Events, Conferences, News

 

Fall 2009 Events at DePauw

Wednesday September 30
 The wonderful feminist poet, playwright, and biographer Honor Moore will be reading at 7:30 pm in Peeler Auditorium, as part of the Kelly Writers Series. You might know of her recent memoir, The Bishop's Daughter, which was excerpted in The New Yorker; she has also published three collections of her own poems, and edited two anthologies, Poems from the Women's Movement and The New Women’s Theatre: Ten Plays by Contemporary American Women, which includes her own Broadway-produced play, Mourning Pictures. Honor Moore will also join us for a women's studies lunch that day, Wednesday, September 30, starting at 11:30 in UB 231-232. Her books are on reserve in Roy O. 2.

Thursday, October 29
We'll have a visit from Patti Lather, Professor in the College of Education & Human Ecology at The Ohio State University. Patti Lather has written three books, Getting Smart: Feminist Research and Pedagogy within/in the Postmodern (1991); Troubling the Angels: Women Living with HIV/AIDS (with Chris Smithers, 1995); and Getting Lost: Feminist Efforts Toward a Double(d) Science (2007), as well as numerous articles. She'll be speaking on the topic, "Feminist Research as an Engagement with Mess: Social Policy and the Democratization of Knowledge," and she'll also join us for a women's studies lunch that day, Thursday, October 29, starting at 11:30. This visit is sponsored by the Schaenen Professorship and organized by Julie Hollowell. (Materials are also on reserve in Roy O.)

Monday, November 2
Performance Artist Holly Hughes returns to DePauw as part of this year's Artsfest (theme: Art and Power). On Monday November 2, she'll perform her new piece, "Let Them Eat Cake," which riffs on the social history and rituals surrounding marriage, in the light of current debates: "Imagine a wedding, a really imagined wedding." Direction by Megan Carney of About Face Theatre; Thompson Recital Hall, 8 pm. Holly will also participate in a lunch panel discussion about the Artsfest theme, "Art and Power," which will cover her encounter with censorship as one of the "NEA Four." That will be Tuesday November 3 at 11:40 in Peeler Lobby - which will give people a chance to pop in and see a couple of very interesting gallery shows.

November 19-22
DePauw Theater presents Sara Ruhl's play, EURYDICE - "an imaginative interpretation of the classic Orpheus myth told from the heroine’s point of view, abounding with surprising plot twists and quirky humor" -directed by Gigi Fenlon. (I've read it, it's fantastic.) We'll follow this with a Women's Studies Lunch and panel discussion on Tuesday November 24 - Gigi, Debby Geis, and others, 11:30 in the UB as usual.

Women, War and Documentary:
A series of four films (and discussions) co-sponsored by the Art Department and planned by Catherine Fruham, as follows:
Monday September 14: "The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter" - women and work during the second world war and afterward, directed by Connie Field. Followed by a faculty panel discussion. 7 pm, Watson Forum.
Monday October 12: "Regret to Inform," a film about the Vietnam War period directed by Barbara Sonneborn, who will be present to introduce and discuss her film, described as "her personal odyssey to come to terms with the war that took her husband’s life, through interviews with American and Vietnamese widows who speak openly about the men they loved and how war changed their lives forever." 7 pm, Watson Forum.
Wednesday November 11: "As We Forgive," a film about the Rwandan genocide, directed by Laura Waters Hinson, who will also be present to introduce and discuss her film. 7 pm Watson Forum.
Wednesday December 2: "My Country, My Country, " a film about Iraq directed by Laura Poitras, including a faculty panel discussion. Watson Forum, 7 pm.

Spring 2009 Events at DePauw

February 24:  Susan Anthony

“Avoid Dangerous Connexions”

Prescriptive Literature and the Gothic Heroine

 

Heroines in Gothic plays, an early form of melodrama popular in the early years of the nineteenth century, seemed to adhere to the teachings of prescriptive literature, specifically James Fordyce’s Sermons for Young Women and John Gregory’s best-selling book, A Father’s Legacy to His Daughter, aimed at “middling and elite families.”  These authors advised young women to monitor displays of independence, downplay their learning, conceal their wit, and adopt a modest demeanor. Yet, though the heroines mouthed “correct” sentiments, they managed simultaneously to transgress conventional behavior, as they escaped the confines of the home, wandered unescorted through dangerous spaces, and confronted (and ultimately vanquished) powerful older males.   

 

Gothic plays were useful, too, for the actresses who portrayed these heroines. Theatricals had only recently been legalized (1790s), and women who appeared on public stages were sometimes vilified, particularly by the clergy. Yet actresses who performed dutiful daughters or devoted wives and mothers in Gothic plays, which ended inevitably with the triumph of virtue, seemed to use these performances to enhance their offstage reputations.

 

The unlikely combination of the middle class sentiments expressed in melodrama and the darker and more dangerous worlds of the Gothic allowed middle class female spectators to publicly condone the words of the heroines (and the actions of the actresses who depicted them) and simultaneously enjoy their transgressions.

 

 

March 16:  Deborah Cameron

 

Feminist linguist Deborah Cameron will be joining us from Oxford March 16-20 as scholar-in-residence at the DePauw Women’s Center. She’ll make a public presentation with the title “Meet the Flintstones: Language, Gender and the New Biologism,” on Monday March 16 at 7 pm in the Watson Forum room; the talk discusses evolutionary psychology and some misuses of the legacy of Darwin, particularly conclusions that are drawn about women’s language behavior. We hope you’ll consider joining us, and pass the word along to your students. You’re also invited to a women’s studies lunch on Tuesday March 17 where she’ll speak informally about recent developments in the field, sign books, and answer questions about her work; and she’s agreed to be available for class visits and more informally as well.

 

Debbie’s talk will be based on research for her most recent book, “The Myth of Mars and Venus: Do Men and Women Really Speak Different Languages?” which was chosen as a Slate Magazine book of the year for 2008 and excerpted in the Guardian - so you can read selections on-line at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/oct/01/gender.books

She’s also the the author of “Verbal Hygiene,”  “Good to Talk: Living and Working in a Communication Culture,” “Feminism and Linguistic Theory,” and numerous other articles and books. Before joining the Oxford faculty she taught at the Roehampton University, University of Strathclyde, the College of William and Mary, and even DePauw (visiting in the Fall of 2001).

 

 

April 25:  Janet Prindle Reception

 

The Women's Studies Steering Committee would like to invite you to join us for a reception to celebrate Janet Prindle's support of the Women's Studies Program and the fact that we have the largest graduating class of senior majors and minors in our history.  Thanks to all of you for working hard to keep the program going!   Our reception will be held Saturday, April 25 from 4-5:30 in the Women's Center (306 E. Hanna St.). 

 

Photos of the reception: Click on thumbnail image to enlarge.