Sessions

Second Annual
4W Summit on Women, Gender and Well-being
and
40th Wisconsin Women and Gender Studies Conference

TRANSFORMATIVE EDUCATION:
Equity, Sustainability, Empowerment

Sessions

Friday, April 28, 2017 Session 1 Session 2 Session 3 Session 4 Session 5

Satuday, April 29, 2017 Session 6 Session 7 Session 8 Session 9

Friday, April 28, 2017
Session 1, 8:00-9:00 (concurrent sessions)

1A ~ Rm 121, Auditorium
Chimera® Self-Defense Program: Demonstration, Discussion and Overview of Rape Crisis Center’s Women’s Self-Defense Program

Self-defense classes for women have their roots intertwined with those of the anti-rape movement in the United States, from its beginnings in the 1960s. But are self-defense classes relevant today? The Rape Crisis Center has been offering Chimera® Self-Defense Designed for Women classes in Dane County for decades. It is an Empowerment Self-Defense (ESD) program, defined by its focus on the realities of sexual assault rather than fear-based myths, and teaches verbal and psychological skills in addition to physical ones. ESD places violence against women in a social/institutional context, framing self-defense for women as radical social activism. The presenters will look at how the ESD model addresses critics’ concerns that self-defense classes are inherently victim-blaming (teaching women that they are responsible for their own safety) and that only education is true prevention. They will also discuss current questions: How can Chimera® address the specific safety realities of marginalized, specifically non-binary, folks? How can we achieve both our goals of inclusivity and emotional safety? And how do we make these decisions clear in the language we use to talk about our curriculum? This workshop will begin with a mini-Chimera® class, followed by a discussion of pedagogical and inclusivity practices.

• Natalie DeMaioribus, Education Programming Coordinator & Chimera Instructor, Rape Crisis Center
• Eileen Zeiger, Director of Education and Outreach Programming, Rape Crisis Center

1B ~ Rm 213
Planning for Accountability Against Gender-Based Violence

Addressing gender-based violence within activist spaces through community accountability
Activist groups, no matter how progressive, still can have instances of gender-based violence within their membership and communities. When addressing these problems some communities of color and queer organizations may not find the legal system safe, relevant or useful. Community accountability measures then become beneficial to addressing these problems as the tactics attempt to replicate the helpful functions of law enforcement, such as interrupting harmful acts, determining responsibility, and redressing harm outside the framework of the state and focusing on the particular needs of the community. This paper will address different community accountability tactics that activist organizations have used to address gender-based violence within their organization, both as a preventive and reactionary measure. Using this framework, I will explore Occupy Wall Street’s response to sexual assaults within the New York camps using a content analysis of newspaper accounts of the assaults, the internal responses from the organizations, and their statements to the public. I argue that community accountability programs are more effective when there is a plan in place prior to acts of violence in addition to creating and maintaining spaces that address male accountability within activist communities.

• Abigail Barefoot, Graduate Student, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, University of Kansas

Sexual Abuse by professionals: a focus on Prevention and Support- The Wisconsin Experience
The presenter will share Information about the advocacy and education efforts happening in Wisconsin to prevent Sexual Abuse. Individuals with lived experience are at increased risk for sexual exploitation. There has been a strong focus on educating providers about sexual boundaries and ethics, but education of consumers has not received much attention or focus. This workshop will address the common warning signs, the effects of sexual exploitation in treatment settings, educating consumers about their rights, options for reporting and support.

• Ellie Jarvie, Consumer Affairs Coordinator, Department of Health Services, State of Wisconsin
• Karen M. Lane, Advocacy Specialist; Disability Rights Wisconsin

1C ~ Rm 225
Gender issues in teaching in traditionally male-dominated social sciences: student perceptions, gender identities, feminist pedagogies, and empowerment

This panel discusses various gender issues related to teaching in a male-dominated academic field. Does gender matter in how students perceive the knowledge and expertise of instructor? Do they see differences in pedagogies? Do students behave differently in the classrooms of male and female instructors? Student survey data will be used to outline the effect of instructor’s gender on the student-instructor relationship in the classroom.  Is the ideal of neutrality in the political science classroom useful? The presenters will discuss how gender, class, and race/ethnicity as topic, and as a classroom dynamic, challenge the notion of neutrality, particularly when the identities and standpoints of students are considered as directly connected to the experience of learning. The presenters argue in favor of gender awareness rather than gender neutrality, and explore the limits of SoTL research that effaces student identity. The session will conclude by Introducing the concept of embodied learning as a meaningful feminist pedagogy for the social sciences, offering evidence-based examples of how students conceptualize their learning styles and opportunities for “learning by doing” and how to “think through movement.”

• Katia Levintova, Associate Professor, Democracy and Justice Studies, UW-Green Bay
• Alison Staudinger, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Democracy and Justice Studies, UW-Green Bay
• Valerie H. Barske, Associate Professor of History, Coordinator of International Studies, UW-Stevens Point

1D ~ Rm 111
Changing Views: Feminism, Motherhood, and Overpopulation

Patriarchy, Misogyny, and Human Overpopulation: An Appraisal of Women’s Studies Scholarship
Feminist historians have long linked the growth of patriarchal society and the subjugation of women with this transition during the Neolithic period to agricultural societies and the birth of what we call civilization. But there is also a tendency to ignore or sideline the centrality of population growth as a causal factor in this development.  Gerda Lerner notes (The Creation of Patriarchy, 1986) both the connection of population growth with the rise of patriarchy and, by extension, the irrelevancy of patriarchy in an overpopulated modern age. … But Lerner does not see a direct causal link between simply the rise of population itself and the creation of patriarchy … arguing that, “as historians, we must abandon single-factor explanations,” as if that approach were self-evident. The presenter seeks to address what is arguably the central problem of sustainability in the modern world—human overpopulation—and its engagement, or lack thereof, in feminist, ecofeminist, and women’s studies scholarship.

• Elizabeth Harry, Adjunct Professor, History, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN

Has Motherhood Changed? What Young Mothers Understand About How The Women’s Movement Has Changed Their Role
Presenting the results of interviews with young women as to their understanding of the changes that have occurred with motherhood with the advent of Feminism.

• Gretchen Harry, retired, Minneapolis Public Schools

1E ~ Rm 227DE
Women and Finance through the Life Course:  Money and Meaning

This workshop will focus on new research on women and financial decision-making. Increasingly, women are at the helm of financial decision-making. Why? Partnerships are becoming more equal with both partners more likely to work outside the home. More women are the sole breadwinners and financial managers of their families. Women also live longer and are more likely to be making decisions for their partners and family members in old age. This presentation will explore the finances and gender through the life course and discuss the ways that decisions around money are value-laden because of the meaning behind purchases. For couples, conflicts around money are typically related to the values associated with specific financial decisions. For single mothers, research on the Earned Income Tax Credit illustrates how their purchases can help them provide their children with an “ordinary life.” Discussion will include what these research findings mean for women, their partners, and their financial planners, considering how to advise women through the applied research materials for the Money, Relationships, and Equality initiative.

• Christine Whelan, Clinical Professor, Director of Money, Relationships, and Equality (MORE) initiative, Consumer Science, School of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison

1F ~ Rm 112
Contemporary Russian Women:  Cultural and Political Agency

Woman’s face of contemporary Russian conservatism
Historically Russian women’s sociopolitical activity has always been associated with the strife for change. During the Russian revolutions at the beginning of the 20th century Russian women were a leading force in the dismantling of the Tsarist Empire and the establishment of the socialist state. When the Soviet Union reached a period of stagnation a number of Russian women turned to dissident activity. Russian women were active supporters of Perestroika and later, when revitalization of socialism was stalled and Russia entered a state of primitive accumulation of capital followed by corruption, Russian women formed a number of public organizations to correct society’s wrongs. Contemporary Russia, however, serves as a different example, when not a change but preservation of existing status quo becomes a realm of sociopolitical activity were Russian women distinguish themselves. The majority of Russian women not only supporting sociopolitical conservatism but becoming leaders in advancement of conservative values and even proponents of unprecedented anti-liberal restrictions upon Russian society. Presenters will address the causes of contemporary Russian women’s conservatism drawing on the passivity of women’s public organizations and the activity of conservative women at various levels of the Russian government and Duma.

• Svetlana Gertner, Professor, Culturology and Intercultural communications, Moscow State Institute of Culture
• Yuri Kitov. Professor of Arctic State Institute of Culture and Arts

Cultural interests of the Sakha women in the city of Yakutsk decision-making processes
It might seem like women in Russia, and especially in the far removed regions from Moscow, do not make any significant decisions that could influence politics, economy and sociocultural activity of the people. It is true that a number of women represented in regional governments and legislative bodies are not significant, but it is wrong to assume that women are not influencing the decision-making processes at all its levels. This presentation will introduce the results of the ongoing research on cultural interests of women’s segment of the Sahka (Yakutia) republic elite conducted in the republics capital Yakutsk in 2016/2017.

• Sargilana Ignatieva, Chancellor, Arctic State Institute of Culture and Arts
• Vera Nikiforova, Chancellor of Yakutia (Sakha) National School (University) of Music
• Yuri Kitov, professor, senior research fellow of the Arctic Institute of Culture and Arts

1G ~ Rm 232DE
Lens of Understanding: Analysis Through Rhetoric and Experience

Certified Professional Midwives and the Rhetoric of Blame
In the U.S., home birthing practices of Certified Professional Midwives (CPM) have been widely deliberated as a public health issue, including a debate in the New York Times (Tuteur, 2016) questioning home birth’s relative risk. Even through rhetoric scholars have examined midwifery practices (Lay, 2000; Davic-Floyd & Johnson, 2006; Hensley Owens, 2015), none have examined the specific persuasive appeals that midwifery organizations employ on their websites to encourage women to home birth. This presentation addresses how two major CPM organizations’ official websites use blame to persuade women toward specific health care. Specifically, the presenter will conduct a discourse analysis of both websites to show the persuasive value of placing blame on institutions—including the U.S. government, health insurance providers, and the medical establishment—to show how CPM’s persuade women that home birthing is a safe and reliable choice for both mother and baby.  Arguing that shifting blame to the institutional failings of the medical establishment obscures the risks that mothers undertake during CPM-supervised home births they will conclude, this project, by closely examining the role of blame in two CPM websites, sheds new light on the issues of risk communication in U.S. midwifery and homebirth.

• Sara Doan, PhD Student, English, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Students with disabilties: Challenges in teaching and learning in Higher Education
The presenter shares a study that addresses the challenges that educators and students encounter in a teaching and learning environment through the lens of a female student with hearing impairment navigating through day-to-day academic life. Qualitative and quantitative methods are used to collect and analyze data. The study is designed to understand and explore innovative ways to serve students with disabilities in higher education.

• Ganga Vadhavkar, Assistant Professor, Communication & Journalism, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

1H ~ Rm 209
Feminist To-Do List: From Classroom to Action
In this interactive presentation, the presenter will introduce her classroom workshop ‘The Feminist To-Do List.’ This workshop pushes participants to transform their interest in feminist social justice into concrete action steps they can take in their daily lives to cultivate a more just world. After introducing a list of roughly 10 feminist topics (i.e. racism, sexism, affordable health care, etc.), participants must rank them in order of which they feel is most pressing to work on and then are separated into groups based on their top choice. Each group must then reach a conclusion of three tasks they can realistically do every day in service of fixing this social justice issue. This workshop serves to help participants translate their scholarly pursuits into activism as well as remind them that, nebulous as these problems may seem, they can be solved with incremental steps of positive change made regularly. Moreover, by encouraging folks to examine what is most important to them, they can begin to seek out local organizations or begin their own based on their priorities instead of remaining frozen in the notion that they can’t make social change happen, a state too many of us find ourselves in too often.

• Nicole Rudisill, Graduate Student, Gender & Women’s Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison

1I ~ Rm 313
Connecting Girls Across the Globe: Art, Education, and Feminist Grassroots Activism
Dr. Christine Garlough and Dr. Manisha Pathak-Shelat organized the development of the South Asian Feminist Activism Archive (SAFAA) in 2013. This site is dedicated to the digital preservation of feminist protest posters from India and Nepal that have both historical and contemporary significance. These posters – artwork often deteriorating and unattainable to audiences outside the localities in which they were produced – chronicle an important history of grassroots feminist activism. Working together with South Asian activists, Garlough and Shelat created a digital archive housed through the University of Wisconsin Library system (http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu/collections/GenderStudies). This presentation explores the formation of their initial working relationships with Indian feminist grassroots organizations. They consider the group’s shared pedagogical mission to create a website that hosts a cross-disciplinary curriculum and informational materials for activists and teachers, and discuss a set of art and activism poster activities that use social media to connect girls in the United States, South Asia, and Uganda to discuss feminist issues that are of daily concern.

• Christine Garlough, Professor, Gender and Women’s Studies UW-Madison

Friday, April 28, 2017
Session 2, 1:00-2:00 (concurrent sessions)

2A ~ Rm 325
Transformative Feminist Teaching Praxis
This roundtable discussion will focus on teaching feminist praxis in Women’s and Gender Studies classrooms and programs. While feminist praxis is a central concept and goal of the field, instructors, students and programs approach feminist praxis in a variety of ways and in a range of depth and sophistication. For Women’s and Gender Studies students, what kinds of experiences and assignments are especially transformative? How do Women’s and Gender Studies programs intentionally integrate feminist praxis into the curriculum? How do programs support community engagement? Discussion will center on everything from program learning outcomes to best practices in assignment creation.

• Ashley Barnes-Gilbert, Instructor, Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
• Dong Isbister, Assistant Professor, Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Wisconsin-Platteville
• Ellie Schemenauer, Associate Professor, Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

2B ~ Rm 209
Creativity and Feminist Community Activism

Creative communication: transforming learning through creative processes
This presentation discusses how creative processes, especially forms of creativity such as paper and fiber arts, can be integrated into both formal and informal classrooms to achieve particularly empowering ends for students. I make the link between these tactile forms of art and their ability to communicate personal experiences, and the implementation of these processes in learning settings to allow for exchange of ideas in personal and affective ways that build community. Further, I specifically discuss how orienting students towards a process of creativity, rather than towards creative products, fosters the flexibility needed to attend to these highly individual experiences and ideologies in collaborative settings. I draw on a series of community crafting workshops I ran in the spring of 2017 through the Madison Public Library Bubbler program to illustrate this. Ultimately, I argue that integrating creative processes into the classroom afford individuals the authority and voice to begin conversations and community building, transforming the classroom into a collaborative space of learning.

• Rae Moors, Graduate Student, Gender and Women’s Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison

The Women Who Fought the Mine; Or How I Learned that Everything Feminists Say is True, and (Mostly) Lost Anway
This presentation is a personal, creative non-fiction essay narrates and analyzes events between 2010 and the present, when a group of (mostly) women in or near the rural township of Union, Waupaca County, Wisconsin unsuccessfully opposed the opening of a silica strip-mine that would supply several area foundries with the sand necessary for the forging process. An analysis of the global economic forces that led to the opening of this particular mine – especially Wisconsin’s role as a raw-materials supplier in the hydraulic fracturing industry — is overlaid with (often humorous and not unsympathetic) observations of rural Wisconsin culture. Ecofeminist theory gives this essay a lens, bringing into focus the ways in which a pervasive patriarchy devalues both women and the environment in interconnected, self-defeating, and self-reinforcing ways. At the same time, the substructures of social power created by women can – and in this case did – have a significant mitigating impact, which this essay examines and celebrates. “We can’t be a Ladies Aid Society,” warned one of the mining opposition’s earliest organizers. “They’ll never take us seriously.” She was right. Mostly. It’s that “mostly” – both sides of it – that this essay explores.

