2011 ANNUAL NEWSLETTER
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CONTENTS / What’s Inside III Reflections / Message from the Chairs
IV Intersections / Graduate Student News
V New Additions / Students Features / Alumna at Work
VI Highlights / Gender and States of Emergency
VII Accomplishments / Faculty / Students
VIII Highlights / A Year Abroad in Review
IX Honors / Distinguished Teaching Award New Additions / Advisor
X Highlights / 2011 Major Events
XI Farewells / Departing Friends
XII Support / Share the Vision
States and internationally. Our department continues to attract undergraduate and graduate students who are intellectually gifted and critically engaging. As we think ahead to semesters, we are also considering new directions for our Department including international initiatives for collaborations with women’s and gender studies programs in several regions of the world, and future hires in areas such as women’s health and global political economies. We will be developing a new plan of action during this academic year and hope to have it completed by summer 2013. While this moment of transition has been marked by new projects and emerging initiatives, periods of change such as these are also defined by the departure of some of our dear colleagues and friends. Even though we had been very fortunate to have hired four new faculty members in the past four years who greatly contributed to the growth of our department, we are sad to say goodbye to two of our valuable colleagues in WGSS, Professors Rebecca Wanzo and Ruby Tapia, both of whom recently accepted positions at other prestigious universities in the Midwest. We are nevertheless deeply grateful to them for their tireless work and dedication to our department, in particular to Professor Wanzo who during her last year at OSU co-organized the hugely successful Gender and States of Emergency conference (see conference feature on page 6). We wish them the best of luck in their new academic homes and will continue to reach out to them for future collaborations and partnerships. This message is co-written by two WGSS Department “chairs”— Jill Bystydzienski, who continues to serve as head of the Department, and Guisela Latorre, who was Acting Chair during the summer of 2011.
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Dr. Jill Bystydzienski, Chair (left) and Dr. Guisela Latorre, Chair Summer ’11 (right)
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Our department currently finds itself at a moment of important transitions. With our official name change from Women’s Studies to Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) already in place, we look forward to seeing how this transformation of our intellectual identity affects our research, teaching, service and our overall standing within the broader academic community in our field. Moreover, this name change has coincided with Ohio State University’s shift from the quarter system to semesters which is to take effect in the 2012-2013 academic year. In anticipation of the semester conversion we have been making significant changes to our undergraduate and graduate curriculum for the past two years. We have eliminated classes we no longer teach, and added classes that reflect the expertise of recently hired faculty and the new interests of our longer serving professors. Some of these new courses include “Introduction to Queer Studies,” “Gender, Media and New Technologies,” “Chicana Feminism,” “Natives and Newcomers: U.S. Immigration and Migration,” “Engendering Peace and Conflict,” “Gender and Leadership,” and “Sexualities and Citizenship.” In addition we have redefined and retooled the concentration areas for both our undergraduate and graduate programs. We are confident that our curriculum heading into the semester conversion is not only newly streamlined and intellectually stimulating, but that it will provide our students with a progressively more rigorous and expansive training in our field. This past year also has been marked by some healthy increases of student numbers in our various programs. We saw a 15% increase in our majors (105) and a 40% boost to our minors (160). Undergraduate students at OSU are realizing more than ever the importance of a gender and feminist education, often opting to supplement disciplinary majors like sociology, political science, psychology, and English, among others, with the interdisciplinary training of the WGSS major or minor. Moreover, we also experienced a healthy increase of about 15% in the applicant pool to our graduate programs, making WGSS M.A. and Ph.D. degrees at OSU highly sought after programs in our field both in the United
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REFLECTIONS / A Message from the Chairs By Dr. Jill Bystydzienski and Dr. Guisela Latorre
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Graduate students celebrate a new baby on the way, socialize with bell hooks, and practice yoga in The “Shoe”
INTERSECTIONS / Graduate Student Update By Andrea Breau, Ally Day, Amanda Rossie and Lauren Strand
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WSGA has been the graduate student organization of the department for many years. This past year, the department’s name change signaled an opportunity for us to consider our naming as well. Changing our graduate student group name from the Women’s Studies Graduate Association (WSGA) to Intersections was a significant move. Many of us see Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies as a true interdiscipline, as providing an explicit space for intersectional academic work. In our research and teaching we all use multiple theoretical frameworks to address multiple dimensions of “identity.” Intersections is more representative of our work and political interests. The title also better reflects our commitment to thinking about important
intersections between our work and the work of other departments and programs at Ohio State, as well as the lives of people “outside” of academia. Furthermore, this new name is much more descriptive and transparent than “WSGA.” We know what Intersections stands for: a commitment to forging new bonds and grappling with old ones that exist at the intersections of gender, sex, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, ability, age, religion and the nation, that the Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies is devoted to exploring. Intersections continues to serve as the graduate student organization within the department and the students plan picnics, socials, professional development, conferences, and other events throughout the year!
