Twenty years ago, the first Associated Colleges of the South biennial Women’s and Gender Studies conference was held at our very own Furman University. Our University will welcome back the conference to its campus on April 4th and 5th, 2014. The sixteen member institutions meet every other year and discuss a specific theme that is relevant to gender studies. The two current co-chairs of the conference, Furman professors Dr. Karni Bhati and Dr. Sofia Kearns, chose the theme for this coming year’s conference: “Intersections and Assemblages: Gender and Sexuality Across Cultures.” This general topic will allow for the discussion of the various ways we create and inhabit our own multifaceted identities, discussing the topic of gender the context of issues like cultural context, class, and race.
The past nine conferences have focused primarily on gender issues in our Western society, but this year the goal is to compare how gender issues arise and are dealt with across cultures. The ACS Gender Conference website details this year’s theme: “The theme of the conference recognizes and addresses the multiplicity and diversity of scholarly approaches and activism to the long-standing aspiration for the abolition of all forms of inequality based on gender and/or sexuality. It especially welcomes transnational, cross-cultural, or comparative perspectives on gender and sexuality.” The keynote speaker for the conference will be Michael Kimmel, an American sociologist and professor at Stony Brook University who specializes in the academic sub-field of Men’s Studies and is a spokesperson for the National Organization of Men Against Sexism (NOMAS). The majority of Kimmel’s research is on masculinity, and his talk will tie his research to cross-cultural themes.
The tenth biennial conference will provide a wonderful opportunity for Furman professors and Furman students. The topic of gender and sexuality is often avoided here on campus, but the conference will provide the perfect forum to get discussion started. Dr. Bhati encourages students to get involved in the conference and to explore how gender studies are involved in your particular academic discipline and areas of interests. Growing our discussion of gender studies at Furman will greatly enrich the University by creating room for everyone to consider questions and subjects often overlooked on campus.
Students and faculty can go to http://blogs.furman.edu/bhati/ to register for the conference. If you complete the registration form, then you can participate and listen to papers, panels, and roundtable discussions. There will also be a CLP connected to the conference that all students will be able to attend. Feel free to submit an abstract of your own paper proposal before October 31 for the chance to present at the conference. Unfortunately, everyone will have to wait until April 2014 for the Intersections and Assemblages conference, but Dr. Bhati and Dr. Kearns encourage sharing both before and after the conference through Twitter (#GenderConf2014) and by joining the Facebook group entitled, “Gender Intersections & Assemblages.” Students and faculty should participate in this event and cultivate a space at Furman where gender issues can be explored freely and whole-heartedly.
