Sneak peek at 31 January 2009 program

Just had word that the 31 January 2009 program in the Huntington Women's Studies Seminars will be about nuns as agents of social change. Exact titles and speakers are still being worked out, but that's the topic--share the news with anyone who might be particularly interested in women and religious life.

November 22: The Promise of Women's Political Leadership

[Image description: Hillary Clinton on a stage during her campaign for the Democratic nomination in 2008; an audience member is holding up a yellow handwritten sign that reads "IRON MY SHIRT"]

Join us at the Huntington Library on Saturday November 22, 9:30am-12noon, for a roundtable discussion on the historic 2008 candidacies of women for the highest offices in the United States.

The Promise of Women Leaders in Politics

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Ellen DuBois
Professor of History and Women’s Studies, UCLA
Author, Through Women’s Eyes: An American History with Documents
Curator, Huntington Exhibit: Votes for Women: Unfinished Business

Caroline Heldman
Assistant Professor of Politics, Occidental College
Co-Author, Rethinking Madame President

Rebecca Loegering
Campaign Semester Student, Politics, Occidental College

Lori Cox Han
Professor of Political Science, Chapman University
Co-Author, Rethinking Madame President

Glenna Matthews
Historian
Author, Running as a Woman: Gender and Power in American Politics

Moderator: Karon Jolna
Chair, Huntington Library Women’s Studies Steering Committee
Research Scholar, UCLA Center for the Study of Women

9:30-10am--Registration
10-12noon--Program
12noon--Lunch

Bring a sack lunch or buy a sandwich lunch ticket at registration (limited supply). We will eat together outdoors on the Garden Terrace, weather permitting.

THERE IS NO CHARGE FOR THE SEMINAR AND NO RESERVATION IS REQUIRED.

When is the next program?

Mark your calendars for November 22--and watch this space for the program, which will be ready sometime in September.

Into our 25th year...and into the 21st century!

As the Huntington Women's Studies Seminars move into our 25th season of programs, the steering committee has also decided to set up a blog. We'll be using this space to publicize programs and speakers, and to welcome comments and questions from the community. Welcome to our new presence online, and stay tuned for our exciting plans for 2008-2009. And...if you subscribe to this blog's RSS feed, you'll never miss an announcement.

2007-2008 Programs

3 November 2007
On the Inside, On the Outside: Women and Prison

"A World of Women: Prisoners, Reformers, and the California Institution at Tehachapi"
Kathleen Cairns, Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, History and Women's Studies

"The Inside Story"
Gloria Killian, Action Committee for Women in Prison

"Women in Transition from Prison: Observations on Reentry Challenges"
Marta Lopez-Garza, California State University-Northridge
Women's Studies and Chicana/o Studies

Moderator: Marilyn Montenegro, California Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers Women's Council Prison Project

12 January 2008
"New Writing" by Women

Emily Rapp, Antioch University, will discuss writing about disabilities and read from her memoir, Poster Child.

Susan Suntree, East Los Angeles College, brings together science, art, spirituality, poetry, and drama in her reading from Sacred Sites: The Secret History of Southern California.

Sholeh Wolpé, born in Iran, is a multinational writer, translator, and anthologist of literature from the Muslim world. She will read from her recent translation of the poetry of Forugh Farrokhzad and from her own poetry.

Terry Wolverton is author of six books and fourteen anthologies, including Embers, a novel-in-poems and Insurgent Muse: Life and Art at the Woman's Building. She is the founder of Writers At Work, a creative writing center in Los Angeles.

1 March 2008
Feminisms in the Twentieth Century: Lessons for the Twenty-first Century
A Roundtable Discussion in honor of Women's History Month

Jennifer Abod, Research Scholar, UCLA Center for the Study of Women

Marisela Chavez, Assistant Professor of Chicana/o Studies, CSU Dominguez Hills

Laura Harris, Associate Professor of English, World Literature, and Black Studies, Pitzer College

Caroline Heldman, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Occidental College

10 May 2008
Family Secrets: Documenting the Lives of our Kinswomen

"No more cookies or cake now 'C'est la guerre'": An American Nurse in Turkey, 1919 to 1920"
Kathleen Sheldon, Research Scholar, UCLA Center for the Study of Women

"Secret Strength: Five Generations of Fuentes Women in Los Angeles"
Christina Chavez, Assistant Professor, Liberal Studies, Cal Poly Pomona

"The Red Flag and Me: Opening the Pandora's Box of My Family's Activist History"
Judy Branfman, filmmaker and Research Scholar, UCLA Center for the Study of Women

Moderator: Penny L. Richards, Huntington Women's Studies Steering Committee and UCLA Center for the Study of Women

2006-2007 Programs

7 October 2006
Gendering at the Border Line: Canada, Mexico, China, and the United States

"Gendered Borders: Immigrating Women and the Foundation of U.S. Immigration Policy, 1875-1924"
Torrie Hester, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Oregon

“Domestic Service in 21st Century Oaxaca: Gendered Patterns of National and International Migration”
Jayne Howell, Professor, California State University at Long Beach

