Archive
2009
Grace Paley: Speaking Truth to Power
Yvette Christiansë, Ynestra King, Nancy Kricorian, Amy Swerdlow, and a member of the Center for Immigrant Families Collective
On Grace Paley’s birthday, we present a conversation exploring how imagination, truthtelling, and courageous action flow out of Paley’s life and work. A prolific writer, Paley’s fiction highlights the everyday struggles of women, what she calls “a history of everyday life.” In addition to her writing, Paley was also a committed activist, passionate about numerous […]
Read MoreIndigenous Women and Zapatismo: New Horizons of Visibility
Márgara Millán
The presence of women in the ranks of contemporary Zapatismo is a feature that has become visible in various ways, and which the insurgent movement has had to integrate. Sub-commander Marcos is not making light of the issue when he states that women belong in Zapatismo not because it is a feminist movement, but because […]
Read MoreCitizenship, Labor and the Biopolitics of the Bioeconomy: Recruiting Female Tissue Donors for Stem Cell Research
Catherine Waldby
Catherine Waldby is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Social Policy at The University of Sydney, Australia. In this presentation, Professor Waldby will explore the emerging tensions between women’s voluntary (public good) donation of reproductive tissues for stem cell research and the increasing resort to transactional forms of tissue procurement, for example […]
Read MoreShould Religious Ethics Matter to Feminist Politics?
Saba Mahmood
Established in 2004 in honor of Barnard alumna Helen Pond McIntyre ’48, the McIntyre lectureship highlights the work of scholars who have made extraordinary contributions to the field of Women’s Studies. In past years, the lecture series has welcomed numerous feminist icons, including legal scholar Patricia Williams; human rights advocate Dorothy Q. Thomas; feminist science […]
Read MoreA Lab of One’s Own: A Place to Measure the Broken Symmetries of This Particular Elegant Universe
Melissa Franklin
This year’s Roslyn Silver ’27 Science Lecture will be presented by Melissa Franklin, Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics at Harvard University. An experimental particle physicist who studies hadron collisions produced by the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, she works in a collaboration of over 600 international physicists who discovered the top quark, the most massive of known […]
Read MoreThe Place of Contemporary Art
Alexander Alberro
In this lecture, Alexander Alberro, Virginia Bloedel Wright Associate Professor of Art History at Barnard College, explores forms of art and spectatorship that have emerged in the past two decades and are referred to as “contemporary.” The new modes are varied, covering a span from digital productions and sculptural installations that overwhelm cognition and produce […]
Read MoreLos Demonios Del Edén: Gender, Violence and Activism in Mexico
Lydia Cacho
With her 2005 book Los Demonios del Edén (Demons of Eden), author and human rights activist Lydia Cacho revealed the existence of organized sexual abuse of minors in Mexico. Following the publication of her book, she was subject to police harassment and became a symbol of a growing movement for greater freedom of the press. […]
Read MoreWomen, Philosophy, and History: A Conference in Celebration of Eileen O’Neill
This two-day conference continues the groundbreaking work of Eileen O’Neill ’75 by examining the standard narrative of the history of philosophy from a feminist perspective. O’Neill’s pioneering scholarship has brought to light the texts and ideas of women in the early modern period, and demonstrated the substantial contributions they made to philosophy. Her work has […]
Read MoreNew Feminist Activism
Mia Herndon, Ai-jen Poo, and Rinku Sen
BCRW has long been interested in supporting social justice movements that reach beyond the limits of traditional feminist activism. In past semesters, we have hosted programs that have taken up a variety of intersectional projects that join feminist activism and analysis with other progressive movements, including reproductive justice, workplace rights across the economic spectrum, and […]
Read MoreWomen and Work: Building Solidarity with America’s Vulnerable Workers
National Domestic Workers Alliance
Last year, BCRW hosted the first National Domestic Workers Alliance conference, bringing together domestic workers from across the country to develop a national agenda, and to discuss how best to educate the public and strategize to achieve fair labor standards for domestic workers, including a living wage, basic benefits, and health care. This year, we […]
Read MoreProse, Poetry and the Art of the Political
Antjie Krog and Adrienne Rich
For many decades, Antjie Krog and Adrienne Rich have been at the forefront of the dissident tradition within their respective language worlds, writing poetry and prose that pushes the limits of form while questioning the structures of political violence in which they live. Both are among the most lauded writers of their generation, receiving acclaim […]
Read MoreMuybridge’s Guatemalan Laundresses: Gender, Labor, and Aesthetics on a Coffee Plantation
Elizabeth Hutchinson
In 1875, the Anglo-American landscape photographer Eadweard Muybridge traveled to Central America as a guest of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. The trip resulted in an album of luxurious views that document the impact of U.S. involvement in the politics and economics of the region. In addition to producing picturesque views of the shady plantations […]
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