• Angela Williamson Emmert, senior lecturer, English; Gender & Womens Studies, University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley

2C  ~ Rm 232DE
Transformation and Empowerment from Within

Using Mindfulness to Transform Women’s Gender Oppression:Freeing Ourselves From the Inside Out
The presenter argues that although we fervently believe in gender equality, women’s minds have been conditioned to create habits of thinking that keep us caught in the culture’s oppressive gender bias. The habit of looking to others for approval while ignoring our authentic experience is deeply rooted in our gender conditioning, breeding chronic insecurity and self-doubt. It is no surprise women experience 2-3 times more anxiety and depression than men. Mindfulness, an ancient method for reducing suffering, is an effective remedy for transforming these disempowering habits, which all too often deprive the world of our wise womanly ways. Science has shown mindfulness to be highly effective in changing neural patterns in the brain, which then shifts conditioned habits in the mind. From a feminist perspective, this presentation by a community-based psychotherapist will document the latest research on mindfulness, and describe a meditation class specifically designed for women to transform these oppressive mental patterns. Taught for 20 years, based on significant results from a pilot study, participants find that by learning to relate to their experience mindfully, disempowering thought patterns wither while acceptance, confidence and self-empowerment deepens. Mindfulness develops the freedom to live authentically. A guided meditation will give attendees a taste of mindfulness.

• Mare Chapman, Mindfulness teacher and psychotherapist, Lives Unlimited, author of Unshakeable Confidence, the Freedom to be Our Authentic Selves: Mindfulness for Women.

Empowerment through Authentic Leadership: Leading from Within
We are All Leaders. There are simple ways that each of us can use our personal experiences and knowledge to lead. In every moment of our life we are setting an example and making a statement about who we are. And the central responsibility of a leader is to consciously and purposefully set an example of how to be a whole, engaged human being. As leaders we want to help others engage in their own life and conversations.  An exploratory tool called the Conversational Arc will be introduced that can be used for you and for those who you serve. (This workshop is based on upcoming book: The Red Thread: A Journey to True Self & True Community/Based on the Teachings of Parker J Palmer and Julie’s present book: The Zero Point Agreement: How to Be Who You Already Are.)  “Leadership is a concept we often resist. It seems immodest, even self-aggrandizing, to think ourselves as leaders. But if it is true that we are part of a community, then leadership is everyone’s vocation, and it can be an evasion to insist that it is not. When we live in the close-knit ecosystem called community, everyone follows and everyone leads.” Parker J Palmer, Let Your Life Speak

• Julie Tallard Johnson, MSW, Psychotherapist, Adult Educator, Writing Sherpa, UW, Continuing Studies-Madison, Private Practice: Healing Services Over The River, LLC

2D ~ Rm 112
Tending to the Time We Take:  Women and Well-being in Agriculture
What do we need to tend to most to support women’s well-being in agriculture? Through a mix of story sharing, discussion, and personal reflection the presenters will take us on a journey to Senegal, Vietnam, Haiti, the Midwest and beyond and glean insights into how women farmers are realizing an enhanced quality of life through their work with food systems, peer to peer learning and organizing, and expanding the gardens of our hearts.  Leave the session inspired and with some food for thought in thinking about what we need to tend to most during our brief time on this beautiful planet?

• Erin Schneider, Farmer Educator, Global Health Institute and CALS Study Abroad, Farm and Industry Short Course, College of Ag and Life Sciences, UW-Madison, and Hilltop Community Farm
• Christine Welcher, Michael Fields Agriculture Institute, East Troy, WI
• Anne Drehfal, Regenerative Roots and Wild Abundance Farm, Jefferson, WI

2E ~  Rm 225
Level Up: A Feminist Gaming Initiative

Video games have the potential to promote teamwork, cooperation, and academic and time management skills (Alawami & Ku, 2016; Pew Research Center, 2015). However, these benefits may not be equally accessible to all populations, especially considering the pervasive sexism women experience in online video game environments (Fox & Tang, 2014). Additionally, theories such as black cyberfeminism (Gray, 2016) have furthered knowledge regarding intersectional experiences in digital spaces. To bring theory to practice, the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Women’s Center started a program titled, Level Up: A Feminist Gaming Initiative. Drawing from both theory about and personal experience with video gaming, the Women’s Center staff leads critical discussions with students, faculty, and staff about inequities within select video games, while also playing the games, as feminist praxis. This interactive workshop will demonstrate how feminist video gaming initiatives can be one approach to transformative education about equity and can make video gaming an empowering experience for all.

• Eliza Farrow, Program Assistant, Women’s Center, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
• Alicia Johnson, Women’s Center Director, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh

2F ~ Rm 313
Ending Gender-based Violence and Rape Culture:  Youth Leading the Way

GameChangers: A Youth-Led Fight to End Rape Culture in Dane County
With high schools that are committed to changing the culture of sexual violence, the Rape Crisis Center’s Youth Advisory Board, GameChangers, are building change and leadership across Dane County.  Presenters explore the success and challenges of Rape Crisis Center’s GameChangers program.  A diverse group of sixteen high-school students who are responsible for educating themselves, their fellow board members, and community stakeholders and policy makers about the root causes of sexual assault and rape culture; including rigid gender roles and expectations, culture of hypersexualization, acceptance of violence over systemically oppressed groups, and sexual entitlement and cultural misperceptions of consent. In response to exploring these root causes, the GameChangers are offering policy recommendations to their high schools and developing a number of projects designed to address to these issues.

• Eileen Zeiger, Director of Education and Outreach Programming, Rape Crisis Center

Mobile Digital Storytelling and Gender-based Violence from New York City to St. Petersburg, Russia
In 2014 and 2015, the U.S. State Department awarded Footage Foundation a U.S.-Russia Peer-to-Peer Dialogue Program Award for its project, Girl-talk-Girl. Through this initiative and in partnership with the Russian LGBT Network, young women in New York City and St. Petersburg have engaged in workshops, designed a mobile storytelling application, and produced and shared digital stories of their experiences with gender-based violence. To date, the lives of more than 70 young women have been impacted, more than 50 stories have been produced, and an open-source toolkit has been designed for NGOs to facilitate dialogue on gender-based violence. Evaluations thus far show that Girl-talk-Girl is a powerful channel for the voices of young women, producing positive change at individual, community, and global levels. Footage measures its impact on five drivers of change: compassion and empathy, education, awareness, community and connection, and advocacy. Each driver serves as an end goal in itself and catalyzes change aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. (Footage was founded by social science PhD graduates from Cambridge University and designs community-based, participatory programs that amplify the underrepresented voices of young people on challenging global issues, using local technology, multimedia methods, and other narrative tools.) Visit girltalkgirl.org for more information.

• Kathryn Weenig, Undergraduate Student, Art, Footage Foundation

2G ~ Rm 326
Feminist Readings in Science Fiction

The Handmaid’s Tale in 2017
Margaret Atwood’s mid-80’s feminist dystopia took aim at the coalescing conservatism of the Reagan era in the US. Shortly after the presidential election of 2016, I made some changes to my book orders for the spring semester, replacing one of Atwood’s more recent novels in my Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies course with The Handmaid’s Tale.  Clearly, I am not the only person thinking in these terms. Some of the signs noted during the Women’s Marches on January 21, 2017 made direct reference to Margaret Atwood’s work, including “Make Margaret Atwood Fiction Again,” and a few that wanted to make it clear that The Handmaid’s Tale “is NOT an instruction manual!” (Levine, Bustle). This presentation will address the relevance of Atwood’s text in our current moment, both in the classroom and beyond.   In the tradition of the “critical dystopia,” Atwood’s novel traces the way power operates, giving readers essential lessons into the art of paying attention. Offred, the protagonist, is particularly adept at making use of the limited tools of resistance available to her, including through her memories of another way of living, and her narrative of how things changed. Elsewhere, I have argued that the multiplicity of genres in The Handmaid’s Tale, along with a complex and unstable narration, provide a certain hopefulness in an otherwise very dire text (Lacey, The Past That Might Have Been). That hopefulness, and the ethics it engenders, are precisely why Atwood’s novel endures and remains so important.

• Lauren Lacey, Director, Women’s and Gender Studies, Associate Professor of English, Edgewood College

Women and Science in Current Chinese SF
The presenter will introduce descriptions of women’s involvement with the scientific community in China through novels and fiction by Chinese SF authors (in translation also) including Liu Cixin (San Ti or Three Body Problem, Hou (Folding Beijing) and Xia Jia (Love and Sorrow).  Concentrating on a group of representative stories rather than the entire corpus, with a focus on female scientists and researchers and the differences in expectations for scientific cultures in China and the West. Several of the authors have won awards in their own country AND international awards for the fiction-in-translation and demonstrate a very different ‘take’ on women’s roles as scientists than we see in the West. Some have been optioned for film productions and, through the work of translators such as Ken Liu, have been introduced to the non-Chinese speaking audience.

• Janice Bogstad, Professor, Head of Technical Services and faculty for Honors, graduate, women’s studies and Asian Studies programs, McIntyre Library and various interdisciplinary programs, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

Emergent Feminist Meta Ethics in though Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: a Modern-Day Prometheus            
In this presentation the presenter contends that, though Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: a Modern-Day Prometheus is often read as a cautionary tale about the limits of knowledge and scientific investigation, and perhaps even a critique of the Enlightenment, it is also ripe for a deeper and perhaps more subtle feminist critical approach. The paper will demonstrate that it is in fact an early literary account of the development of a feminist Meta-ethical position, and argue that Mary Shelly in Frankenstein: a Modern-Day Prometheus problematizes the Augustinian sense of evil which contends that children are born evil into the world, thus there is no hope of redemption outside of the church, and further argues that the novel can be read through the apparently Anglican Episcopalian view on evil, that children are not born evil into the world, but rather, they come into evil in an evil world. Thus the monster is not evil by nature but rather made into a monstrosity by the monstrousness of the world. This observation brings to mind the position of the French feminist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir, who contended in her monumental work The Second Sex that woman is made not born. Might we not say the same about socially constructed monstrosity? Thus the novel is a critique of early 19th c. version of what was to be embodied by Jacques Derrida’s neologism phallogocentrism.

• Philip Kaveny, (second degree) BA undergraduate Student, Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

2H ~ Rm 111
Re-imagining the Introductory Course
This workshop will engage the audience in questions about the “imaginings” that should–but too often don’t–preface our teaching of the introductory WGS course: Who is in the classroom? What difference should we be taking into account regarding who the students are to influence in how we teach this course? What can WGS offer this particular group of students (rather than some generic or assumed group)? What histories, events, and intellectual habits do we feel obligated to “pass on” in the name of doing the discipline? And what if student needs and disciplinary obligations don’t align? What are the effects on perceptions of the field if we are saving the complications and paradoxes about these histories, events, and habits until upper division courses that most intro students will never take? What is the relationship of this course to the rest of the curriculum in our diverse locations?  The presenters, including one who is an author of new text-reader for the introductory class (Everyday Women’s and Gender Studies: Introductory Concepts, Routledge 2017), will work through these questions, inviting other instructors who teach the WGS intro to join in asking themselves about the possibilities opened up through a reconsideration of audiences, tone, examples, and organization.

• Catherine Orr, Professor and Chair, Critical Identity Studies, Beloit College
• Karlyn Crowley, Professor, Women and Gender Studies, St. Norbert

2I ~ Rm 227DE
Bodies of Knowledge within Gendered Campus Spaces and Environments
In this roundtable students from Edgewood College will discuss issues pertaining to gendered spaces/environments at institutions of higher education, and how this gendering shapes the way bodies of knowledge are understood and implemented. Issues will include one student’s experiences of studying abroad (in Seoul, South Korea), bystander intervention training at Freshman orientations, a community-mapping project of power dynamics within campus spaces, the effects of pop-up poetry sessions in campus dining halls, and whatever arises in discussion.

• Manning Moore, Undergraduate Student, Women’s and Gender Studies, Sociology, Edgewood College
• Rhea Lyons, Undergraduate English/Women’s and Gender Studies Student, Edgewood College
• Halie Tenor, Undergraduate Religious Studies/English Student, Edgewood College
• Bonni Briggs, Undergraduate English/Women’s and Gender Studies Student, Edgewood College

2J ~ Rm 121
Principles in Women’s Philanthropy: Making an Impact through Giving
Women’s philanthropy is a hot topic but what does it mean for you? Women make transformational impact in their communities in many ways through giving their time, talent, and treasures.  Hear from women’s philanthropy leaders who will describe what you need to know to advance your philanthropy efforts – ranging from making your personal giving more impactful to securing more resources for the causes you care about.

• Diane Ballweg, one of Wisconsin’s leading philanthropists, board chairs and women’s advocates. Ballweg is the chair of the Board of Governors of the Madison Community Foundation. She has served as board and campaign chair for scores of Madison, Wisconsin and national arts, educational, social service organizations including the Wisconsin Historical Society, the Children’s Museum, Madison Youth Symphony Orchestra, Porchlight and the Kennedy Center. Ballweg was one of the three founding benefactors of the UW-Madison 4W Initiative and leading benefactor and board member for Madison’s A Fund for Women.

• Martha Taylor, national women’s philanthropy leader and co-author of the three seminal books on women’s philanthropy; Vice President, University of Wisconsin Foundation; and co-founder of the Women’s Philanthropy Institute, Lily School of Philanthropy, UW-Madison. 4W Initiative Fellow and Leadership Circle member; Donor Engagement Chair for Madison Community Foundation Board of Governors; a founding members of Madison’s Fund for Women; and active board and philanthropic leader.

• Moderator:  Angela Davis, Director of Development for the Madison Community Foundation with responsibility for A Fund for Women and regional efforts. She has had key roles in philanthropy organizations supporting higher education and cultural organizations.

2K ~ Rm 213
New Feminist Publications:Desire in Transnational Lit and Queering Popular Culture

Marginalization and Power in Popular Culture
The presenter will discuss her upcoming book examining five popular culture texts—The Walking Dead, Jessica Jones, True Blood, X-Men, and Harry Potter—through the lens of Michel Foucault’s notions of normalizing and bio-powers. Part of the pleasure of these series is their seemingly progressive message of tolerance and acceptance of those who are different from dominant cultural norms. By examining these issues through Michel Foucault’s work, feminist post-structuralism, critical race theory, queer theory, and intersectionality, however, I argue that mere tolerance and acceptance can work to mask and maintain systems of domination, in which difference remains marginalized in the midst of tolerance.

• Lisa King is Associate Professor of Philosophy, Edgewood College, Madison, WI

Unveiling Desire: Fallen Women in Literature, Culture, and Films of the East
The presenters will discuss their forthcoming anthology which focuses on nineteenth and twentieth century works featuring female characters who are “fallen” because they transgress social, religious and moral boundaries in the fiction, media, and material actualities of the East. The book’s theoretical orientation lies at the intersection of race, ethnicity, religion and feminist and postcolonial analysis. Unveiling Desire contributes to developing transnational feminist conversations by acknowledging women’s common suffering differences in order to fashion beneficial, equitable partnerships, alliances, and coalitions, and collaborations. (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 268 pages. Forthcoming, summer 2017. Foreword by Nawal el Saadawi).

• Devaleena Das, Lecturer, Department of Gender and Women’s Studies,  and Honorary Fellow, Institute for Research in the Humanities, UW-Madison, Madison, WI
• Colette Morrow, Professor of English, Purdue University Calumet Hammond, IN

Friday, April 28, 2017
Session 3, 2:15-3:15 (concurrent sessions)

3A – Rm 111
Affinity in Struggle: Fostering Inter-ethnic Solidarity in the Feminist Movement
Drawing from the legacies of Afro-Asian, Queer API and QTPOC activists as catalysts for social change, this workshop will incorporate social justice pedagogy, feminist theory and grass-roots organizing tools to empower participants as change agents, and to build coalitions across ethnicity, race, faith and other intersecting identities. Discussion and skill-building activities will focus on finding affinity in our seemingly disparate struggles (racial justice, gender justice, immigration rights, and so forth) and the power of transformative leadership.

• Anjali Misra, Academic Staff, College of Letters & Science, UW-Madison

3B ~ Rm 227DE
To Offer Compassion: A History of the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion
Join the authors of To Offer Compassion: A History of the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion for a discussion of their book, to be published on May 16th, 2017 by the University of Wisconsin Press (early copies will be available at the Summit).  Not many people know the story of the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion (CCS). The group was founded in 1967 in New York City and was the first organization in the U.S. to publicly offer abortion referrals. By the time the group ceased operation in 1973, it had approximately 3,000 members throughout the U.S. and had referred close to half a million women to safe abortion providers before Roe v Wade. The story of the CCS is an unusual one: it was overwhelmingly a white, male middle- and upper-middle class, middle-aged group of mainline Protestant and Jewish clergy. Yet it really was a radical, feminist, populist group: radical in that it sought an overthrow of existing abortion laws; feminist in that it worked to return women to power over their reproductive choices; populist in that it strove to serve women of every socioeconomic status, race, and religion. Learn more about the topic in order to incorporate this largely unknown history into your courses.

• D.A. Dirks, Independent Scholar
• Pat Relf Hanavan,  Independent Scholar

3C ~ Rm 232DE
Strategies for Improving Predominantly White Institutions for Students of Color and Teaching Cultural Competence

We Belong Here: Re-framing the STEM experience with Students of Color at a Predominantly White Institution
This presentation should particularly benefit faculty and staff who are interested in learning how to build culturally relevant retention programs to underrepresented students, particularly in the STEM fields. It explores the pre-nursing to nursing undergraduate student pipeline for students of color. Because nursing students have to apply to the nursing school as college sophomores, there is a racial achievement gap within many of the STEM prerequisite courses (e.g. Physiology). Using the framework of the “sophomore slump” and Bourdieu’s (1996) social stratification model, the presenters developed a study that assessed the current academic and social landscape for STEM students of color at a predominantly white institution. Through focus groups and individual interviews, they utilize social justice narrative inquiry methods to assess what factors impact pre-nursing and nursing students of color decision to stay in the nursing major, concentrating on the intersections of race/ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, and geographic region. Based on the data, they continue to build strategic institutional policies and practices to directly address these needs. Their intention is to provide pre-nursing and nursing students of color a stronger sense of belonging, a more distinctive nursing philosophy with a social justice framework, and empowerment to diversify the nursing workforce.

• Mel Freitag, Director of Diversity Initiatives, School of Nursing, UW-Madison
• Theresa Watts, PhD students in Nursing, UW-Madison: School of Nursing

Teaching Cultural Competence: A Feminist Approach
The presenters take an interdisciplinary approach to examining the ways in which world language learners and students in intercultural communication are unconsciously being exposed to and utilizing feminine and feminist theories and learning strategies. They contend that achieving intercultural competence—behavioral, affective, and cognitive competence—require a focus on relationships reflective of Gilligan’s Ethic of Care in which communicators acknowledge all participants have a voice and are prepared to listen to the other. Further, intercultural competence generally aligns with Hofstede’s concept of feminine culture in which cooperation, caring for others, and consensus, are viewed as essential. Without accessing concepts such as an ethic of care and feminine culture, teachers and learners may learn about cultures and languages through cognitive and behavioral methods such as learning about geography, history, and grammar, ultimately competence will require more participatory, observation and listening-based strategies such as role-playing and perspective-taking activities. The presenters will provide specific examples of the various ways cultural competence is taught in language and communication courses, highlighting the relationship to feminist theory. They argue that more overtly aligning intercultural competence with feminist theory not only improves competence but it further legitimizes feminine epistemology.

• Tricia Clasen, Professor, Communication and Theatre Arts, UW Colleges
• Rachel Knighten, Associate Professor of Spanish, UW-Fox Valley, Menasha

3D ~ Cancelled

3E ~ Rm 225DE
Gender, the Body, and Empowerment through Sport

Transgender Bodybuilding: Negotiating Sex, Gender, Masculinity, and the Body
Participation in bodybuilding by people, who identify as transgender, particularly transgender men, is gaining increasing media (Bella, 2015; Lovett, 2016) and scholarly (Farber, 2016) attention. Farber (2016) argues that online message boards provide space where transgender bodybuilders can negotiate and co-construct sex, gender, and the body. Additionally, fitness and bodybuilding as a “trans practice” (Farber, 2016) can also help people negotiate or modify their bodies and other personal identifiers. The goal of this presentation is to reflect on this literature and provide a first person experience with transgender bodybuilding, including the ways in which the first author has negotiated his body and masculinity through bodybuilding. The first-person account will be framed in existing literature about both cisgender and transgender self-image, masculinity, and bodybuilding. The presentation will conclude with suggestions for future scholarship and the ways in which transgender bodybuilding can be used as an interdisciplinary pedagogical tool to challenge normative constructions of sex, gender, and the body.

• Micah Coates, Undergraduate Student, Women’s Center, Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, recognized by the UW-Oshkosh Women and Gender Studies Program as a 2017 recipient of the WGSC Undergraduate Student Research Conference Presentation Award
• Alicia J. Johnson, Women’s Center Director, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
• Susan Rensing, rensings@uwosh.edu, Associate Professor of History and Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh

Empowering Women and Girls in Physical Activity and Sport
Physical activity and sport engagement is associated with multiple positive physical, social, and emotional outcomes for women and girls. For instance, physical competence, skill development, and physical activity participation are all strongly correlated with positive self-esteem and self-perceptions. Unfortunately, females of all ages are less active than males and report lower perceptions of competence, self-esteem, and body image. Overwhelming evidence supports that physical activity and sport contexts remain male-dominated and consistently reproduce traditional gender stereotypes for behavior and the body. In a setting that emphasizes physicality, physical performance, and physical competence, the body becomes a substantial source of social capital and tool to publicly demonstrate proficiency. With the body on display and under intensified social surveillance in such a traditionally hegemonic context, females frequently experience a wide array of negative consequences. Therefore, this presentation will provide an overview of current literature and original research highlighting the distinct set of barriers to participation, engagement, and enjoyment women and girls experience in physical activity and sport. In addition, practical and evidence-based strategies that are applicable to a variety of disciplines will be provided.

• Emily Beasley, Assistant Professor, Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Coaching, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

3F ~ Rm 112
Empowering Nubian Women: A Cultural Perspective
Nubia is a region along the Nile River located in what is today southern Egypt and northern Sudan. Nubia possesses a rich cultural heritage reflected in its unique and distinctive art, architecture, music, and folklore. Nubia’s geographical isolation and linguistic distinctiveness reinforces the importance of addressing the challenges facing Nubian women today. Using videos and photos, the presenters will chronicle a project whose purpose was to empower Nubian women by helping them to revive, develop, and sell their local, folkloric handicrafts. Because Nubian women frequently face considerable obstacles to education due to family norms and local traditions, helping them create their own small businesses selling their native handicrafts provides them with a means of economic empowerment. Highlighting the uniqueness and beauty of Nubian dance, music, ceremonies, architecture, costumes, and the potentiality of integrating design with cultural environment, and describing the ways in which such projects enable Nubian women to preserve their cultural heritage while also raising awareness within the society at large, as well as among Nubian women themselves, of the value and importance of Nubian culture.

• Manal Kabesh, Fellow, Curriculum Development and Methodology, Egyptian National Center for Educational Research and Development
• Nancy Turner, Professor, History Department. University of Wisconsin-Platteville

3G ~ Rm 209
The Impact of Peer to Peer Youth Development in Ending Gender-Based Violence
Come join the presenters as they share how they continue to support the implementation of Gender-based Violence Prevention Education programming throughout WI. This workshop will provide an overview of primary prevention, the peer-to-peer youth development model and highlight programs throughout Wisconsin that are utilizing these approaches. They will share various resource and skills that contribute to the success of prevention programming while encouraging attendees to share their own expertise on the topic as well. They will explore and be introduced to how, as adults, we can create a safe and brave space that allows the expression and leadership from youth to emerge and flourish to impact community change.

• Stephanie Ortiz, Prevention & Public Awareness Coordinator, End Domestic Abuse WI
• Youth Presenters – TBD

3H ~ Rm 326
Transformative Feminist Pedagogy in Theory and Practice

Teaching Critical Thinking through Decolonized Pedagogy
The presenter will focus on three thematic areas of a transformative feminist pedagogy— democratic education, decolonized methodologies, and postcolonial discourse. Borrowing critical insights from bell hooks’ conceptualization of an “engaged pedagogy,” and “good education”— a “freedom” that emphasizes upon the principles of equality and social justice, and that challenges old hierarchies of race, class, and gender, and delve into issues concerning challenging hegemonic knowledge as a woman, establishing and maintaining authority in the classroom, and reclaiming the classroom as an international scholar and teacher of color. hooks may be invested in reshaping the future of public education specifically in the United States; nonetheless, her pedagogical philosophy has relevance for critical education beyond local contexts as it addresses intimate issues of gender, race, sex, and class from diverse standpoints, and from intersectional perspectives. The presenter identifies commonalities between a decolonized pedagogy that hooks encourages as a queer feminist woman of color finding agency through her marginality and postcolonial discourse’s attempts to formulate theory and praxis from its own perspectives and for its own purpose. A decolonized pedagogy engages with the theoretical self-sufficiency of knowledge systems and academic discourses other than those that have been standardized by western dominator cultures.

• Josephine Kipgen, Graduate Student, Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, University of Kansas

Twelve Things Teachers can do to Help their Students with Disabilities Achieve Success
What if all instructors presented information, assessed students and gave out assignments in such a way that the playing field was leveled, so that ALL students had an opportunity for success?   In this workshop, we present one dozen strategies to benefit all learners. The presenter’s evidence-based strategies are simple, easy to implement, and will not take much time or any money. These strategies work for students with invisible disabilities, such as those with attention deficit disorder as well as for students with obvious disabilities. In addition, they also work for those without a diagnosed disability, but who just have difficulty in the standard class setting.  They share the strategy, for whom it is most useful, and how it helps. Again, quick and easy will open the door. Come and get the keys.

• Rea Kirk, Professor, School of Education, UW-Platteville
• Laura Wendorf, Professor of English, Ethnic Studies and Women & Gender Studies. UW-Platteville.
•  Brenda Sunderdance, Assistant Director of Services for Students with Disabilities. UW-Platteville

3I ~ Rm 213

My Brilliant Career: Boundaries, and Borderlands in Contemporary Australian Women’s Writing
The presenters, a Wiradjuri writer and a transnational feminist critic of Australian literature, will examine women’s positionality and identity politics in contemporary Australian women’s writing.
Concerned with both the artist’s and the critic’s voice, they will consider the different barriers and boundaries they have experienced when claiming critical space and recognition.  They will address such questions as; Who defines identity? and Who has the privilege of the critic’s voice? The presenters will a) examine how identity influences experiences of equity, empowerment and sustainability, b) consider, on the continuum between integration and separation, what solidarity can women achieve in the Australian literary world, c) ask how women writers and critics from the margins can intervene in the assumptions and expectations of both conservatives and the liberals and define themselves.

Against the Grain
The focus of this discussion is to explore Aboriginal women’s writing in the twenty-first century from an insider’s perspective as a Wiradjuri writer, teacher, academic and activist. Particular attention will be given to questions of Aboriginal identity, both within the community itself and the broader settler nation; who defines identity; the persistence of post-colonial theory as a framework through which to read the literature of ALL women from the margins under the umbrella of oppression; and the tensions between the white-stream settler feminist movement and Aboriginal women’s rights, concerns and aspirations as Black women in Australia. The need for informed readers and critics to see Black Australian women’s experience and to read our works ‘against the grain’ of mainstream settler society will be explored.

• Jeanine Leane, Poet, Indigenous Visiting Research Fellow, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Australia
• Devaleena Das, Lecturer, Department of Gender and Women’s Studies, and Honorary Fellow, Institute for Research in the Humanities, UW-Madison, Madison, WI

3J ~ Rm 121 Auditorium
Making Social Change through Wisconsin Women’s FundsWisconsin has fourteen women funds throughout the state that work to improve the quality of life for women and girls.  Learn how women’s funds from a variety of communities across the state have identified common issues and are developing community specific solutions.  Working boards and strong messaging are key to the success of any organization. What are their challenges and what are they doing to implement success through board development and grant making? Their successes and challenges apply to women-led community action and other organizations.

Moderator: Diane Ballweg, one of Wisconsin’s leading philanthropists and women’s advocates.

• Sara Micheletti, Board President, Women’s Fund for the Fox Valley Region, Inc
• Susan M Hickey, Past Board Chair, Women’s Fund of Greater Milwaukee
• Sally O’Brien, Treasurer, Women’s Fund of Door County

3K ~ Rm 313
Stimulus for Change: Intersectionality of Culture, Gender Violence and Support Services

Those at the intersection of culture, cultural identity, and gender violence are more vulnerable to experience violence in their lives. The dynamics of differential experience in seeking support services further impediments their access to safety, healing, and justice. The overwhelming majority of mainstream services for survivors of violence marginalize the culturally specific needs of women of color. This workshop will engage participants in thought-provoking discussions that look at violence against women of color with an inclusive lens. Through interactive activities, participants will acquire tools and implement practical use of skills to better serve survivors of color at the intersection. During the workshop participants will: develop a foundational understanding of the dynamics of gender violence with survivors of color (Case study: Immigrant South Asian Women in USA.); acquire tools to better serve survivors of color at the intersection in respective context of work; and apply practical use of trauma-informed and culturally-aware knowledge and tools.

• Shani Kapoor, Registered Nurse/Board of Director, Huntsville Hospital/International Society of Huntsville, Alabama
• Sanjukta Chaudhuri (MWGD), Nonprofit Program Professional,
• Green Bay, WI.

Friday, April 28
Session 4, 3:30-4:30 (Concurrent Session)

4A ~ Rm 232DE
Undergraduate Research:  Exposing Invisibility
The three papers in this presentation were created in conversation through a Queer Theories and Politics course.  They examine differing approaches to marginality and violence, coupled with their relation to racism, homophobia, and classism. The first highlights an examination of the Indian Child Welfare Act through analysis of settler colonialism, white supremacy, and erasure of Native cultures. Homophobia and classism are explored through analyzing the exorbitantly high levels of queer homeless youth, and subsequent concerns of drug use and sex work, which are marginalized in mainstream LGBT politics. Gender-based violence is examined through the experiences of the shrinking community phenomenon and experiences of LGBT people. The three papers are brought together to examine marginality from a queer theoretical and activist lens.

