GWSS Community Blog

The Nation in Hindi Film: The Film of the Hindu Nation

Kulvinder Arora
Visiting Assistant Professor
Macalester College

Monday, March 31st, 2008
400 Ford Hall
3:30 – 5:00 PM

Kulvinder Arora's talk will deal with how religious nationalism has
framed heteronormativity in both mainstream Bollywood and "Art" Hindi
films. While some postcolonial scholars have argued that early Hindi
film constituted the formation of a national project that no longer
exists in Bollywood cinema, Arora will argue that heteronormativity
and religious nationalisms both function as national projects in
which the state and media collude. She will analyze the popular films
of Director Karan Johar like Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham and Kal Ho Na ho
and also Deepa Mehta's Fire for their construction and subversion of
religious and gender normativity.

Kulvinder Arora has a Phd from the University of California, San
Diego in Literature. She is currently teaching as a Visiting
Assistant professor at Macalester College in Women's, Gender and
Sexuality Studies. In her work, she is interested in examining how
modernity derives its impetus from traditional cultures and practices
including progressive notions of gender and religious practices.

Department of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies * College of
Liberal Arts * University of Minnesota
425 Ford Hall, 224 Church St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455
(612) 624-6006 * gwss@umn.edu

Posted by Rae at 3:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LECTURE ON "BRINGING FEMINISM HOME": Daisy Hernández, writer and coeditor of Colonize This! Young Women on Today's Feminism, will discuss how gender and race have shaped her identity as a feminist and what it means to connect feminism to the communities we call home. March 27, 7 p.m., 125 Willey Hall. RSVP to women@umn.edu or 612-625-9837.

DOCUMENTARY: Free screening of No! Confronting Sexual Assault in Our Communities by the Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action. The film, about the impact of sexual violence on black women and girls, features first-person testimonials and interviews with violence prevention advocates. March 28, 12:15-1:45 p.m., 238A Morrill Hall. Space is limited; RSVP to frank055@umn.edu or call 612-624-9547 by today.

TOWN HALL MEETING ON TRANSGENDER RIGHTS with Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. The event will focus on issues of gender identity that create barriers for gender access and equity, such as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, Social Security gender-record matching, and the Real ID Act. March 31, 7-8:30 p.m., 25 Mondale Hall. For more information, see GLBTA or e-mail neely010@umn.edu.

A talk with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks (today); "AIDS bombs: HIV, Race, and Compliance in Minnesota" (March 27); "Common Senses: Perception and Perspective" (March 28); "Wopida Wotapi Thank You Feast And Celebration" (March 29); and "Communication Before Language" (March 31)

Posted by Rae at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Brunel University's Centre for American, Transatlantic and Caribbean History (CATCH) is organising a one-day conference on 7th June 2008 to discuss transatlantic perspectives on American women's history. The conference will reflect on the contours of American's women's history research today, particularly amongst scholars and postgraduates working and studying in the UK, although papers are also welcome from those researching in the United States and elsewhere. The conference will include two plenaries. One will be given by Professor Jay Kleinberg, Director of CATCH and an editor of the recently published: The Practice of US Women's History: Narratives, Intersections and Dialogues, who will address US women's history practice and practitioners in the UK. Professor of Women's and American Studies at the University of Kansas, Ann Schofield, will discuss transatlantic approaches to American women's and gender history.

The conference will consist of discussion panels, chaired by historians such as Dr. Inge Dornan (Brunel), where panellists will summarise the arguments of their pre-circulated papers and questions will follow. There will also be poster sessions where postgraduates and others can outline their research projects. The conference organisers are aware of the need for greater discussion of American women's history within the United Kingdom where innovative research is taking place. It is hoped that the papers will be published and that a network and an annual conference will be established as outcomes of this conference.

Themes of the conference could include but are not limited to:

Ethnicity and Race,
Class and Labour,
Sexuality,
Life cycles: Aging and Family,
Growing Up Female,
Social Movements,
Gender vs. Women's History,
Feminist History and Activism,
Women and Education,
Female Occupations,
Women and War.

Papers are welcome from established academics, early career scholars and postgraduates. There will be no charge for the conference which will be held at Brunel University in Uxbridge, Middlesex. Lunch and refreshments will be provided. Please submit a 300 word abstract by April 15th to the conference secretary, Rachel Cohen, at Rachel.Cohen@brunel.ac.uk.

Posted by Rae at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In GWSS 3390: Feminist Media Making, we made our first videos: digital stories. Read about the digital storytelling movement here, here, and here.

Watch all of digital stories on our course blog.

Here's a peek of some of our work: [If you only see a blue Q, click "Refresh"; he arrow in a circle on the top of your browser's window.]


"Brittany's Boob Project"

"Used to."

"Defining Home"

"Mom"

Watch all of digital stories on our course blog.

Posted by Rae at 9:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"Circulations of Medical Knowledge"


Speaker:Susan Craddock

Wednesday, March 5, 2008
3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
Free!

120 B/C Andersen Library
222-- 21st Ave. S. , Minneapolis

Students, faculty, staff and the community are warmly invited to attend. Light refreshments will be served.

Posted by Rae at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)