NEW ADDITIONS / Students By Lexie Beer
Our four new masters students bring with them varied experiences. Maria Celleri earned a BA in Comparative Literature and Spanish at Binghampton University in 2009 and an MA in Hispanic Languages and Literature from Stony Brook University in 2011. Maria plans to analyze homonormative identities in Latin America and question their deployment in the United States. Jackie Stotlar completed a BA in History and Women’s and Gender Studies at Santa Clara University in 2011. Jackie plans to focus on critical race theory to better understand the ways in which intersectional identities shape a woman’s experience in order to conceptualize the ways in which identity impacts access to legal rights. Morgan Williams completed a BA in Gender Studies and English Literature at the University of Southern California in 2011. Morgan will pursue the study of threatened masculinity as represented in popular culture, influenced by an interdisciplinary perspective on the ways in which social conditions affect the embodiment of gender. Jessica Ziegenfuss completed a BA in Women’s Studies at OSU in 2009 and has since been working at the Tacoma Art Museum. She is concerned with problematizing the media system by interrogating discriminative images of gender, race, ableness, and sexuality using scientific studies, jurisprudence, Lacanian/feminist psychoanalysis, Foucault, and queer theory.
Our two new PhD students are continuing on from our MA program and we could not be happier! Haley Swenson completed a BA in Women’s Studies at Vanderbilt University in 2008 and our MA in 2011. Haley will employ feminist research methods to continue a study of the family, an institution that constructs and is constructed by the nation, labor, race, sexuality, and gender roles and relations. Brena Tai completed a BA in Drama and Theater and Foreign Languages at National Taiwan University in 2008 and our MA in 2011. Brena questions the fetishization of distance via a focus on travel narratives of the late 20th and New MA students (Jackie Stotlar, 21st centuries with above; Morgan Williams, Jess experimental or Ziegenfuss and Maria Celleri, below) mixed forms of enjoy a night of bowling together representation.
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FEATURES / Alumna at Work
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Lindsay Gezinski received a BA in Women’s Studies in 2004 and a Grad Minor in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies in 2011
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I received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Women’s Studies in 2004 and a Graduate Minor in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies in 2011 from The Ohio State University. Currently, I am an assistant professor at the University of Utah College of Social Work where I teach social welfare policy and community practice courses to Master-level students. My research focuses on gender, poverty, and social policy from a feminist perspective. My background in Women’s Studies has been instrumental in my professional life, as I consistently infuse information I learned in the program into my course material and research.
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By Lindsay Gezinski
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HIGHLIGHTS / Gender & States of Emergency By Dr. Jennifer Suchland The Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies organized a symposium in the Spring of 2011 on the theme “Gender and States of Emergency.” With the cosponsorship of over a dozen OSU programs and departments, the WGSS department hosted scholars from across the country who spoke on how gender, in relation to racial, sexual, bodily and economic dimensions, is vital to investigating the impact of war, natural disasters and political upheavals. Kimberlé Crenshaw, Professor of Law at UCLA and widely read feminist critical race theorist, presented the opening keynote and engaged the audience with a discussion of intersectionality in states of emergency. Crenshaw focused on why disaster relief fails, comparing the UN relief efforts in Bosnia and Rwanda as well as the U.S. FEMA “restore and improve” post-Katrina program. She ended her presentation with the provocative question of how we can be allies in disaster relief. Crenshaw’s keynote address set the stage for vigorous intellectual engagements. Highlights from the following day’s events included a panel on “Immigration, Nation and Gender.” Looking at immigration from varied critical perspectives, including Native American perspectives on narrow understandings of immigration, the panelists extended the conversation about states of emergency in a
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Panelists and moderators, graduate students, attendees and presenters enjoying the symposium in various ways
Immigration Panelists (pictured above): Kathleen Coll, Margaret Dorsey, Myla Vicenti Carpio, Karen Leong, and moderator Judy Wu
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discussion of how immigration debates manufacture crisis in order to advance political agendas. Other papers at the symposium opened up avenues for thinking about how “states of emergency” cannot be confined to discussions of catastrophic events because trauma exists in the everyday. From the manufactured crisis of “unmarried African American women” to the promotion of environmental health as biosecurity, states of emergency can operate at the rhetorical as well as affective levels. The presentations were thematically diverse and touched on U.S., global and non-western contexts. Cynthia Enloe, Professor of Women’s Studies at Clark University and eminent feminist scholar of international affairs, closed the symposium with a keynote presentation. After a day of intense papers and discussion, Enloe captivated the audience with her call for feminist curiosity. Her remarks focused on the significant political shifts occurring in the Middle East and the place of women in those dynamics. Enloe’s keynote provided the prefect close to an exciting two-day event. In the coming year, members of the WGSS department will be working on a special issue journal publication on Gender and States of Emergency that will include some of the research presented at the symposium.