• Jack Burk, Undergraduate Student, Winona State University
• Joelle Beyer, Undergraduate Student, Winona State University
• Hunter Beckstrom, Undergraduate Student, Winona State University

4B ~ Rm 313
Exploring the Promise of Place-Based Education and Ecojustice Approaches for Nurturing Youths’ Commitments to the Environmental Commons
This presentation will summarize experiences with and results of a mixed methods study of an ecojustice education model with middle-high school students from rural and urban communities in the U.S. Great Lakes region. Ecojustice pedagogy, closely aligned with ecofeminism, examines how modernist cultural discourses contribute to today’s social and ecological crises and how education can support resistance to the enclosure of the commons, the revitalization of the commons (Bowers, 2006), and the development of civic capacities for engendering democratic and sustainable communities (Martusewicz, et al., 2015). The Southeast Michigan Stewardship Coalition, SEMIS, uses an ecojustice approach in its place-based stewardship education (PBSE) that emphasizes the connection of students’ learning to their local culture and environment, while encouraging students, teachers, and community educators to work toward critical analysis of the cultural and historical mindset that impacts how they think of each other, the earth, their place in it and their responsibilities for it. Given the SEMIS Coalition’s emphasis on the application of PBSE in K-12 classrooms, our study concentrates on the potential of this practice for youth civic development and identification with the commons and explores how ecojustice as a pedagogical framework in teacher education influences students’ learning.

• Morgan Smallwood, Graduate Student, Civil Society and Community Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Erin Gallay, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Alisa Pykett, Graduate Student,  Civil Society and Communiity Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Constance Flanagan, Professor, Civil Society and Community Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison

4C ~ Rm 325
Psychological Discomfort and Well-Being at the Intersection of Art and Biology
Deeply uncomfortable experiences can inform the arts as well as the health sciences. Studying the impact of painful or traumatic experiences can lead to advancement toward psychological well-being and social justice, but also has the potential to cause psychological distress. Performance of art, through accessing potentially painful memories, has the duel potential to heal and to cause harm. A similar tension exists when studying the psychological and neurobiological mechanisms of traumatic memory. In both cases, educational practice revolves around maximizing the benefits of engaging these important topics while minimizing any lasting distress. Moreover, variation in traumatic and academic experiences as a function of gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, and disability suggests an ethical imperative to understand physical and psychological health from an intersectional point of view. How is psychological discomfort best engaged in education settings without tipping into lasting psychological distress? This panel brings together a collaborative group working at the intersection of the arts, clinical psychology, neurobiology, and gender studies. Together, their work seeks to explore the mechanisms and effects of painful or traumatic experiences, to place them in social context, and to communicate them effectively inside and outside of educational contexts.

• Ann Fink, Wittig Visiting Assistant Professor, Gender and Women’s Studies, UW-Madison
• Stephen Quintana, PhD,  Professor, Department of Counseling Psychology
• UW-Madison
• Adey Assefa, Assistant Director, Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives (OMAI),  UW-Madison
•  ** Possible student presenters

4D ~ Rm 227DE
Nursing and Women’s Leaders Can Partner to Promote Education about Women’s Health
Background: Although the primary focus of Nursing and Women’s Studies (WS) disciplines can differ, they have commonalities. Both disciplines are concerned with women’s well-being, committed to education, and comprised mostly of women. At times in U.S. history, nursing and WS leaders have, and have not, collaborated to advance women’s status and thus health. If members of these disciplines collaborated more often, then we could leverage our strengths to improve empowerment of and health equity for women through education. Our primary aim is to suggest ways in which nursing and WS could promote women’s health through collaborative educational efforts with students and community women. Methods Collaboratively, we (a) reviewed literature relevant to our aims and those of the conference, (b) reflected on this literature, and synthesized our ideas. Results: If WS students and faculty understood key values in nursing, then they could be more likely to collaborate to provide education for health promotion for women at risk for social and health inequities, specifically, women’s vets and low SES women. Nursing could benefit from applying feminist theories in their teaching philosophies and practices, as well as to their research. Nursing educators could collaborate with women’s studies faculty to make sure future nurse clinicians can apply intersectionality to patient care. Nursing and women’s studies leaders could build sustainable educational partnerships by creating more cross-listed courses and build the infrastructure to co-sponsor a women’s health certificate. Conclusion: If Nursing and WS leaders could grow and sustain educational partnerships, then they could improve the status of women together and mirror prior successful partnerships.

• Diane Lauver, PhD, RN, FAAN,  Nursing, UW Madison
• Lacey Alexander, RN, MS, PhD Candidate, UW Madison
• Jennifer Orshak, MA, BSN, RN, PhD Student, UW Madison

4E ~ Rm 213
Intersectional Approaches to Approaches to Addressing Sexual Assault

Imagining Survivorship Complexly: The Importance of Self-Narrative for Survivors of Sexual Assault
The presenter considers the importance of flooding our culture with complete, complex narratives of survivors of sexual assault (SA) that resist the reductionist presentation of SA survivors as generally faulty and only brave when they choose to report.   The presentation will explore the complexity of navigating the reporting process and how only focusing on policies and initiatives that encourage (and even coerce) people to report SA miss the incredibly complex experience of dealing and healing from Sexual Assault, as well as the barriers many people face in the very conception of the reporting process. Self-narrative of SA survivors counters this tendency and can also serve as a pedagogical tool that can improve exiting approaches to SA and can help us interpret the phenomenon in an intersectional manner, where we are able to recognize the many different experiences of different people with intersecting marginalized identities and how their relationships with our institutions can affect their choice to pursue official reporting routes. Ultimately the hope of having more complex self-narratives would allow us to create more effective and inclusive alternative responses for survivors of SA that would not rely solely on reporting and institutional approaches.

• Elena Espana-Regan, Graduate Student, Gender and Women’s Studies, UW Madison

Intersectionality of Oppression; how race, class, language, ect. can all influence sexual assault, domestic violence, and other forms of oppression
Historically black women and other women of color do not seek out help for sexual assault. More times than not, sexual assault services providers are the underlying cause behind this. Lack of diversity on staffing, intake policies and lack of cultural competency amongst many other factors prohibits women of color from seeking traditional services. The first half of this presentation looks at the intersectionality of oppression and how race, class, language etc. is keeping black women and other women from marginalized populations invisible in the sexual assault movement. The second half of the presentation addresses how to be an aspiring ally in the sexual assault movement. Specifically, the presentation focuses on answering the following questions: 1) What are the most productive actions privileged groups can take to be an ally?  2) What ethical concerns should aspiring allies keep in mind? And 3) How can we express the connection between sexual violence and other oppressions? This section will also include tips learned by a white aspiring ally while remaining accountable to women of color. This session is a mixture of lecture and discussion, with participation encouraged.

• Nestic Morris, Wisconsin Coalition Aganist Sexual Assault (WCASA)
• Jessi Corcoran, Prevention Coordinator, Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault (WCASA)

4F ~ Rm 225
Girls’ empowerment and One Health curriculum implementation with 4-H Ghana
Embodying the Wisconsin Idea globally, this project aims to enrich the curriculum of 4-H in Ghana by adding a “One Health” perspective, gender empowerment awareness and student-centered teaching methods. One Health refers to the interdependence of health (and disease) among human, domestic and free-ranging animals, and their shared ecosystems. It also embodies an integrated, multi-disciplinary approach to tackle important public health problems. Combining One Health and gender-based approaches reflects the important roles of woman and girls in livestock and crop food production around the world, and supports the concept that by enhancing young women’s well-being, one enhances agricultural productivity and family food security, reduces poverty, enhances education, and ultimately improves health and well-being for all. Twelve empowerment and eight One Health lessons were developed and are being refined after pilot-testing with 4-H club members in 20 junior high schools in Ghana. Ghanaian capacity was developed in part during a 5-day workshop for 4-H staff and club leaders/teachers, introducing both lesson content and approach. This session will review preliminary outcomes of the pilot program phase, funded by an Ira and Ineva Baldwin Reilly Wisconsin Idea grant at UW-Madison. We hope to extend the program to youth organizations elsewhere in Africa.

• Mary Crave, Extension Specialist, Cooperative Extension, University of Wisconsin-Extension
• Christopher Olsen, Processor Emeritus (Public Health), School of Veterinary Medicine, Associate Director Emeritus, Global Health Institute

4G ~ Rm 209

Fighting The Stigma of Incarceration and Poverty in Art and Activism
The presenter is a watercolor, paper, and embroidery artist. The focus of her work ranges from community portraiture to the experiences of mothering, poverty, incarceration, and sacred ritual. She shares images of her artwork while facilitating discussion regarding the themes of mothering, poverty, and incarceration. Much of her work highlights the contradictions, difficulties, and transformative beauty of mothering, particularly in a low-income setting. In one series she used discarded paperwork from the Wisconsin Department of Corrections to create mandalas. Each mandala features a labyrinth and silhouettes that were created using mug shot profiles of Wisconsin women. Also featured in the series were pencil-drawn portraits of Wisconsin women’s mug shot profiles, drawn on discarded DOC paperwork. The presenter is currently at work on a series of handmade books that address the experience of mothers utilizing state assistance to keep their families afloat. The artist aims to bring beauty and illumination to a topic that can make recipients feel surveilled, intruded upon, ashamed; or paradoxically grateful, relieved, and indebted to the state for providing such needed support.

• Madeline Martin, MFA Candidate/Gradate Student, Art & Design, University of Wisconsin-Milwauke

Building a Better Quality of Life for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women in Wisconsin
There over 14,000 women on probation/parole in Wisconsin and almost 1,500 women incarcerated in the Wisconsin Women’s Prison System. The women reentering our communities face stigma and discrimination. They face challenges in the areas of mental health, substance use disorder and trauma. More than eighty percent of women have co-occurring disorders and national studies show that trauma can be a path to incarceration. Incarcerated women are often the sole provider and caretaker of their children. It is essential that communities provide support for the women to obtain a better quality of life. This workshop will offer information and discussion on how humane treatment is lacking in the women’s prison facilities, how change can be implemented and what communities can do to provide support, skills and reduce recidivism. There will be an opportunity to hear women’s stories about their experience in the prison and community corrections systems.

• Alice Pauser, Executive Director, The Demeter Foundation, Inc.
• Others To be determined

4H ~ Rm 326
Radical Self-Care: Strategies for Self-Preservation during Challenging Times
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare,” Audre Lorde. In this experiential workshop, we’ll discuss the critical importance of self-care as a feminist act, a strategy of resisting the neoliberal University model, a crucial component of faculty development, and a potential pedagogical tool.  The presenters will share strategies for self-care during challenging times, and practice a few simple self-care exercises.

• Jessica Van Slooten, Professor, English and GSW, UW-Manitowoc
• Amy Reddinger, Professor, English and GSW, UW-Marinette

4I ~ Rm 111
Transitions and Intersections:  International Students in Midwestern Campuses

International Female Teaching Assistants: The Realities Of the U.S Classroom
How do female International Teaching Assistants coming from strongly patriarchal societies adjust to the flexibility that come with the U.S classroom without feeling inadequate or challenged as they discharge theory pedagogical duties. This presentation will lead a discussion of what constitutes healthy social networks for international females Teaching Assistants who also have their family here during the course of their educational sojourn

• Comfort Adebayo, Graduate Student, Communication, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

From the Middle East to the Midwest: The Transition Experiences of Saudi Female International Students at an Urban Midwest Campus
The 17,117 Saudi females on U.S. college campuses are optimistic about studying in the United States. However, the transition from their conservative home country to the dramatically different culture, language, and values of the United States may present various academic and social challenges. The increase of hate sentiments against Muslims evident in the U.S. in 2016 after the recent terrorist attacks in Europe and the United States, and the rhetoric of Republican Presidential, Donald Trump, who advocates banning Muslims from entering the States increase frustration and anxiety among Saudi females that could lead to unforeseen additional challenges. Transition theory, Schlossberg (1982), will be used to understand the transitional experiences of sophomore Saudi female undergraduate students by exploring what Schlossberg called the “Four S System:” self, situation, support, and strategies. An underlying phenomenological inquiry approach will be used to understand the lived experiences of ten sophomore Saudi female students attending an urban Midwest research university. Individual interviews followed by a focus group interview will explore the Saudi female students’ perceptions about their identities, the situations they faced as they transitioned from life in Saudi Arabia to life in the U.S., the strategies they implemented to cope with the transition, and the support they received.

• Alia Arafeh, Graduate Student, Urban Education, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee

4J ~ Rm 112
Local to Global:  The Power of Study Abroad for Women Students
Research on study abroad programs tends to focus on gender, if at all, merely to bemoan the dearth of male students in the programs. While the presenter agrees that these opportunities should be encouraged for all students, she is interested in learning more about the specific benefits for women. What attracts them to the programs? Why are they so much more intrepid than their fellow students? What do they gain from these experiences and how can we improve on them? Having taught American students abroad in Scotland, China, and Ireland, and having worked with American students in India, the presenter’s intent is to provide a brief review of the literature on this topic and to then share some of the feedback elicited from former study abroad students. In addition, with the use of study abroad, we are grooming a globally aware, culturally flexible, capable segment of the student population without giving them as much attention as they deserve.

• Julie Tharp, Professor, English and Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, UW Colleges

This presentation will highlight study abroad impacts for women. The presenter will draw on her experience co-teaching a new UW-Madison Study Abroad program that highlights agriculture’s impact on environmental and human health/well-being. All of the students who applied were women and while they have an interdisciplinary background, all shared that they were attracted to the program because of it’s focus on women and girl’s empowerment.

• Erin Schneider, Farmer Educator, Global Health Institute and CALS Study Abroad, Farm and Industry Short Course, College of Ag and Life Sciences, UW-Madison, and Hilltop Community Farm

4K ~ Rm 212 Auditorium
Branding Transformation: Intersectional Public Relations and Marketing as Story Making
Social Justice centers have many roles. Think women’s, gender, and/or identity centers where the educational, the communal, the nonprofit, the spiritual and the social converge. Yet how does one “brand” them, providing solidarity and meeting community needs while still maintaining the integrity of a progressive mission? This workshop proposes an exploration of social justice “branding,” communicating a story through intersectional public relations approaches. Values-driven social media, aesthetic-minded, inclusive graphics, experiential education pedagogy, unique programming praxis, and creative community partnerships shift the typical marketing model away from consumer heterogeneity. Instead, the presenters draw on start-up culture and marketing– typically not used in social justice work – to innovate in ways that catch the eye while they call toward social justice.

• Karlyn Crowley, Professor, Director of the Cassandra Voss Center, Women’s & Gender Studies, St. Norbert College
• Jaime Gonzalez, Assistant Director of the Cassandra Voss Center, St. Norbert College
• Amy Mrotek, Program Manager & Volunteer Coordinator at the Cassandra Voss Center,  St. Norbert College

Friday, April 28, 2017
Session 5, 4:45-5:45, (Poster Session)

All taking place in the Lee Lounge

5A ~ What Is Known About the Health of Marriage Migrants in Asia and the Roles of Nurses?
Similar to the “mail-order-bride” in western context, intra-Asia marriage migration has been an increasingly trending up phenomenon. Facing hardships from commercial marriage and migration, marriage migrants are at high risk of having health issues and experiencing disparities. However, little is known about the health of this growing population. This scoping review aims to: (1) map the field of research on Asian marriage migrants, (2) to understand nurses’ roles in this phenomenon. Four themes have been identified: (1) Physical wellness (e.g., reproductive health, oral health and transmittable disease); (2) Psychological wellness (e.g., depression, anxiety and stress); (3) General wellness (e.g. nutrition, quality of life and subjective health); (4) Social wellness (e.g., spousal violence, victimization and discrimination). Nurses were initiators or data collection facilitators of the included research studies, of which two were interventional and the rest were exploratory, either using primary data collected with community partners or secondary data from national studies/census. Research on Asian marriage migrants is at its embryo phase. Community partners and governmental data freedom are keys to understand and help this population. Clinicians, particularly nurses, serve important roles to identify and advocate their needs by initiating studies and delivering sensitive and culturally competent care.

