Have a Happy and Safe Holiday Break: From GWS!

GWS Student Spotlight: Lizzie O'Hara!

Name: Lizzy O'Hara

Year in school: Freshman

Majors and minors: Undeclared, Minor in Gender and Women’s Studies

Hometown: Chicago, IL

Favorite place you’ve ever traveled to: Italy

Favorite GWS class: Gender in the World

Why do you study GWS/why is it important to you? 

I decided to study GWS because I believe it is important to learn the ways that patriarchal systems affect every single person’s life on a day to day basis, and I hope that with this knowledge I can work to help groups of people negatively affect by these systems in the most severe ways.

GWS Faculty Member Valerie Joyce gives a TEDx Talk!

Check out this TEDx Talk given by GWS Steering Committee member Valerie Joyce. Below is a description of the presentation by TEDx Talks.

"African-American women, from colonial times through the early nineteenth century, found ways to make bold choices within the confines of their situations. Why don’t we know more of their names? What are their stories? To recuperate the lost lives of these eloquent, inspirational, and heroic women, we must dig deep, because too often they only remain as traces left in the records written by others. In order to conjure their genuine voices, to embody their actual experiences, we need to value imagination as much as evidence, in order to begin creating an American history that embraces the whole of history.

Valerie Joyce is an Associate Professor in Villanova’s Theatre Department with a PhD in Theatre History and Performance Studies from University of Maryland. She has published and presented her research, which cuts across race, genre, and historical period, centering on cultural constructs of gender and the theatre’s role in shaping American womanhood, in peer-reviewed journals and at conferences internationally. Her current book project examines African-American women before Emancipation through her play, I Will Speak for Myself, which mixes performance texts and primary historical artifacts to illuminate African American women’s lost experiences from the Colonial period through the Civil War.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community." 

Call for Papers: 27th Annual Gender and Women’s Studies Student Research Conference

27th Annual Gender and Women’s Studies Student Research Conference Call for Papers

Deadline for Submission: Friday, February 12, 2016 
       To Be Presented on: Thursday, April 7, 2016

Each year the Villanova Gender and Women’s Studies Program hosts a student research conference.  It is an exciting opportunity to showcase your work, discuss your interests with other students and faculty, and see the broad range of intellectual disciplines Gender and Women’s Studies encompasses.

Submit your paper to compete for a CASH AWARD in one of the following three categories:

1.      Papers or creative works by first year undergraduates (4-10 pages)

2.      Papers or creative works by sophomores, juniors, and seniors (5-20 pages)

3.      Papers or creative works by graduate students (12-30 pages)

The Barbara Wall Award for Feminist Praxis may be given to a paper that demonstrates a commitment to practical applications of feminist theory.

Eligibility

 
Essays and creative work must engage gender, sexuality, or feminist theories; a biographical or historical account of women or a woman is not sufficient. For example, a paper might: critically explore actions and reactions caused by gender prejudice or discuss how gender functions in some aspect of society; analyze a text using elements from feminist theory; or report an empirical study that engages gender. All papers must have been written during Spring or Fall 2015 or written specifically for the conference.

We encourage submission of alternative forms of scholarship, including but not limited to original scripts, poetry, or films that engage gender analysis. If the feminist or gender analysis is not overt in the creative work itself, the work should be accompanied by an essay that explains the theory's application.

Submission Guidelines 

·         Essays should be formatted in Word, using 12 pt. Times New Roman font with 1 inch margins, and page numbers.

·         Outside sources, documented in a bibliography or reference section, are strongly encouraged.

·         Include a cover sheet with the following information: student’s name, major or program and year of graduation, mailing and email addresses, phone number, and the name of the course and professor for which the paper was written (if any).

·         Marks of identification, except for the work’s title, should not appear anywhere else in the paper.

·         Please email the paper as a Word document to ecs.villanova@gmail.comby February 12, 2016.

All papers will be presented at the conference on Thursday, April 7.

Attendance at the conference constitutes an excused absence from classes.

Questions? Email us: gws.villanova@gmail.com or call 610-519-3815

GWS Student Spotlight: Aimee Lee Russell!

Name: Aimee Lee Russell

Year in school: Junior

Majors and minors: Psychology and French and Francophone Studies, Minor in Gender and Women’s Studies

Hometown: Bryn Mawr, PA

Favorite place you’ve ever traveled to: London, England and Paris, France (I love them both equally)

Favorite GWS class: Philosophy of Women and Muslim Women, Sexuality and the Veil (they are both AMAZING, with WONDERFUL professors)

Why do you study GWS/why is it important to you? 

I think GWS is important because it is another way in which to approach global issues of social justice. I believe that women and men should have equal rights and opportunities in life. Gender and sex should not be factors that eliminates choices for a person. I feel that Gender and Women's Studies push a person to get outside of their comfort zone and see the world through a new lens. It can be daunting at times to see and explore the world through another point of view but it helps you to be a well-rounded individual as you can acknowledge a concern from a perspective that might not be dominant in the discourse.