020
WGSS featured recent alumna Nichole Smith and current WGSS graduate student Sarah-Anne Gresham in its first Brown Bag Seminar of the Spring 2020 semester. Both shared wonderful insight into their research and the work they are doing to further the goals of WGSS. Nichole’s presentation, entitled “#MeToo Behind Bars: Sexual Violence Against Incarcerated Women and Anti-Rape Activism”, analyzed the rampant sexual abuse incarcerated women face and the ways in which the prison industrial complex perpetuates these events. Sarah-Anne’s presentation, “Polyphonic Symphonies: Istwa as Feminist History” explored the pitfalls of modern day historiography and ways to reclaim and recover history through the feminist lens of “istwa”. Thanks to our amazing presenters for an encapsulating discussion and to all in attendance!
WGSS featured recent alumna Nichole Smith and current WGSS graduate student Sarah-Anne Gresham in its first Brown Bag Seminar of the Spring 2020 semester. Both shared their research from their M.A. theses drawing upon sociology and history disciplines. Smith’s presentation, entitled “#MeToo Behind Bars: Sexual Violence Against Incarcerated Women and Anti-Rape Activism,” offered a multi-state analysis of the sexual abuse incarcerated women face in American prisons, and the institutional and activist practices that reinforce as well as challenge it. Gresham’s presentation, “Polyphonic Symphonies: Istwa as Feminist History” showed how women’s writing from the global South, through her concept of “istwa,” can help us to reclaim and recover minority histories. Thanks to our amazing presenters for an illuminating discussion, and to all who attended to participate in this dialogue!
Noted Graphic Artist Visits WGSS 2135
Nearly 50 students in WGSS 2135 “Gender and Media” this week met noted author Malaka Gharib to discuss her terrific graphic narrative I Was Their American Dream. The prestigious Kirkus Review named I Was Their American Dream one of the best books of 2019. Gharib is a graphic artist, and deputy editor and digital strategist of Goats and Soda, NPR’s global health and development blog. Professor Kavita Daiya interviewed Gharib, who shared that the inspiration for her autobiographical book came after the results of the 2016 US election, when she saw some of the racist, sexist, and xenophoic rhetoric in our public life. I Was Their American Dream is Gharib’s story as a child of immigrants from the Philippines and Egypt. Gharib answered questions from the students about the relation between her life as a child growing up in a diverse and vibrant California community, and her art. She discussed how she navigated that history while also introspectively questioning the decisions she made in life, about friendship, love, college, and work. This was a great and inspiring conversation; all the students said a big thank you to Malaka for stopping by and sharing her insights and advice. She signed many books (naturally!), and posed with us for photos.
Brown Bag Lunch Seminar: Professor Ivy Ken
WGSS’ latest Brown Bag Seminar had a full house this past Wednesday, December 4th for a discussion with Associate Professor of Sociology and TSPPPA, Professor Ivy Ken, who shared her new work on researching the roots of the term “intersectionality” in the scholarship of The Memphis School. Dr. Ken discussed how the feminist scholars of The Memphis School like Bonnie Thornton Dill, Lynn Weber, and Evelyn Nakano Glenn offered cutting-edge intersectional analyses of how race, class, and gender shaped “power relations of dominance” in the 1980’s. These scholars conducted and offered intersectional analyses, as well as mentored the next generation of scholars like Crenshaw and Collins. The discussion addressed the need the recognition of the original, if neglected, contributions of The Memphis School. Dr. Ken also convincingly argued for a shift in scholarship about intersectionality that attends to structural oppression and power relations, to complement the conventional approach focused on identity.
Thank you to all that came to take part in this riveting discussion and a very big thanks to Professor Ivy Ken on sharing her upcoming research with us!
Alumni Speaker Series: Envisioning Change
Last week’s Alumni Speaker Series: Envisioning Change was a huge success. Students with declared WGSS majors and minors, MA students, WGSS staff, and everyone in between received some amazing advice from alumni Susan Markham (Partner and Co-founder of Smash Strategies), Trey Johnston (Associate Director of the Cisneros Hispanic Leadership Institute), and Gina Chirillo (Senior Program Officer at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems) about their career paths, how to land a gender-based job, and different paths to make an impact on the world. If you missed this eye opening event, catch it live on our YouTube channel soon! Susan let us in on her personal struggles working in politics and how she navigated the field. Trey shared how race, LGBTQIA issues, and immigration inform the work he is doing right here on GW’s campus. Gina gave frank advice about turning any job into a gender-based job and how current WGSS majors can navigate the job search. Thank you to our speakers and attendees for this generative dialogue.