•  Zhiyuan Yu, Graduate Student, School of Nursing, University of Wisconsin Madison School of Nursing

5B ~ Non-binary gender identity and pronouns usage
What does it mean to be a certain gender, and how does it define us as people?  Does it play a larger part of our identity than we think it does, or is society just using it too much as a binary, norm, or box that we must follow to “fit in”? Why are people more accepting of being gay or lesbian than of being transgender, non-binary, androgynous, or genderfluid (any gender other than male or female)? I would like to question why gender plays such a big role in our society. My poster would also include a discussion of pronoun use and how that has such an effect on people of other genders.

• Joanna (Jo) Niswonger, Undergraduate Student, UW-Marinette, recognized by the UW-Colleges Women and Gender Studies Program as a 2017 recipient of the WGSC Undergraduate Student Research Conference Presentation Award

5C ~ Feminist Research: Examining the Platform for the Movement for Black Lives
This poster explores the importance of the Movement for Black Lives through the lens of feminist theory. The papers explore the racialization of criminal injustice, mass incarceration, and media portrayals. From Angela Davis’ argument for prison abolition to the demand of ending grand juries, we explore the need for systemic change as urgent in the era of mass incarceration and police violence.

• Victoria Parke, Undergraduate Student Panel, Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies, Winona State University
• Kayla Burrows, Winona State University, Undergraduate Student
• Kyra Springer, Winona State University, Undergraduate Student
• Michaela Gaffke, Winona State University, Undergraduate Student

5D ~ Student Perceptions of Campus Support for Victims of Sexual Assault
The presenters will share their research study that explores student’s perceptions of methods in which their campus supports victims of sexual assault and improvements that might be made. Recent self-report data on the UW-River Falls campus shows that incidents of sexual assault have not decreased, and some have increased in the last 6 years, yet official crime stats on our campus remain low.  A disconnect between official reports of sexual assault and what students actually experience is not new or unique to this campus. Sexual assault is a historically unreported crime for several reasons including myths about sexual assault, backlash for victims, and the difficulty of navigating the reporting system. This study seeks to access student’s knowledge of the process of reporting sexual assault as well as perceptions of support for victims. Students will be asked a series of questions to assess their knowledge of and perceptions of these four themes: supportiveness of their campus toward victims of sexual assault, the reporting process, services for victims of sexual assault, and factors that may impede or encourage support for victims of sexual assault.

• Melanie Ayres, Associate Professor, Psychology / Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Wisconsin – River Falls
• Desiree Wiesen-Martin, desiree.wiesenmartin@uwrf.edu, Assistant Professor in Sociology, Criminology, & Anthropology, UW – River Falls
• Natalie Schmitz, natalie.schmitz@my.uwrf.edu, Sociology student, UW -River Falls

5E ~ Men’s Project: Engaging College Men in Critical Gender Analysis
Men’s Project is a student development program designed to provide college men with a space for critical self-reflection and dialogue on topics of masculinities, gender construction, and identity. Through six weeks of social justice dialogue, peer learning, and individual reflection, diverse cohorts of 8-12 college men explore the impact of masculinity on the self and community. Learn about the need for Men’s Project, the program design, and assessment outcomes from the first four cohorts of UW-Madison’s Men’s Project.

• Sam Johnson, Violence Prevention Specialist, University Health Services, UW-Madison

5F ~ Moved to FI, tomorrow Sat 4/29 at 10:45am

5G ~ Early Marriage and Its Negative Effects on Married Young Girls in Ethiopia
Early Marriage is a socio-cultural issue recognized by the government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia as a harmful traditional practice (HTP). As a patriarchal society that subordinates women to stereotyped social roles and positions, Ethiopia continues to suffer from the problem. Early marriage is a fundamental violation of human rights in general and women’s rights and the child’s rights in particular as it takes place without the consent of the girl child. The negative effects of early marriage on young married girls range from psycho-social effects undermining their self-esteem and alienating them socially from their peers; to rendering them vulnerable to domestic violence and eventual divorce from as well as abandonment by their partner(s); to denial of educational opportunities due to lack of faith in the future prospects of girls’ education and cultural beliefs that girls are better suited for caregiving. Early marriage persists as a harmful traditional practice in Ethiopia for reasons such as cultural pressure on parents to marry their young daughter off as soon as a “suitable” husband is found; as a way out of poverty through receipt of dowry/bride price; and low level of the girl’s education that makes her vulnerable to early marriage. The presenter will argue that all stakeholders (government and non-government organizations and community leaders [elders]) must act together and put community education programs in place to curb the persistence of early marriage.

• Metadel Teshome, Graduate Student, Gender Studies, Lund University

5H ~ Deconstucting “Non-Traditional”:  What it means to be a “Non-Traditional” Undergraduate Student
This qualitative study examines the lives of three “non-traditional” undergraduate students and their respective journeys to earn a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education. The “non-traditional” students in this study were members of a university that was originally designed to meet the needs of traditional students. In many ways, these “non-traditional” students were viewed as “others” and as individuals who were not privy to the same types of schooling as their traditional counterparts. Further, power and access were often unevenly distributed among the students at the university, with “non-traditional” students having little power or access to even the most basic kinds of support services that would help them successfully navigate their undergraduate studies. By examining the lived experiences of these students, this study both recognizes and gives value to these resources in an attempt to alter the deficit view of “non-traditional” students. The assumption that “non-traditional” undergraduate students come to the classroom with cultural deficiencies is critiqued, and instead the strengths and forms of Community Cultural Wealth (Yosso, 2006) that study participants bring to their educational experiences are highlighted.

• Kristen Linzmeier, Assistant Professor, Curriculum and Instruction, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

5I ~ Sustainability and Menstruation on Campus
Higher education institutions are increasing their efforts to become a more environmentally sustainable campus and take pride in doing so. For example, the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh has taken pride in being ranked the third greenest school by Sierra Magazine, which ranks universities on their “deep and thorough commitment to protecting the environment.” (Potts, 2015). Yet, the sustainability of menstrual products has been overlooked in these efforts. The choice of products used to maintain hygiene during menstruation goes beyond commonly used products such as tampons. Apart from product choice, another issue related to sustainability is disposal of commonly used products (e.g., tampons, sanitary pads/napkins). Literature on this topic is scarce; however, drawing from institutions outside of higher education, recommendations for campus administrators on how to improve the sustainability of menstrual products on campuses will be presented. A campus cannot be considered environmentally sustainable if they choose to neglect the intersection of menstruation and sustainability. It is time for college communities to address this gap in their efforts to be environmentally sustainable.

• Ali Christensen, Undergraduate Student, Women’s Center, Social Justice Program, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
• Alicia J. Johnson, Women’s Center Director, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
• Courtney Bauder, bauderc@uwosh.edu, Social Justice Program Director, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh

5J ~ Training OB/GYNs in Global Health: A Multi-Institutional Collaboration to Develop Cases for Simulation Use for Global Away Rotations (SUGAR)
Simulation Use for Global Away Rotations (SUGAR) is an open-source curriculum initially developed by pediatricians to allow resident physicians to experience and debrief common practical and emotional challenges of working in resource-limited settings. A multi-disciplinary group was formed to harness principals of the SUGAR curriculum to provide simulation training for residents in specialties beyond pediatrics. Four new OB/Gyn SUGAR cases were developed, formatted and piloted with multi-disciplinary groups of residents at our academic institution over a three-year period. The cases aim to allow residents to experience and debrief common medical management and emotional complexities faced in resource-limited settings. Medical topics addressed included: obstructed labor, postpartum hemorrhage, eclampsia, female genital cutting, septic abortion. Negative emotional experiences with complimentary adaptive characteristics are addressed: frustration/adaptability, floundering/awareness of resources, failure/adjustment & humility. Facilitator and resident feedback is under evaluation. Collaborators agreed that the content would be made available for free for use in global health education on the training website http://sugarprep.org/ By creating simulation cases in OB/Gyn, the SUGAR curriculum can be expanded to fill a need of global health education in OB/Gyn. SUGAR simulations hold promise to expand resident preparation for international electives in resource-limited settings.

• Mary Rysavy, Resident physician, Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Wisconsin Madison
• Cynthie Anderson, MD,  Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Wisconsin Madison School of Medicine and Public Health
• Sabrina Butteris, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Wisconsin Madison School of Medicine and Public Health
• Michael PItt, MD, FAAP, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota School of Medicine

5K ~ Preschool Children’s Perceptions of the New Barbie Dolls
Social cognitive theory suggests that environmental influences, including toys, play a critical role in gender socialization (Bussey & Bandura, 1999). Research has found that playing with certain toys and dolls such as Barbie can negatively affect children’s body image and even eating habits (Anschultz & Engles, 2010; Ditmar et al., 2006). The current study is interested in the effects of one toy in particular, Barbie, on preschool-aged children. As a result of criticism about Barbie’s unrealistic body proportions and the possible impact of this, Mattel recently introduced several new Barbie dolls. The new dolls are “tall”, “curvy”, and “petite” and have varied skin tones. The current study will observe and interview a group of preschoolers (ages 3-4) as they play with the new Barbie dolls. This research will provide important preliminary evidence about how children play with and perceive the new dolls.

• Amber Pauley, undergraduate student, UW-River Falls, recognized by the UW-River Falls Women and Gender Studies Program  as a 2017 recipient of the WGSC Undergraduate Student Research Conference Presentation Award

Saturday, April 29, 2017
Session 6, 8:00-9:00 AM (concurrent sessions)

6A ~ Rm 209
Culturally responsive teaching:  creating a climate of safety and support
This workshop focuses on raising awareness and understanding of how to create a culturally responsive educational environment. We begin the session by identifying and describing culturally responsive practices that have been found to be effective in allowing all students to feel safe and supported within the educational environment. The presenters will conduct three activities so that participants can be actively engaged in the workshop, and experience the sense of supported collaboration. Participants then take a brief quiz that will help them identify some of their blind spots in regard to biases that they hold. This quiz and discussion will focus on unconscious levels of prejudice about the following areas: age, gender, and race.  The presenters will expand the discussion to include community, beyond the classroom walls. Exploration of how to create connections to demonstrate a caring community are integrated within the session. In addition, they will present relevant books that support culturally responsive teaching practices, and provide a forum for discussion of literature that reflects diversity. The session closes with a question and answer forum.

• Julie Phillips, Assistant Professor, Teacher Education, Univ of Dubuque
• Rea Kirk, Professor–School of Education, UW-Platteville
• Ms. Regina Pauly, Curriculum Librarian, University of Wisconsin – Platteville
• Moderator:  Laura Wendorff, Professor of English, University of Wisconsin – Platteville

6B ~ Rm 112
Addressing Women’s Postpartum Mental Health in Wisconsin Home Visiting Programs
Depression in the postpartum period is a global public health issue, with prevalence rates as high as 50% for women in the US who are living in poverty, contributing significantly to the cycle of poverty and consequences for families (Chaudron et al., 2010). The majority of this at-risk population encounters significant barriers to receiving mental health treatment (Ammerman et al., 2010). This workshop seeks to describe the implementation/evaluation of a program to deliver postpartum mental health services through federally funded Home Visiting programs in Wisconsin. Home Visitors build trusting and ongoing relationships and provide needed support and practical assistance, but are often overwhelmed by the mental health needs of the families they serve. This project aims to support women, their infants and families participating in Home Visiting programs using the evidence-based Mother-Infant Therapy Group (M-ITG). Additionally, we work to build community capacity for sustainably delivering mental health services and continue to adapt the therapeutic model to be culturally relevant for the families served, including African American, Latina, and Tribal communities. This workshop will include program description, preliminary findings, lessons learned about capacity building, adaptations to increase cultural relevance, community engagement, and empowerment of women impacted by poverty in WI.

• Roseanne Clark, PhD, Associate Professor, Director, UW Postpartum Depression Research Program, Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
• Jen Perfetti, MA, LPC, Clinical Program Coordinator, Addressing Postpartum Depression in Wisconsin Home Visiting Programs, Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public
• Cynthia Burnson, PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
• Discussant: Leslee Mc Callister, MSSW, Home Visiting Coordinator for the WI Department of Children and Families

6C ~ Cancelled

6D ~ Rm 111
Resilient Feminist: The balancing act of activism and rejuvenation
How to we live values centered lives of activism without burning out or living in a constant state of anger and frustration? This workshop will share key and most current findings and best practices from the field of psychological resilience to allow participants to craft their own resilience strategies in the face of challenges and set backs. This workshop is applicable to faculty, students, program leaders and employees.

• Jan Stanley, Facilitator, University of Pennsylvania-Penn Resilience Program

6E ~ Rm 225
Student Activism and Sexual Assault Prevention

Innovating Sexual Assault Prevention: Call(ing) Out Culture
New legislation is changing the way sexual assault prevention is facilitated nationwide. The Winona State University RE Initiative offers peer-led education called PACT (Prevent, Act, Challenge, Teach) and a confidential helpline staffed by students to assist those affected by gender-based violence. The RE Initiative helps maintain university compliance with Clery and Title IX mandates. It also gives students the opportunity to think critically about how to address gender-based violence through transforming the campus culture that upholds violence. RE Initiative students gain leadership skills while empowering others to lead efforts in ending GBV. Through interactive training on consent and bystander intervention, students are encouraged to make a difference on campus and in the community. Student advocates provide victims and survivors resources to help them make informed choices that are right for them. The RE Initiative is implementing new prevention curricula with commitment to intersectional approaches. A mentorship program helps recruit diverse students, which promotes the sustainability of the program. By transforming the way GBV is addressed on campus, the RE Initiative hopes to reimagine the culture that upholds this violence and ultimately create equitable campus communities for all. In this session, peer-educators will present examples of RE Initiative bystander intervention education.

• Michael Krug, Graduate Student, Leadership Education, Winona State University–RE Initiative
• Sarah Swanson, Undergraduate Student, Winona State RE Initiative
• Hunter Beckstrom, Undergraduate student, Winona State RE Initiative
• Taylor Hoiland, Undergraduate Student, Winona State

The Consumption of Pornography: Shaping Masculinity
This paper examines the normalization of pornography in American society, particularly as a consequence of post-industrial capitalism. The project will focus on the mainstream pornographic industry and on the systematic commodification, objectification, and stereotypical displays of men, women, racial minorities, and sexual minorities. The project will examine the ways in which this pornographic consumerist culture affect how individuals think, feel, and experience sexual attraction and romantic love. This research argues that the modern pornography industry contributes to create a culture that necessitates conformity to hypertraditional gender narratives. Critical examinations of pornographic narratives that inherently promote and normalize the embodiment of hegemonic masculinity have been scarce in literature. The success of the mainstream pornography industry within the new media calls for new critical examinations of human desire, normalization of gender roles, and human behavior within the context of a postmodern neoliberal capitalism.

• KellyHighum, Undergraduate Student, Sociology, Winona State University

6F ~ Rm 313
Transit: Unrealized Solution to Equitable Access
Well-funded and implemented public transportation can enhance gender equity by facilitating access for women to jobs, education, wellness, childcare, affordable housing and nutritious food. Good transit promotes diversity and is a tangible manifestation of equity, sustainability and empowerment. Sadly, the failure to adequately fund and promote transit has left many Wisconsin communities devoid of transportation choices. As primary care givers, women are disproportionately tasked with shopping, childcare, and other family errands, in addition to commuting to jobs. When travel is protracted, uncomfortable, unsafe or even nonexistent, these roles are even more burdensome, leaving women worse off. In addition, even though women are more likely to use public transportation for themselves and their families, — safety and efficiency concerns often affect their usage patterns. Public transportation planning, design and operation remains largely male dominated and rarely considers the unique needs of women riders. In this workshop, led by both policy experts and agencies serving transit dependent women, participants will discuss ways to improve transit access and choices. We will examine the economic costs of NOT involving women in transportation decision-making.  The presenters will discuss the sources of disparities in transportation funding and employment that prioritize highway expansion over other transportation modes and strategize on finding solutions.

• Karen Kendrick-Hands, Founder, Transportation Riders United – Moderator
• Amanda Larson, YWCA Transit Program Manager
• Becky Steinhoff, Executive Director, Goodman Community Center (Girls, Inc. of Madison)
• Ashwat Narayanan, Transportation Policy Director, 1000 Friends of Wisconsin
• Denise Jess, Executive Director, Wisconsin Council of the Blind & Visually Impaired

6G ~ Rm 232DE
Presentation of Classroom Techniques that Bring Feminism to Unexpected Places
This interdisciplinary roundtable seeks to discuss pedagogical techniques that make available gender issues in transformational ways—ways that seek to empower students in identifying, advocating for, and sustaining equity and well-being. The sociologist uses an in-class content analysis group exercise, in a technology and society course, to reveal how the incivility of Internet comments targets women in specifically gendered and racialized ways. The theologian uses the status of women in various religions to highlight the detrimental effects of patriarchy, noting examples of women going against societal/religious norms and considering how feminist attitudes can be “faithful.” The English professor pairs Michel Foucault with Beyoncé to teach introductory writing and intersectionality. The historian makes clear that, to avoid antiquarianism, it is essential to examine historical roots whether in viewing witchcraft or the history of marriage.

• Maureen McKnight, Associate Professor, English and Writing, Cardinal Stritch University
• Mary Duarte,  Associate Professor of History,  Cardinal Stritch University
• Michelle Gilgannon Assistant Professor and Chair of Religious Studies, Cardinal Stritch University
• Angela Barian Assistant Professor and Chair of Sociology, Cardinal Stritch University

6H ~ Rm 227DE
Transgender Narratives

“A Transition is Like Having a Death without the Casseroles”: A Case Study of Gender, Transition, Marriage, and Identity
In recent decades visibility has increased for many transgender people and with this increased visibility scholars of varying disciplines have turned their attention to transgender issues. One topic in need of attention is trans-cis relationships. The presenter shares her research on issues for couples in transition, specifically asking: How do transgender people navigate the realities of being closeted even to their intimate partners? How do partners of transgender people view themselves and their partner before and during transition? Discussing several oral history interviews with her grandmothers, JamieAnn and Peggy Meyers, who are a married trans-cis couple. Throughout this process she drew from published scholarship on trans-cis relationships along with her experiences as their granddaughter. The interviews cover a variety of topics including gender and sexual identity, married/family life before and during transition, and adjusting to JamieAnn’s transition. Using published scholarship alongside the interviews which offer insights into Peggy’s understanding of herself in relation to JamieAnn, the particular form of grief she has experienced at the loss of the husband she believed she married, how JamieAnn was kept closeted, and how she understands her own identity. This case study adds to our understanding of trans experience, the fluidity of identities, and the cultural belief in fixed identities.

• Ashley Meyers, Undergraduate student, Women and Gender Studies and Religion, Luther College

Gender Fluidity – Visual Cues of a Binary System
For transgender people, there is a prevailing narrative that a successful transition entails trading one gender for another, maintaining a binary identity. The presenter was born male but does not identify with men, but is also wary of appropriating the experience of females. Patriarchal structures were experienced negatively as a child, but even after taking hormones extensively they do not identify as a woman. A nonbinary identity is still problematic in existing bureaucratic and social structures. Gendered spaces designate segregated areas that actively exclude a single member of the binary system but incidentally bar genderqueer people as well. Rather than participate in this system and accept an inaccurate identity the presenter/artist uses their artwork to raise awareness of the existence of people in the same situation. The presenter shares their photographic portraits that first express aesthetic beauty, and then present a fluidity that is only beginning to be widely visible in our society.

• Alex Orellana, adjunct professor, Department of Art, UW-Oshkosh, and Graduate Student in Art, UW-Madison

6I  ~ Rm 325
Why are women so underrepresented in public office, and what we can do about it
Women hold far fewer than half of the local elected government positions in Wisconsin.  This session will explore political ambition among women in Wisconsin, including a summary of the results of a recent UW-Extension study and a discussion of what can be done about the dearth of women holding public office in the state.  This session is free and open to the public.  Ask at the registration desk for the room number.

• Erin Forrest, Executive Director, Emerge Wisconsin
• Dan Hill, local government specialist, UW-Extension

Saturday, April 29, 2017
Session 7, 10:45-11:45 AM (poster session II)

All taking place in the Lee Lounge

7A ~ Faculty Development as Gender Equity Intervention

This poster presentation will share initial findings and suggested interventions, focused on a new approach to faculty development as a meaningful intervention for faculty retention and success for all faculty. As the UW Colleges gender equity coordinator the presenter has been researching meaningful interventions to increase equity at the faculty ranks and to decrease the likelihood of gender-based salary inequity. Through faculty surveys and academic research she has identified key areas that likely contribute to gender-based inequity: unclear expectations for tenure, promotion and merit; gendered service gap; misalignment of expectations with institutional mission; lack of time and resources for professional development; uneven mentoring.  Proposed interventions include:  clarifying expectations, valuing work that connects with institutional mission, and revising the mentoring programs into a faculty development programming.

• Jessica Van Slooten, Professor, Gender Equity Coordinator, English and GSW, UW-Manitowoc

7B ~ Promoting sexual well-being among older adult, lesbian, women of color

Approximately 2 million older adults identify as lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender or questioning (LGBTQ). The experience of discrimination resulting from heterosexism, sexism, and ageism poses a “triple threat” in healthcare among older lesbian women. For lesbian women of color, racism may present a “quadruple threat”. The provision of quality health care to older lesbian women of color is of urgent significance. More specifically, the risk for sexual dysfunction increases with age. Among women, as compared to men, risk factors, such as, emotional well-being, and perceived body image often affects sexual health more than physical abilities. Interventions to minimize these risk factors are not: 1) readily provided, or 2) fully discussed with older adults by health care providers. The purpose of this poster is to discuss the cultural considerations and health promotion strategies that promote sexual well-being among older lesbian women of color based on a review of current literature. This project can help to shape the discourse in student education of nursing and other health-related disciplines regarding care strategies to promote sexual well-being in a gendered and culturally responsible manner.

• Devin Graf, Undergraduate Student, School of Nursing, Edgewood College-School of Nursing
• Dr. Ernise Williams,  Assistant Professor-Nursing,  Henry Predolin School of Nursing, Edgewood College

7C ~ Bystander Intervention Education to Stop Acts of Gender Based Violence: Winona State University’s RE Initiative’s Peer Education Program’s Impact on Campus Culture

Winona State University’s RE Initiative offers transformative peer-led education to its student body on the topic of gender-based violence (GBV). The RE Initiative uses proven methods to change culture and reduce gender-based violence through a peer education program focused on defining GBV, healthy relationships, and consent. This is paired with bystander intervention education. The RE Initiative also provides 24/7 confidential peer advocacy to empower victims/survivors of gender-based violence by providing them with accurate information and resources so that they can make informed decisions that are right for them. At the center is an intersectional approach to advocacy that focuses on the situational needs of a victim/survivor of gender-based violence. This poster presents three years of data assessing the effectiveness of the bystander intervention program to decrease rape myths and increase bystander intervention confidence. The presenters note the increase in reporting on their campus and analyze the outcomes of those reports to assess the effectiveness of their peer education and advocacy program to change the culture at Winona State University.

• Mackenzie Carter, Undergraduate Student, Women Gender and Sexuality Studies, RE Initiative/Winona State University
• Samantha Wogensen, Undergraduate Student, RE Initiative/Winona State University
• Mackenzie  DeChambeau, Undergraduate Student, RE Initiative/Winona State University

7D ~ Fertility Awareness Education as Sexual and Emotional Empowerment

Often confused with the outdated, ineffective “Rhythm Method,” the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) is not only an effective tool for avoiding or achieving pregnancy but also a means for sexual and emotional empowerment. In this workshop the presenter will explain the more scientific foundations of the Fertility Awareness Method (such as observing and interpreting basal body temperature and cervical fluid patterns) as well as how different types of women use the method in order to gain control and understanding of their reproductive, sexual, and/ or emotional selves. Although menstrual cycle charting is typically associated with heterosexual women who are trying to conceive, this poster will include the reasons why other groups of women (those not in sexual relationships, those trying to avoid pregnancy, those in sexual relationships with other women) could benefit from menstrual cycle charting.

• Ashley Hartman Annis, Undergraduate Student, Certified Fertility Awareness Educator, Gender and Women’s Studies, UW Madison

7E ~ Modern Day Feminism: Feminist or Feminazi?
This presentation examines the definition of feminism and how that definition has evolved and been misinterpreted over time. Feminism id defined as a belief in equality regardless of gender. Many people today believe that feminism places women above men. This is not feminism, but rather misandry. The presenter argues that better education about the origin of feminism, its proper definition and its role in society will help eliminate the societal obstructions that stand in the way of gender equality. Reviewing literature on the topic the presenter will argue that it is not misinformation but ignorance among traditional collage age student about what feminism really is, exacerbated in the USA by the relatively high status of women. She argues that ignorance of what feminism really is can be remedied through education.

• Abigayle Pignatari, Undergraduate Student, University of Wisconsin Platteville

7F ~ Reducing the Risk of Sexual Assault
Sexual assault of college women is an ongoing concern without a clear solution. Programming at universities across the United States has yet to produce a reduction in sexual assault rates. Additionally, little is known about student reception of sexual assault risk reduction programming. The presenter is part of  current research developing a small-group intervention based on the principles of motivational interviewing to motivate college women to reduce risky dating behaviors and, ultimately, reduce their risk of experiencing a sexual assault. The program rational and design will be discussed along with any preliminary data available at the time of the conference.

• Cari Rosoff, Graduate Student, Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee

7G ~ Collating LGBTQ+ Friendly Service Providers in the Chippewa Valley

The presenters, and the Safe Spaces Coalition of the Chippewa Valley collaborated to bring together a comprehensive resource guide of LGBTQ+ friendly and competent service providers within the Chippewa Valley. This resource guide identifies specific service providers for whom LGBTQ+ people in their community can seek services from in a friendly environment. The guide also highlights services that more specifically resonate within LGBTQ+ communities such as hormone therapy for transgender individuals. Through university and community partnership, the team designed and disseminated online and print surveys to LGBTQ+ people within their community to recommend service providers that they believe are friendly and competent towards their sexuality and gender identity. By centering the voices of LGBTQ+ people within the Chippewa Valley, the team empowers LGBTQ+ people to define who they believe best provides services to them. From here the team organized and disseminated the information within their community.

• Alex DeLakis, Undergraduate Student, , University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
• Dr. Theresa Kemp,  Professor of English and Women’s Studies,  University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

7H ~ The psychological identity Crisis within Black Women: Effects of Colorism

This poster will examine the history of black women and how the relationship between social interactions and skin complexion play a major role to the problem with regards to identity. The presenter will examine issues of difference and privilege in the comparison of lighter skinned blacks and darker skinned blacks in the media and how this still affects the identity of black women today. Focusing on a documentary, two films, and articles this poster will discuss the psychological identity crisis that black women are faced with day to day.   Sources will focus on the analytical perspectives of being a black women and consider how skin color can provide benefits to an adjustable lifestyle.

• Ashley T. Owens, undergraduate student, UW-Platteville, recognized by the UW-Platteville Women and Gender Studies Program as a 2017 recipient of the WGSC Undergraduate Student Research Conference Presentation Award

Saturday, April 29, 2017
Session 8, 2:15-3:15 PM (concurrent session)

8A ~ Rm 213
UW System Women and Science Program: Celebrating 20 Years of Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Excellence
The University of Wisconsin System Women and Science Program was institutionalized in 1996 to help attract and retain women and underrepresented minorities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). In honor of our 20th year, this session celebrates the effort and achievement of people and programs in the UW System who continue to work for equal and equitable opportunities for all people in STEM. This is a thread within the conference program.

• Jennifer Schuttlefield Christus, Director, UW System Women and Science Program and Assistant Professor of Chemistry, UW Oshkosh
• Jennifer Mihalick, Past Director, UW System Women and Science Program and Professor of Chemistry, UW Oshkosh
• Janis Eells, Professor, Biomedical Sciences, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
• Kim Sargent, Program Manager for Women in Engineering, Mathematics and Science Program, University of Wisconsin Platteville

8B ~ Rm 326
Talking Gender in the Writing Classroom
In this presentation a panel of UW Stevens Point faculty members will discuss teaching sections of required composition classes themed around Women’s and Gender Studies. The panel will offer perspectives on the challenges and opportunities of teaching about gender in this context, information about texts used and strategies that were effective, along with examples of syllabi and considerations of pedagogy. We also invite others to share their experiences, syllabi, and assignments if they are integrating WGS topics into their composition courses.

• Rebecca Stephens, Professor and WGS Coordinator, English, UW Stevens Point
• Pat Gott, Associate Professor, UW Stevens Point
• Tomoko Kuribayashi, Associate Professor, UW Stevens Point

8C ~ Rm 111
Relational Activism:Intertwining Social Justice and Well-Being Relational Activism (aka healing justice, wellness as fairness, compassionate activism) involves a feminist approach to activism that intertwines the typically distant worlds of social justice and well-being wisely highlighting the potency of relationships as the fulcrum of social change, the power of feminist methods like dialogue and process, and the honoring of the interconnection between all levels of change highlighting the idea that “the personal is political”. The EcoWell Initiative at the School of Human Ecology is working to bring this theory into action! Come learn about the story, philosophy, and principles of EcoWell and practice strategies for enhancing your capacity for relational activism on the UW-campus and beyond!

• David Metler, Director of EcoWell, School of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Daria Powell, EcoWell Faciltiator, SoHE undergraduate student
• Emma Cox, EcoWell Facilitator, SoHE undergraduate student
• Hannah Bunting, EcoWell Facilitator, SoHE Undergraduate student
• Clare Weible, EcoWell Facilitator, SoHE undergraduate student

8D ~ Rm 225
Violence Against Native Women in Fiction and Fact

“The Perpetuating Cycles of Violence Against Native American Women: An Analysis of Legislation, Changing Gender Roles and Tribal Sovereignty”
While studies revolving around de-colonization and feminism have increased over the last decade, there exists a significant research gap regarding violence against Native American women by non-Native men. Violence against Native American women is an epidemic in the United States. According to the Department of Justice, Native women experience sexual violence more than any other ethnic group (Department of Justice, Gov., 2013). Research by Juana Majel-Dixon, 1stVice President of the National Congress of American Indians suggests that one out of three Native women will be raped in their lifetime and six in ten will be physically assaulted (Majel-Dixon, 2012). More importantly, emerging research by Jana Walker, Senior Attorney and Director of the Indian Law Resource Center also reveals that the majority of their attackers are non-Natives and most of these cases are never prosecuted (Indian Law Resource Center, 2013). Despite the of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013, that was meant to support Native women, very little has been done to end perpetual cycles of violence and, more specifically, reducing the threat from non-Natives. The presenter argues that U.S .law has not effectively addressed these forms of violence against Native women due to its grounding in settler colonial mentalities and Eurocentric-patriarchal attitudes. These drastically changed Native women’s gender roles and sealed their fate with historical legislation and policy that remains in effect today and therefore has perpetuated the cycles of violence against Native women.