Faculty / Students
PUBLICATIONS
HONORS AND AWARDS
Bystydzienski, J.M. (2011). Intercultural Couples: Crossing Boundaries, Negotiating Difference. New York University Press.
Jill Bystydzienski was recently elected president of the Editorial Board of the journal Feminist Formations, formerly The National Women Studies Association Journal, for a three year term.
Dasgupta, D. (2011). Queering Immigration: Perspectives on Cross Movement Organization. Scholar and Feminist Online: New Queer Agenda. Barnard Center for Research on Women. Dasgupta, D. (2011). Trans/Nationally Femme: Notes on Neoliberal Economic Regimes, Security States & My Life as a Brown Immigrant Fag. In Bernstein, M. (Ed.), Why Are Faggots So Afraid of Faggots: Flaming Challenges Masculinity, Objectification and the Desire to Conform. AK Press. Day, A. (2011). “Toward a Feminist Reading of the Disability Memoir: The Critical Necessity for Intertextuality” in Hornbacher, M. (Ed), Wasted and Madness. Disability Studies Quarterly, 31(2). Keating, C. (2011). Decolonizing Democracy: Transforming the Social Contract in India. Penn State University Press. Espina, G. & Rakowski, C. (2011). Advancing Women’s Rights Inside and Outside the Bolivarian Revolution: 1998-2010. In Ponniah, T. & and Eastwood, J. (Eds.), The Revolution in Venezuela. Harvard University Press.
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ACCOMPLISHMENTS / By Andi Cavins
Varsha Chitnis was awarded one of only two Dr. Gordon P.K. Chu Memorial Awards for International Travel, out of 43 applicants. She also received the Elizabeth D. Gee Grant for Research in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Debanuj Dasgupta was awarded a 2011 Arts & Humanities Graduate Research Small Grant Award to support his travel to the European Geographies of Sexualities Conference. Christine Keating receive a 2011 Ohio State Uniersity Alumni Association Award for Distinguished Teaching, featured on page 9. Kate Livingston received the 2011 Adoption Triad Advocate of the Year Award from Adoption Network Cleveland at their annual meeting on in Cleveland, OH. She also was awarded an Outstanding Faculty Program Award presented by University Residences and Dining Services, in recognition for Outstanding Service to Students and Exemplary Efforts to Further the Academic Mission of the University.
Rossie, A (2011). [Review of the book The Faithful Citizen: Popular Christian Media and Gendered Civic Identities, by K. Maddux]. Journal of Religion and Popular Culture. Springer, K. (2011). Policing Black Women’s Sexual Expression: The Cases of Sarah Jones and Renee Cox. Genders: online journal, 54. Retrieved from http://genders.org/g54/ g54_springer.htm Sreenivas, M. (2011). Creating Conjugal Subjects: Devadasis and the Politics of Marriage in Colonial Madras Presidency. Feminist Studies, 30(1). Suchland, J. (Summer 2011). Is there a Postsocialist Critique? Personality, Culture, Society [Russian]. Suchland, J. (2011). Is Postsocialism Transnational? Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 36(6). Thomas, M. E. (2011). Multicultural Girlhood: Racism, Sexuality, and the Conflicted Spaces of American Education. Temple Univ Press. Del Casino Jr, V., Thomas, M.E. et al. (Eds.). (2011). A Companion to Social Geography. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Winnubst, S. (2011). On the Historicity of the Archive: A Counter-Memory for Lynne Huffer’s Mad for Foucault. PhiloSophia, 1(2).
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Dr. Jill Bystydzienski (Department Chair, Professor), Dr. Cricket Keating (Associate Professor), and Dr. Mary Thomas (Associate Professor) published books in 2011
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HIGHLIGHTS / A Year Abroad in Review By Dr. Mytheli Sreenivas From July 2010 to June 2011, my family and I had the opportunity to live in New Delhi, India. With the support of fellowships from the American Institute of Indian Studies and the National Endowment for the Humanities, I was working on a research project tentatively titled, “Counting Indians: Population and the Body Politic, 1800-1970s,” which examines the history of ideas about population and overpopulation in 19th and 20th century India. While in New Delhi, I studied a range of issues related to population, including the history of contraception, reproductive health and sexuality, and changing norms about the family. Although my work is primarily historical, I am also interested in links between the past and contemporary concerns about women’s reproductive rights. One of the highlights of my time in India was to meet with activists who are trying to challenge top-down population and health policies whose effects are often detrimental to women. I was also fortunate to travel to Chennai (formerly Madras), where I had the opportunity to work extensively with Tamil language materials on contraception, sexuality
Above: Dr. Sreenivas giving a talk at the India International Centre in New Delhi. Left: Dr. Sreenivas and her family showing O-H-I-O pride in Darjeeling
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While in New Delhi, I studied a range of issues related to population, including the history of contraception, reproductive health and sexuality, and changing norms about the family.
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and population control policy. While in India, I had the chance to share my research with various groups, including the faculty of the Women’s Studies and Development Centre at the University of Delhi, and with undergraduate students at Lady Shri Ram College. I also traveled to the University of Hyderabad, where along with my partner Pranav Jani in the OSU English department, we are planning a study abroad program for Ohio State undergraduates in Summer 2012. The program is open to students of all majors, and I would love to see some WGSS students in the group! Dr. Mytheli Sreenivas is an Associate Professor of both History and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies who joined the faculty in 2006.
HONORS / Alumni Association Distinguished Teaching Award By Andi Cavins
Christine (Cricket) Keating may not practice what she preaches, but she certainly does practice what she teaches. According to both students and colleagues, Keating’s classrooms are alive with the ideals of democracy and collective learning - two principles that are central tenets of the curriculum she teaches. During her six years at Ohio State, Keating has become somewhat famous for her contagious zeal and her dedication to student learning. As one student wrote, “I would rank Dr. Keating as one of the best professors I’ve had at the university because of her patience, enthusiasm, knowledge, intelligence, commitment to helping her students grow intellectually, her willingness to consider a variety of student perspectives, her general encouragement of students and her openness and flexibility.” There’s probably not a lot to add to such a characterization, except perhaps to point out that in addition to her substantial teaching load
Keating has served as supervisor for the department’s TA training program and has mentored many master’s degree and doctoral students. “Through her tireless commitment to innovative teaching and creative learning,” wrote one of Keating’s PhD advisees, “Dr. Keating represents the pinnacle of excellence in university professorship.” Keating earned her doctorate from the University of Washington and has been at Ohio State since 2005. Dr. Christine (Cricket) Keating was warded with the Alumni Association’s 2011 Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching. (Adapted from OnCampus, April 7 2011).
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Dr. Keating is an Associate Professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
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NEW ADDITIONS / Undergraduate Advisor
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Victoria Genetin serves as our 2010-2011 undergraduate advisor and will complete her PhD in the spring of 2011
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Victoria Genetin joined the department in 2007 as a PhD Student. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from the University of Akron (2003), a Master’s degree in Women’s Studies from Texas Woman’s University (2005), and a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Akron (2007). Her teaching and research interests include Gloria E. Anzaldúa (Anzaldúan Studies), Chicana feminism, engaged Buddhism in the West, feminist & womanist spiritual activism, (feminist) pedagogy, and food justice. She is now in her final year of completing her dissertation. As Undergraduate Advisor, Victoria meets with majors and minors to discuss course planning, career, internship, and graduate school opportunities, and helps plan events directed at the undergraduate WGSS community like a film series, book club, and professional development workshops.
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By Victoria Genetin
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Revenge Women’s Studies Professor
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Bonnie J. Morris
HIGHLIGHTS / 2011 MajorBy Events Andi Cavins
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Triota hosts another successful Career Cafe Iota Iota Iota, more commonly known as Triota, is the national Women’s Studies honorary society. In March 2011, WGSS and the OSU chapter of Triota hosted a lunch for prominent female leaders on campus and in the community, and current undergraduate and graduate students, aimed at providing career related information to WGSS students wishing to pursue careers related to their education. Liz Shirley, the Alumni and Career Services Coordinator from the John Glenn School of Public Affairs, Nicole Nieto, an Intercultural Specialist from the OSU Multicultural Center and WGSS doctoral student, Dr. Kimberly Springer, a WGSS professor, Hollie Hinton, the first director of the Governor's Office of Women's Initiatives and Outreach, Nicole Dunn, from The Women’s Fund, and Stephanie Craddock Sherwood, from Planned Parenthood participated in the event with approximately 30 students in attendance.