You can check out more photos from the event on our blog here.
Brown Bag Lunch Seminar: Professor Nemata Blyden
Thank you to the students, faculty, and staff from across the departments and schools at GW, as well as from USAID, that attended our second Brown Bag Seminar featuring Professor Nemata Blyden (History and Elliot School of International Affairs). We had an invigorating discussion about Professor Blyden’s new book African Americans and Africa: A New History (Yale UP, 2019), which explores how African Americans understand Africa and ultimately, how they understand themselves. Professor Blyden’s remarks gave us a glimpse of the historically changing on African American engagement with Africa. The discussion ended with an open-ended question on the possible futures of the term “African American” or “Black.”
WGSS Halloween Presentation
This Halloween season, we celebrated by hearing Dr. Kelly Pemberton speak about the persecution of witches.
Brown Bag Seminar: The Missing Memphis School
On December 4th, 2019 WGSS hosted another Brown Bag Lunch that featured a discussion with Associate Professor of Sociology and TSPPPA, Professor Ivy Ken, who shared her new work on researching the roots of the term “intersectionality” in the scholarship of The Memphis School. Dr. Ken discussed how the feminist scholars of The Memphis School like Bonnie Thornton Dill, Lynn Weber, and Evelyn Nakano Glenn offered cutting-edge intersectional analyses of how race, class, and gender shaped “power relations of dominance” in the 1980’s. These scholars conducted and offered intersectional analyses, as well as mentored the next generation of scholars like Crenshaw and Collins. The discussion addressed the need the recognition of the original, if neglected, contributions of The Memphis School. Dr. Ken also convincingly argued for a shift in scholarship about intersectionality that attends to structural oppression and power relations, to complement the conventional approach focused on identity.
Thank you to all that came to take part in this riveting discussion and a very big thanks to Professor Ivy Ken on sharing her upcoming research with us!
Pumpkin Picking Fundraiser
The cold, blustery weather did not stop the WGSS Student Association from going full steam ahead with their pumpkin painting fundraiser. With effervescent spirits and verve, the undergraduate students soon gained the attention of passersby with sweet treats and miniature pumpkins ready for decorating.
Beatrice Mount, the association’s Operations Director, awed her contemporaries with impressive doodles of witches, vampire lips, and a particularly colorful pumpkin embellished with the program’s acronym. The students demonstrated the strength of the association through camaraderie, passion, and a commitment to feminist principles.
The WGSS program is proud of their efforts and congratulates them on a successful public engagement!
First Brown Bag Seminar
Thank you to all who attended our inaugural Brown Bag Lunch seminar last week! It was wonderful to hear from GW faculty Dr. Katina Sawyer, representing the Business School, and Dr. Jameta Barlow, from The University Writing Program.
Dr. Sawyer’s areas of expertise include diversity and inclusion, organizational psychology, and combatting negative workplace behaviors. Her talk examined how the formation of collective hope can improve outcomes in non-profit organizations and delved into her research on an organization that works to enable victims of sex trafficking to recover from their trauma whiles mapping the challenges and opportunities of working on gender based violence through organizations.
Dr. Barlow’s areas of expertise include Black women’s mental health and well-being, intersectionality and restorative health practices in psychology and public health research, and utilizing decolonizing methodologies to disrupt intergenerational trauma. In her discussion, she evaluated how slavery and colonization affects modern day health practices towards Black girls’ and women’s health and how an emphasis on black feminism and using womanism as a decolonizing methodology can combat this paradigm in public health.
Media and Gender Guest Speaker
Last week we were pleased to host ElsaMarie D’Silva, a Reagan Fascell Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy, in WGSS. A social entrepreneur and activist from India, D’Silva’s talk “How Media Impacts Gender Based Violence” showed WGSS 2135 students how her organization Safecity uses digital media to document GBV incidents in public spaces. These crowd-sourced stories are then used to create change by working with local communities as well as institutions, across many countries, to create safer urban areas. Safecity has become the largest crowd map on GBV in public spaces in India, Kenya, Cameroon, Nigeria and Nepal. We had a riveting discussion about the reality of gender violence in India and how D’Silva is using social media to combat this around the world! If you missed it, click here to learn more about Safecity and how you can be a part of the change.
GWU Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies 