Conference to focus on global feminism

A multiyear interdisciplinary initiative, "Global Feminisms: Comparative Case Studies of Women's Activism and Scholarship," that documents the lives of scholars and activists in the women's movements around the world will culminate in a two-day conference Sept.14-15, Michigan League, 3rd Floor.

The conference, "Changing the World, Changing the Academy: Feminisms in China, India, Poland and the U.S.," will showcase 42 videotaped oral histories with feminist activist-scholars from China, India, Poland and the United States.

Panels and workshops will highlight the potential of the interview materials for research and teaching, both in women's studies and in other disciplines. Representatives from all four countries will participate, along with U-M faculty and students who have worked on the project from a variety of fields, including women's studies, American Culture, Afro-American and African Studies, English, history, political science, psychology, sociology, and other disciplines.

"We believe these materials will offer many new opportunities for faculty and students to do interesting research, as well as for faculty to bring these issues into the classroom in exciting new ways," says Abigail Stewart, a psychology and women's studies professor who was one of the organizers of the event.

During the conference, project participants will present three papers exploring research themes that arose across interviews and sites. Participants also will present four papers discussing the use of global feminism materials in research, and particularly in teaching mainstream courses in the fields of history, English, psychology and sociology.

Guest experts on global feminisms from other institutions have been invited to participate in workshops focused on how to use these materials to develop new courses on global feminism, or the intersection of activism and scholarship, as well as how to enliven and enrich existing courses on introduction to women's studies and research methods.

The event is free and open to the public. Initially supported by a Rackham Interdisciplinary Collaboration Research Grant, additional support was provided by LSA, the International Institute, the Institute for Research on Women and Gender, Women's Studies, the Institute for the Humanities, the Center for South Asian Studies, the Herman Family Fund, the Center for African and Afro-American Studies and the Office of the Provost.

The conference is presented in collaboration with the LSA Theme Year, "The Theory and Practice of Citizenship: From the Local to the Global".

More Stories

• Coleman kicks off a fresh academic year
• Global citizenship theme year explores new risks, opportunities
• Conference to focus on global feminism
• Study: Type A personality not linked to heart disease
• President, provost: Take advantage of all U has to offer
• Coleman, Sullivan welcome new University faculty
• U-M study to examine energy conservation on campus
• U.S.-al Qaeda conflict assessed in Rosenthal Lecture
• Spotlight: From party lines to computer lines, he's seen the Biostation evolve
• Rehydrate--your RNA needs it
• Katrina exposed need for disaster assistance reform
• New York Times auto reporter to lecture
• Hurvitz tapped to chair Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
• Schrage appointed OSCR director
• U-M among the best on several college rankings
• Physics researchers chosen to study space mission
• MBooks: Library transforms research through digital archive
• Biostation boss hosts federal relations officers
• Strokes to cost $2.2 trillion by 2050 if prevention, treatment don't improve
• Mexican-Americans more likely to suffer a recurrent stroke
• Scholarship & Creativity
• Don't Miss
• Photo: Project residence: Make it work
• Photo: Champion of science
• Photo: 'A Decade of Dissent' at the Bentley
• U-M Investment Funds Update