• Genevieve Le May, Graduate Student, McNair Scholar and Advanced Opportunity Fellow, Gender and Women’s Studies, University of Wisconsin ~ Madison

Silence and its Empowering Potential: Rape and Assault in Teaching  Louise Erdrich’s novel The Round House
Louise Erdrich’s novel, The Round House, opens in the aftermath of the brutal rape and escape of Geraldine Coutts as she arrives home doused in gasoline from the rapist’s attempted murder. Her husband, the tribal judge and thirteen-year-old son find her slumped over her car’s steering wheel, paralyzed with terror. Afterward, Geraldine retreats to her bedroom and plunges into a long nearly impenetrable silence and refusal to identify the rapist. Her silence contrasts sharply against the Ojibwa community’s reliance on speaking and storytelling for cultural survivance (Deloria) that circulates among the extended family and friends. Against the storytelling traditions, Geraldine’s extended silence becomes a cause for profound concern among others on the North Dakota reservation, a sign of damage that refuses healing. The presenter will draw a complex correlation between Geraldine’s brutal assault, assaults committed against the land, and the potential power of silence to recover from trauma. Exploring various kinds of empowerment and resistance in our teaching is crucial in a time when a president elect can joke about assaulting women and where national news agencies refuse to cover the massive and ongoing protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline and its assault on sacred Indian land.

• Deirdre Keenan, Professor, English and Modern Languages, Carroll University

8E ~ Rm 325
Women and Gender In Games, Film, and Television

Of Widowtracers and Pharmercys: Gender Ludology, “Shipping”, and Fan Appropriation in “Overwatch”
Blizzard Entertainment’s “Overwatch” is one of the year’s best-selling games and a rarity among first-person shooters as nearly half of its player characters are women, representing many cultures, body types, and in-game roles. Fans have gravitated not only to the game but to expanding its scant narrative with fan works and “shipping” movements that create romantic pairings between the game’s characters, often through an LGBTQ lens. This presentation first expands on the author’s model of gender ludology to depict how gendered characteristics of rules and gameplay mechanics in “Overwatch” define and represent female bodies within the world of the game. This analysis and model are informed by Butler’s gender performativity theory, Nakamura’s view of identity tourism in cyberspace, and Manovich’s concept of the narrative database. The analysis is then tied to close reading and fan ethnography to analyze the “shipping” and fandom community through the lens of Lessig’s “remix culture” theory and Jenkins’ work on “textual poaching”. Together, these analyses will create a picture of how interaction with the text of the game allows for creative and identity-based interpretation across feminist and queer perspectives, as well as implications for such critique of video games and fandom.

• Bryan Carr, Assistant Professor, Communication and Information Science, University of Wisconsin – Green Bay

By the Numbers: Women in Film and Television
This presentation examines the current state of the gender divide in U.S. film and television by outlining the major sites of data collection and the most recent reports on women in the media. Sites of data collection include the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at the University of California San Diego, the Geena Davis Institute on Gender and Media, and the major Hollywood guilds (DGA, WGA, and SAG). These sites regularly report information on gender and representation, which fall into two general categories. In the first category, representations are analyzed in terms of the number of lead and supporting roles available for women, and the characterization of those roles. In the second, women’s participation in production is analyzed; this practice establishes numerical data about who gets to tell stories as writers, directors, producers and technicians. The presenter will give an overview of the resources available to instructors who discuss gender and the media with their classes. Although it continues to be true that film and television predominantly tell stories about male characters, and that men hold most positions of influence over these representations, they will discuss the industrial factors that are specific to this historical moment. In the film industry, the contraction of independent film production has correlated with a decline in stories by and about women. In television, a rapid expansion of programming that has been termed “peak TV” has correlated with increased opportunities for women in all aspects of the medium. Analysis offers an overview of the current status of women’s participation and representation in film and television.

• Caryn Murphy, Associate Professor, Radio-TV-Film, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh

8F ~ 209

Making the Global, Campus: Transnational Feminist Activism
As college feminist activists at Winona State University involved in Amnesty International, the presenter’s research is tied to making transnational feminist struggles visible on their campus. The first paper will explore starting a boycott divestment sanctions group on campus, and understanding the history and climate of student BDS efforts. As Angela Davis points out, transnational solidarity movements are necessary: “We are now confronted with the task of assisting our sisters and brothers in Palestine as they battle against Israeli apartheid today.” BDS is a transnational movement that aims to defund apartheid states, just as it did in South Africa. The second paper will examine the global demands of the Okinawan women’s movement to end US military occupation. From the 1995 Okinawa rape of a 12-year-old girl to the most recent two cases of rape and murder of women by a former and current U.S. servicemen in 2016, sexual violence against women in Okinawa by U.S. forces are still perpetuated today. Through the lens of human rights analysis, the presenter seeks to bring more global feminist voices to campus gender-based violence initiatives. The panel session will conclude with student activism through Amnesty International.

• Risa Muroya, Undergraduate Student, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Winona State University
• Alexis Salem, Undergrade Student Winona State University

Purity Culture: An Intersectional Analysis of the Social Construction of Virginity
In President Obama’s proposed federal budget for 2017, he cut all funding for abstinence-only education. However, the stigma of virginity still exists and varies greatly depending on race, sexuality, and class. This presentation builds from research examining intersectional approach of the social construction of virginity to further understand and critique how this issue feeds into rape culture through slut-shaming, victim blaming, and imposed heterosexual femininity. Using bell hooks’ critique of Second wave white, middle class feminism, she will examine the double standards of virginity that reveals racism and classism. The presenter will examine their anti-slut shaming and anti-rape culture efforts through the student organization FORGE, Fighting for Our Rights and Gender Equality.

• Sarah Ortega, Undergraduate Student, Womens, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Winona State University

8G ~ Rm 327
What’s Up: Design as a universal language
With the now ubiquitous nature of smartphones and internet access, new opportunities to collaborate around the world are possible.  During the Fall 2016 semester, students enrolled in a textile design class were paired with artisans in the Kutch district of Gujarat, India. With no opportunity to meet in person, 13 design teams used the popular communication app WhatsApp to each develop a collection of scarves. The immediacy of digital communication facilitated a rapid back and forth rapport between the designers. This interface created unlikely pairings that due to cultural barriers related to gender, marital status, and religion would not have typically occurred. The technology provided the opportunity to build spectacular synergy together!  The collections are amazing and the byproduct? Great friendships were formed as all discovered that design is a universal language that can cross cultures.

• Jennifer Angus, Professor, Design Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison
• Erica Hess, MFA Candidate, Design Studies, UW-Madison

8H ~ Rm 232DE
Creating and Validating Inclusive Spaces

Dismantling the Binary Framework that Imprisons Sex and Gender
The presenter considers how systemic binaries, that define sex/gender as only “man/male” or “woman/female,” offer individuals limited sets of expectations for sex, gender expression, behavior, and sexuality; expectations that place men/males in privileged positions and women/females in oppressed positions.   Arguing that dichotomous conversations focused only on how sexism oppresses women ignores the experiences individuals who don’t quite “fit” (e.g. transgender, genderqueer, non-binary, and intersexed). ‘Cisgenderism’ is a more useful term to acknowledge the oppression of non-binary individuals.  However, while both sexism and cisgenderism focus on the oppression of sex/gender identities the tendency to focus on one or the other perpetuates binary thinking, much like second wave feminism often failed to acknowledge the complexity of all women’s experiences –especially bisexual women, lesbians, and women of color.   Increasing but inadequate efforts are being made to provide space for all individual experiences of gender.  Arguing that continuing to isolate and separate conversations of sexism and cisgenderism is problematic, the presenter calls for challenging the ways we theorize and discuss sex/gender in order to be more inclusive to all individuals.

• Maevon Gumble, MT-BC, Graduate Student, Music Therapy/Gender Studies, Slippery Rock University

Creating Accessible and Inclusive Course Policies and Practices
The presenter uses feminist, queer, and disability studies to discuss how to implement more inclusive and accessible pedagogical policies and practices for diverse populations of students.  What informs these policies and practices?  While teachers often have inclusive and accessible intentions, these don’t always translate to students.  The presenter calls for us to re-examine our policies and practices to see if they are indeed inclusive and accessible to students and offers suggestions for revisions.  Transformative educational policies and practices have the potential to improve mutual trust, student retention, and success.

• Molly Ubbesen, Graduate Student, Rhetoric & Composition, UW-Milwaukee

8I ~ Rm 112

Refugee Women on the Indian Subcontinent in the context of the Current Refugee Crisis I
This is the first of two panels that draw together the issue of refugee women and the current crisis of non- recognition.  The panelists will examine the experience of refugee women in academia in the United States, student acceptance, and discuss the current crisis through literary texts, as well as their own activism.  The panels will present “speaking voices” of those who have lived the refugee experience, teach it and write about it.

They Wander Lonely as Clouds: Refugee Women from Taslima Nasrin to the Present
The current refugee crisis in the U.S. and Europe has drawn attention to the plight of refugee women crossing borders, being stateless and then writing about it. The presenter will contextualize the Zoroastrian Parsi experience from 1200 a.d, move into the current crisis of Taslima Nasrin and draw parallels with newer younger writers from Syria who have now become part of the diaspora in the U.S., like Mohja Kaf and The Girl in The Tangerine Scarf. In this context she will examine what diaspora means, the different stages of the South Asian diaspora in the Western world and how that models the shaping of the current movement from the Middle East.

• Presenter and Moderator:  Professor Feroza Jussawalla, Professor of English, University of New Mexico

Female Autonomy and Subjectivity within Sikhism and the Sikh community
Drawing on her experience as a former refugee from Burma to India where she was a stateless citizen for five years and as a US citizen who teaches English Literature and Gender Studies, the presenter will focus on ideas of national belongings for the female Sikh subject in the diaspora.  How does she problematize issues of gender and human rights from the personal perspective of a diaspora Sikh woman who is oftentimes represented as silent or is mostly missing or erased from most mainstream Indian, and particularly, Sikh narratives?  The presenter will examine Sharanpal Ruprai’s poetry collection, Seva, to critique ideas of the feminine principle of seva (service) and sangat (congregation) as they relate to female autonomy and subjectivity within Sikhism and the Sikh community located in the West (Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh, The Feminine Principle in the Sikh Vision of the Transcendent 92).

• Jaspal Kaur Singh, Professor of English from Northern Michigan University

Refugees, Islamophobia, and Cultural Racism in Karen Lynn Williams and Khadra Mohammed’s Four Feet, Two Sandals (2007)
The presenter discusses this work which narrates the poignant tale of two young girls growing up in a refugee camp in Pakistan waiting to be relocated to the US. Likewise a story of a different kind of displacement, in My Name is Bilal (2005) Asma Mobin-Uddin focuses on the life of Bilal and his sister who live in a small town in the US. The relationship between the two children’s story books is that they both focus on the plight of the children as a result of forced/voluntary movements. What caused the movement is as important as where these children are living after being displaced—refugee camps or societies other than the one that they are accustomed to. While Four Feet, Two Sandals focuses on the day-to-day hardship of the refugee girls, the focus of My Name is Bilal is on Islamophobia. These two books are precursors of the recent conservative reaction to the Syrian refugee crisis in the US as well as in Europe. Islamophobia and it’s link to nationalism or nativist practices in the US is at the root cause of such emotions as Bilal harbors—to change his name to Bill so that people will not recognize him as a Muslim. The recent national politics and its nativist fearmongering messages are the cause for the debate over the Syrian refugees; the debate has ultimately turned into a general interrogation of Islam and Muslims. Islamophobia as a fear or hatred of Muslims is racism per se which has its roots in the cultural representation of the “Other” as being “deviant” or “un-American” (Amir Saeed). This presentation, through the analysis of the two children’s books and critique of recent politics over the refugee condition, argues that Islamophobia has become a cultural racism—a racism that has become a hegemonic form as suggested by Ramon Grosfogul (2003) to suppress and antagonize a group of people.

• Professor Umme al Wazedi, Department of Engish, Augustana College, Georgia

8J ~ Rm 313
Social Media Activism

Guerrilla Feminism: Utilizing Social Media Platforms to Educate and Empower
According to The Pew Research Center, “Nearly two-thirds of American adults use social networking sites.” Guerrilla Feminism (a 501c3 registered nonprofit) is one of the largest digital feminist activist spaces on Facebook, with nearly 120,000 “Likes” and 55,000 followers on Instagram. Guerrilla Feminism is a global feminist resource network for activists that exists primarily on social media platforms. Their mission is to empower feminists in activism in their communities. They do this in two ways using their large online platform, by curating and disseminating activist content (articles, images, etc.).  Their goal is to facilitate feminist street activism and feminist digital activism around the globe. This presentation, by the founder of Guerrilla Feminism, will discuss the ways in which they uses social media platforms to empower and ignite change on a global level. It will also serve as a guide to those looking to spark social change and transformation by utilizing their own social media channels.

• Lachrista Greco, Activist, UW-Madison

Dream or Nightmare? tumblr feminism as the Post-Modern Prometheus
In Portlandia (2014) the dream of the 1990’s still lives, so where does this dream live, and, where dwells the nightmare? 1990’s Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) scholarship focused on intersectionality, curricular structure, and the continued relevance of the field. Tumblr feminism, a wave birthed on the social media/microblogging platform of the same name, eschews this introspection for the fiery allure of identity politics, creating a fascinating mish-mosh of past/present, analog/digital, human/cyborg, dream/nightmare. This paper charts a trajectory from 1990s cyberfeminism and WGSS discourses to tumblr feminism, mapping its effects onto the WGSS classroom. Defining tumblr feminism as the epitome of neoliberal feminism –competitive, flexible, efficient, individualized–, the presenter examines cyberspace manipulations of feminist knowledge production, concluding that tumblr feminism lacks methodology and critical, introspective discussion. Tumblr feminism remains mired in the negative aspects of identity politics, which has present-day and future implications for the WGSS Classroom. Should/how would we restructure our classrooms? Using the metaphor of collaged body whose reanimation left it without all synapses firing,  Tumblr feminism  is portrayed as well-meaning, but unproductive, pieced together but without unity, a site for a feminist intervention into a dream long since become a nightmare.

• An Sasala, Graduate Student, Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies, The University of Kansas

8K ~ Rm 121 Auditorium
LISTEN TO YOUR GRANDMOTHERS:  Madison WI Raging Grannies Sing for Peace, Social Justice, Public Education, and Environmental Protection
The Raging Grannies of Madison are proud to announce the publication of a new book and CD, just in time for Mother’s Day! They will share it at the Summit.  Grannies wrote autobiographical pieces from which the author created a composite of women’s lives well lived. The author will share the themes that resonate with those of the conference. The Raging Grannies of Madison, all activist women of a certain age, are uniquely qualified to share experiences, knowledge, and perspective relating to the themes of equity, sustainability, and empowerment. The presentation will begin and end with music, the songs through which we express our deeply held beliefs in peace and social justice. In between, Grannies will discuss their respective paths to activism, the life-changing experiences that motivated them, and the long view of how being a woman has and/or hasn’t changed over the years. There will be plenty of time for questions and answers. And, as with most Raging Grannies’ events, it’s entirely likely that community singing will break out.