“Documenting Chinese American Experiences”
Suellen Cheng, Senior Curator and Executive Director Emeritus, El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument

Moderator: Lesley Kawaguchi, Professor, Santa Monica Community College

18 November 2006
Women and Health: Exploring the Margins

"Keepers of the Path: Women, Naturopathic Healing, and Cultural Critique, 1890-1950"
Susan E. Cayleff, San Diego State University Women's Studies

"Fire and Ice: Geographies of Gender and Emotion in the Shetland Isles, Scotland"
Deborah Thien, Cal State University-Long Beach Geography

"Sex Work, Gender Inequality, and HIV"
Gisele Maynard-Tucker, UCLA Center for the Study of Women

Moderator: Robyn Fishman, Cal State University-Long Beach

February 3, 2007
Engendering the Environment: History, Culture, Practice

“Gendered Turning Points in Environmental Justice History”
Nancy Unger, Associate Professor of History, Santa Clara University

“More than Meets the Eye: Women Writers on the Environment”
Toni Clark, Associate Professor of English and Dean of Women, Pomona College

“Microcredit at Caohai, China: One Effort to link Conservation, Development and Women”
Melinda Herrold-Menzies, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, Pitzer College

Moderator: Martha Matsuoka, Visiting Assistant Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy, Occidental College

2 June 2007
Women Writing in Los Angeles Today: Who? Why? How?

Eloise Klein Healy has published six books of poetry, most recently, The Islands Project: Poems For Sappho. She formerly directed CSUN’s Women’s Studies Program and was active in the Woman’s Building. Healy founded Antioch University’s program in Creative Writing, where she is Distinguished Professor Emerita.

Tara Ison's latest novel, The List, came out in March. Her writing has appeared in Tin House, Kenyon Review, Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, and elsewhere. She co-wrote a film and has received distinguished fellowships and awards. Ison is currently Associate Professor in Antioch University's MFA program in Creative Writing.

Nina Revoyr grew up in Tokyo, Wisconsin, and Los Angeles. Her second novel, Southland, “merges elements of literature and social history with…mystery, while evoking Southern California as a character.” The Age of Dreaming will be published in 2008. Revoyr is currently Remsen Bird Visiting Artist at Occidental College.

Gail Wronsky is author or coauthor of seven books including Poems for Infidels, Dying for Beauty, and Love-Talkers. She has translated for Argentinean poet and activist Alicia Partnoy, and the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. Wronsky is Director of Creative Writing at Loyola Marymount University.

2005-2006 Programs

8 October 2005
Maintaining Poverty: Women and the Welfare State

"From Security to Rehabilitation to Rights: Women, Welfare, and Poverty"
Eileen Boris, Hull Professor of Women's Studies, UC-Santa Barbara

"Television's 'Queen for a Day': The Mid-Twentieth-Century 'Worthy' Poor"
Carole Srole, History Department, California State University at Los Angeles

"Tough Love in L.A. County: Latina Immigrants and the Failure of Welfare Reform"
Alejandra Marchevsky, Liberal Studies, California State University at Los Angeles

Moderator: Ricky Manoff, Women's Studies, CSU-Northridge

25 February 2006
Women, Disability, and the Arts

“The Theatrical Landscape of Disability: Domestic vs. Transcendent Geographies”
Victoria Ann Lewis, Assistant Professor, Department of Theatre Arts, University of Redlands

“Truth and Beauty: Women, Disability, and Literary Form”
Helen Deutsch, Associate Professor, Department of English, UCLA

“Five Foot Feat: Dance, Disability, and the Art of the Ordinary"
Catherine Cole, Associate Professor, Department of Dramatic Art
Associate Director, Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, UC-Santa Barbara

Moderator: Penny L. Richards, Research Scholar, UCLA Center for the Study of Women

18 March 2006
Women in Politics in the Twentieth Century

“In the Service of the Nation: Conservative Women in Early 20th Century France”
Cheryl Koos, Associate Professor of History, CSU-Los Angeles

“Reading and Writing on the Right: Conservative Female Political Culture in Postwar Los Angeles”
Michelle Nickerson, Assistant Professor of History, University of Texas at Dallas
Fletcher Jones Fellow, Huntington Library

"Realpolitik: One Woman's Experience in the Trenches of Los Angeles Government"
Valerie Fields
Former Board Member, Los Angeles Unified School District

Moderator: Lisa Sousa, Associate Professor of History, Occidental College

3 June 2006
Performing Gender and Sexuality in Latina/o L.A.

“From Macha to Macho: Expanding a Visual Vocabulary”
Raquel Gutierrez, USC Center for Feminist Research & the Butchlalis de Panochtitlan
and Claudia Rodriguez, Butchlalis de Panochtitlan

“Feminism + Femininity = Anxiety,
and Other Reflections on Performing 'Confessions of a Cha Cha Feminist'”
Maria Elena Fernandez, Performance Artist

"Figuring L.A.:
The Performative Force of Luis Alfaro's
'Pocho Nightmare-A Moo Moo Approaches.'"
Tiffany Ana Lopez, UCR Department of English

Moderator:
Rita Cano Alcala, Scripps College Hispanic Studies and Chicano Studies