Visiting Distinguished Professor bell hooks Awes Audiences Once Again In Autumn 2011, the Department of Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies in partnership with the College of Arts & Sciences, the Kirwan Institute, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, and the Women’s Place, hosted the internationally recognized feminist social critic bell hooks as a Visiting Distinguished Professor. The theme for this visit was “Feminism, Power, Promise and Passion.” Two dialogues, one between bell hooks and Michelle Alexander, professor of Law at OSU and faculty affiliate of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, and one between bell hooks and Valarie Lee, Vice Provost for Diversity and Inclusion and professor of English, were informative and intellectually stimulating. Along with the two dialogues, bell hooks facilitated several small seminars with faculty and students. The department looks forward to hosting bell hooks again next year.
Revenge of the Women’s Studies Professor with Bonnie Morris In October 2011, WGSS hosted Bonnie Morris, a professor and author whose work has appeared in over sixty anthologies of women's writing, including the award-winning volumes Writers and Their Notebooks, First Person Queer and That Takes Ovaries! While at OSU, Bonnie starred in her very successful onewoman production called “Revenge of the Women’s Studies Professor” telling the story of her experiences battling academic sexism in the quest to teach women's history.
femUNITY Film Series to Last All Year The new WGSS undergraduate association, femUNITY, is hosting a film series this academic year. On October 15th, the first film, Jennifer’s Body, facilitated by Denise Fuller and J. Brendan Shaw, brought out more than 50 students from across campus. On November 15th, the second film Twilight Saga: Eclipse, facilitated by Amanda Rossie, attracted over 80 students. Further films and discussions facilitated by WGSS graduate students will be held once a month through May. We hope to continue the film series well into the future!
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Judith Mayne (top left), Susan Hartman (top right), Stacia Kock (bottom left) Ruby Tapia (bottom middle) and Rebecca Wanzo (bottom right).
We are sad to lose five of our colleagues this year as they move on to new stages in their academic and personal lives. Dr. Susan Hartmann came to OSU in 1986 to direct the then Center for Women’s Studies and was instrumental in the creation of the Department. She became a Professor in the Department of History focusing on American history and women’s history before retiring in the spring of 2011. Dr. Judith Mayne was a faculty member in Women’s Studies and influenced much of our interest in women and film. She became a Professor in the Department of French and Italian focusing on French and feminist film before retiring in the spring of 2011. Dr. Rebecca Wanzo joined the Women’s
Studies faculty in 2003. She taught courses on Black Feminist Theory, Black Women Writers, and Popular Culture. She moved to a new position as Associate Professor in Women’s Studies at Washington University, St. Louis. Dr. Ruby Tapia joined the Women’s Studies faculty in 2002 and transferred to comparative studies in 2005, continuing to teach in both areas. She now holds a new position as Associate Professor of English and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan. Dr. Stacia Kock was the department’s undergraduate advisor from 2008-2011. She completed her PhD in the spring of 2011 and took a position as Visiting Assistant Professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at the College of Wooster.
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FAREWELLS / Departing Friends By Lexie Beer
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SUPPORT / Share the Vision Name: ___________________________________________ Address: _________________________________________
Departmental Programs Professional Development Fund (627690) Department Fund (306738) Max Rice Jr. and Sarah Smith Fund (313141) Graduate Student Support (311584) Elizabeth Gee Distinguished Lecture in Ethics (313218)
__________________________________________________ Phone: ___________________________________________ Email: ____________________________________________ I have enclosed a generous gift of $__________________ to be directed into a Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies fund of my choice (choose from list on right)
Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies Research Projects Elizabeth Gee Small Grants Endowment (602449) Scholarships for Undergraduate Study Mildred Munday Scholarship (645073) Please contact me about my donation and departmental programs
Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies: 230 N Oval Mall, 286 University Hall, Columbus OH 43210 614.292.1021 PHONE | 614.292.0276 FAX | womstd.info@osu.edu EMAIL | wgss.osu.edu WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER
286 University Hall 230 N. Oval Mall Columbus, OH 43210