• Marie Martini compiled and edited LISTEN TO YOUR GRANDMOTHERS
• Bev Mazur took the individual photos, and many of the group pictures, for the book
• Deborah Lofgren organized the music and directed the singing for the CD which accompanies the book
• Carol Tyler, Marjorie Matthews, Barb Arnold, Bonnie Block, Joy Morgen, Suzy Bickley, Paula Benton, and Rosemarie Lester, Raging Grannie Singers

Saturday, April 29, 2017
Session 9, 3:30-4:30 PM (concurrent session)

9A ~ Rm 209
Sexuality’s Critical Role in Women’s Contraceptive Practices: New Models, New Findings
More than half of women who initiate a new contraceptive method will discontinue their method within a year — and researchers have yet to uncover the key factors behind this dissatisfaction and discontinuation. To help women fully realize contraception’s benefits, we need to identify critical, patient-centered ways to match women with methods they will find acceptable and appealing. A vital but understudied aspect of what makes contraceptives un/appealing is their sexual acceptability, or how contraceptives affect sexual experiences. Research on men’s use of condoms shows that the way condoms affect male sexual functioning and enjoyment will shape the way men use them. Research and education efforts on female methods have not displayed similar attention to women’s sexuality. However, growing evidence documents that sexual acceptability shapes women’s contraceptive preferences and practices as well. Part 1 of this presentation will share three examples from the latest research suggesting that sexual acceptability shapes women’s contraceptive practices. Part 2 will share results from a related study of sexual well-being outcomes among women initiating use of intrauterine devices (IUDs) or implants.

• Jenny Higgins, Associate Professor, Gender and Women’s Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison

9B ~ Rm 225
Changing Narratives: Social and Emotional Learning and Privatized Education in India
The presenters are international education scholars who will discuss how economic opportunities and privatization in urban India are changing how women are seen and also see themselves.  They will discuss how traditional roles are being influenced through media and language discourse from inside the country and abroad. The panel will have three areas of focus:  looking at how trends in privatization of education systems effect teacher training language and curriculum, particularly around the discourse of social and emotional learning as it gains momentum in urban schools; the influence of cinema and internet on women’s identity in the workplace, as traditional representations of women interact with projected forms of female empowerment; and a focus on the intersections between caste, class and feminism and how this plays out regarding access opportunities in a rising economy. Exploring these trends in teacher training, media and the corporate workplace, and considering implicit and explicit messages being presented through a critical feminist and postcolonial lens, the panelists postulate the ways in which women are influenced and resist.

• Lauren Lauter, Graduate Student, Curriculum and Instruction, University of Wisconsin Madison
• Pallavi Chhabra- graduate student in the Curriculum and Instruction department at University of Wisconsin, Madison
• Bharati Holtzman- Associate Director, Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program

9C ~ Rm 325
Mentoring Relationships in Women’s and Gender Studies: Empowering Learners and Sustaining a Program
This roundtable session will discuss several potential benefits of implementing a mentoring program into a Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS) program as a way to enact feminist practices aimed at empowering learners as they develop academically and professionally. Currently thriving in its fifth year, the presenters draw from their experiences as members of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s WGS graduate mentoring program. They will describe how this vital program provides support and training for graduate teaching assistants in our master’s program who are assigned to teach their own sections of Introduction to WGS. Mentors in this program are neither faculty nor part of the graduate student cohort, but are lecturers who are doctoral candidates. Presenters will argue that this positionality helps forge trusting, lateral relationships with mentees, effectively disrupting the power differential in traditional mentor-mentee roles. Mentor groups are keenly positioned to offer support for the unique situations that arise in a WGS classroom, wherein students are frequently asked to confront racist, sexist, and homophobic prejudices. These feminist pedagogical practices then transfer into the classroom setting. They will discuss their experiences as mentors and mentees, as well as how current mentors contribute to cultivating future mentors, thereby increasing the retention and sustainability of the program. Time will be dedicated to fielding questions and discussing the possibilities of adapting mentoring programs for WGS majors in undergraduate programs.

• Casey O’Brien, she/her/hers, Lecturer, Women’s and Gender Studies and The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• Julia Anderson-Ives, she/her/hers, MA Student, Women’s and Gender Studies and Library & Information Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• Krista Grensavitch, she/her/hers, PhD Candidate, History Department and Associate Lecturer, Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• Jill Hoffman, she/her/hers, MA Student, Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

9D ~ Rm 213
Teaching Feminisms

Feminist Manifestas: Who or What Grounds Your Feminism?
The presenter will lead several students from her Feminist Theories course at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in a discussion of their final project: feminist manifestas. With this project, students were required to analyze their feminist politics, proposing at least three “sentiments” or demands for their own feminist manifestas. Students needed to connect their sentiments to readings from this semester, incorporating feminist thought from various perspectives, including liberal feminism, radical feminism, women of color feminism, Marxist feminism, transfeminism, and more. They will discuss key issues from the course that went into developing the manifestas including: who is the subject of feminist activism? What is the origin(s) of women’s oppression? How does women’s oppression relate to other forms of oppression? What are concrete solutions to women’s oppression? What does intersectional activism actually look like? How is the personal also political? What does it mean to be an ally? What rhetorical tools are most useful for expressing one’s feminist position (including tone, language, and code switching)? Ultimately, this discussion will focus on core tensions in feminist theory and activism, allowing the students and audience to reflect on the applicability of feminist theory beyond the classroom.

• Ashley Barnes-Gilbert, Professor, Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
• Students at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, TBA

Alternatives to Silence: Artist Books as Feminist Acts
In this session students will share their experiences of creating artist books and their artist’s statements as an expression of their learning in Feminist Theory.  They will share their experiences with the students who participated in Feminist Manifestas as a way to explore different pathways of response and alternatives to traditional ways of knowing.

• Amy Shapiro, Chair of Women’s and Gender Studies, Alverno College
• Students at Alverno College, TBA

9E ~ Rm 227DE
Get in the Boat:  Student Led Community Activisim From Local to Global
When researching the refugee crisis in Europe, a mom of 3 struggled to keep hope in the face of hopelessness happening globally. Women, children and vulnerability all tore through each story. How do we connect and support women across the globe? One way is to open up and discuss in your own community! This presentation will share the amazing results found in student led projects and solutions.   This presentation is a look at grass roots efforts to support young women in Stoughton as well as creative student based projects concerning the global refugee crisis. Examples will include: Specific student created solutions to global refugee problems; the effectiveness of Girl2Girl, a teen mentoring program 9 years running; and how to reach out at vulnerable moments in poverty to tip it toward stability. Examples of creative community solutions and connection will be provided that are a recap of a discussion engaging Stoughton youth and the police/government officials promoting the value of teens lives in the community. This presentation is a reminder of how we all have the option to stay engaged and supportive in our vast and diverse world.

• Laura Roeven, Director of Eyes of Hope, Stoughton, Inc., Eyes of Hope, Stoughton, Inc.
• Sanne Roeven, Stoughton student problem solver
• 2 or 3 additional students affiliated with Girl2Girl 

9F ~ Rm 313
Intersecting Analysis: Dialectics of Difference and Sameness
           
Americanah and the Black American Affect 
This presentation examines the literary inadequacies and existential complications of collapsing Black Americans and non-American Blacks, specifically Africans, into a collective subjectivity. By treating non-American Black migrant feelings of inferiority as being of a piece with Black American feelings of inferiority, this conflation fails to appreciate the ways in which feelings of inferiority are constitutive of social relations. As a result, this conflated position exiles the complexity of their subjectivities. A critical literary analysis of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel, Americanah, illuminates this problematic by looking at the dilemmas faced by African migrants embodying performative roles in relation to race in an effort to acquire social and cultural acceptance by their Black American counterparts. By highlighting the affective relationship between a Du Boisian double-consciousness and Black American indignation, two features so characteristic of the Black American experience, their absence in non-American Black subjectivity suggest that there is not only an historical difference but an affectual variance between Black Americans and Africans that often go unchallenged in literary works.

• Erin Gaede, Graduate Student, Africana Studies, NYU

Discussing Gender in a Transnational Context, a Reading of “Brooklyn Heights”
Are women in the Arab world more oppressed than their counterparts in the West? Is the West a better place for women in terms of gender equality? Should we look to the Arab world as a place where women are oppressed verses the West where they are free? Do these two places stand in a binary opposition when it comes to gender equality, or do they share common patterns of inequality specific to each culture, context? This presentation will address these questions through a close reading of Brooklyn Heights by the Egyptian writer Miral el-Tahawi. Applying the dialectic of difference and sameness between the transnational contexts of Cairo and New York, the juxtaposition of two worlds and their inhabitants highlights the sharp distinctions between them. Closely examined, these distinctions reveal similar power structures, gender inequalities, and racial and class tensions. Furthermore, through the same dialectic of difference and sameness, el-Tahawi’s novel offers new avenues to advocate for gender equality across cultures and continents. The transnational context of the story avoids setting out a dichotomy of superiority and inferiority between two worlds and cultures; rather, the story highlights the particular contextual patterns of gender inequality based on the intersections of identity categories specific to each setting. This trend is relatively new and adopted by more contemporary and contemporaneous literary figures and critics. El-Tahawi realizes that the entanglements of transnational and international patterns of inequality in the postmodern world necessitate new narrative approaches to challenge and subvert global power structures and gender’s metadiscourses in both East and West.

• Rima Sadek, Graduate Student, Languages, Literatures and Cultures, University of South Carolina

9G ~ Rm 121 Auditorium
Strategies for Improving Predominantly White Institutions for Students of Color Race to Erasure: Black Female Students’ Classroom Experiences at Predominantly White Institutions
This presentation employs Black feminist theory and narrative theory to critically analyze the learning environments of Black female students at Predominantly White Institutions (PWI). Using the presenter’s experiences as a counselor at a PWI, she explores the ways Black female students share learning experiences within a classroom they may see as racist. This racialized setting contributes to their lack of participation in the classroom and can also lead to a lack of support from professors and administration within the PWI system. Often professors and administration struggle with how to engage and retain conversation that remains anti-racist within their classrooms. Ultimately, the presentation offer solutions on how professors and administration at PWI’s can develop inclusive curriculum; improve participation amongst students of color (SOC), especially Black females; and provide support for Black female students who may feel endangered in the classroom and on campus.

• Kadihjia Kelly, Staff Counselor, Buchanan Kiewit Wellness Center, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI

9H ~ Rm 111
Creating meaningful LGBTQ* programming and support services in the UW Colleges
The UW-Colleges is a two-year institution with campuses in geographically and demographically diverse communities across the state of Wisconsin. Our mission is one of open-access, particularly serving students who lack financial resources. The breadth of communities served poses particular challenges in creating meaningful LGBTQ* programming, organizations, and curriculum. During this session the presenters will share some of the exciting work that is being done across the institution (particularly programs sponsored through UW-Marinette, UW-Waukesha, and UW Colleges and UW-Extension Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) while also brainstorming ways to enhance our institutional and campus-specific programming.

• Amy Reddinger, Chair, Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, UW Colleges
• Jo Teut, Diversity Specialist, Office of Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity,  UW Colleges
•  D.A. Dirks, Senior System Academic Planner, Academic Programs and Educational Innovation,  UW System Administration 

9I ~ Rm 327

Refugee Women on the Indian Subcontinent in the context of the Current Refugee Crisis II
This is the second of two panels that draw together the issue of refugee women and the current crisis of non-recognition. The panelists will examine the experience of refugee women in academia in the United States, student acceptance, and discuss the current crisis through literary texts, as well as their own activism. The panels will present “speaking voices” of those who have lived the refugee experience, teach it and write about it.

• Moderator:  Professor Feroza Jussawalla, Professor of English, University of New Mexico

Arab Women Across Borders: SamarYazbek’s Diaries and Opportunities of Translation
Samar Yazbek, a Syrian writer and journalist, has been recognized with the PEN/Pinter Prizefor “International writer of courage” for her book, A Woman in the Crossfire : Diaries of the Syrian Revolution, a diary documenting her activities in the Syrian revolution against Bashar al Assaad’s government. Being from the same religious sect as Assaad’s, her revolutionary views were doubly opposed. Upon fleeing the country for safety to France, she wrote this diary in 2012. Yazbek has been recognized in the Middle East for her novels Cinnamon and Heavenly Girl with their open portrayal of lesbian sexuality, a taboo topic in the region. Yazbek has also been highly active in Europe in debate against the Syrian regime. In 2015, Yazbek published another memoir, Crossing: My Journey to the Shattered Heart of Syria, narrating her experience of going back on a short visit to Syria, crossing through Turkish borders’ fences, to her hometown. The two Syria-relatedbooks were immediately translated. Although the business of translating Middle Eastern books is not that inclusive nor comprehensive, Yazbek’s books have been readily translated for the fiery content, whether sexual or political, that she expresses. Edward Said labeled Arabic literature as an “Embargoed Literature” for different political and ideological reasons that are not unrelated to the crisis of orientalism. The presenter will consider some of the reasons Yazbek texts are among the few Arab female writers chosen for translation, asking whether there is an interest in the human crisis in the Middle East region or it is just the continuation of the West to feel good about itself by granting access to some dissenting voices from the Arab world.

• Lava Asaad, Student: Middle Tennessee State University.

Family, Kinship, labor, and Identity In the Context of Refugees of East Bengal During 1947 and 1971
The presenter will explore the silence of a history that has been largely ignored by the Indian State, the refugee movement from what was known as East Bengal to West Bengal, when “East Bengal” became a part of the partition of Pakistan. The majority of these “refugees” settled in Kolkata, some moved to the Barak Valley, and the princely State of Tripura, and around 0.5 million to other parts of India. Some were forcibly settled in Danndakaranya, later moving to Marichjapi. It is here that the largest massacre of refugees took place, through a combined action by State power and local militia. Through displacement and torture the concept of family, kinship, gender roles, and class changed forever amongst a large group of people in the Sub-Continent.

• Rinita Mazumdar, Adjunct Professor at the University of New Mexico and Full Time Faculty at Central New Mexico Community College and novelist

9J ~ Rm 226
Honoring Ancestral Knowledge:  Realizing the Roots of Tail Feather Woman’s Vision for Peace at The Great Turning!
Since 1990, Call for Peace Drum & Dance Company–a Global Treasure, based in Madison, Wisconsin–has been inspiring national and international audiences with its performance, “From All Nations They Come Dancing.”–the dream of a new hope for humanity. They have performed at the 4th Global Summit for the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in Rome, Italy, throughout the United States, in Germany, Russia, Israel and at the Great Pyramids of Egypt. Through the universal language of dance, traditional drums and contemporary music, Call for Peace weaves the pageantry of life, the power of hope and the wisdom of our Elders into a tapestry of rhythm, color and dance.  Throughout the 4W Summit there will beon display an educational historic photo essay and art exhibition documenting the Call for Peace Drum & Dance Company’s journey.   In this session some of the CFP organizers will speak following the short film “Call for Peace”: Dancing The Dream of Peace, A New Hope For Humanity!, and the exhibit,  Call For Peace, A Timeless Journey of  Hope! The film represents eight Artistic Directors of Cultural Dance Companies that came together through the arts in an inclusive Circle Dance to celebrate our diversity and offer a vision of hope for a more peaceful and sustainable world.  The film and drum dance company embrace the wisdom of Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, Chief Seattle, and Mother Teresa, who said, “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other!”  Call For Peace, visit www.callforpeace.org
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• Dawn & Art Shegonee, national and global Artists and co-founders of Call for Peace Drum & Dance Company.  For over two decades yhry have been promoting cross cultural understanding, through performance art, in the U.S. and around the world.
• Christa Bruhn:  Writer, educator, & culinary artist. A former Policy Planner for Diversity for UW System Adminstration and she served on the Equity Task Force for Madison Metropolitan School District. She currently is writing a memoir, exploring the intersectionality between Palestine and Standing Rock, and also is helping to build the vision for Call For Peace, A Timeless Journey of Hope! A Traveling Pathways To Peace Museum Exhibition with a larger goal to create  a Pathways To Peace Museum in Madison Wisconsin