Women's Studies
From the Director. . .
Welcome to the home page of the Providence College Women's Studies Program! We hope that you will find these pages to be a way of learning more about the community of Providence College students and faculty who share an interest in studying the lives and experiences of women through the academic discipline of Women's Studies. Our program is part of a larger community of scholars and students of Women's Studies throughout the US and the world. Although there are many differences among programs at different institutions, we share an excitement about what we can learn by putting women at the center of our questions.
At Providence College, the Women's Studies Program incorporates a Major and a Minor in Women's Studies, 10-15 courses per semester offered to any interested student, the Women's Studies Resource Center, and a variety of informal events offered to the college community.
News & Events
Mary Gaitskill, Tuesday, February 7, 2012, 7:00 p.m., Feinstein 400
Awarding-winning author Mary Gaitskill is the author of the novels Two Girls, Fat and Thin, and Veronica, which was nominated for the 2005 National Book Award, National Critic’s Circle Award, and L.A. Times Book Award. She is the author of the story collections Bad Behavior and Because They Wanted To, which was nominated for the PEN/Faulkner in 1998. Her story “Secretary” was the basis for the feature film of the same name starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader. The film received the Special Jury Prize, and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Gaitskill’s stories and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, Esquire, Best American Short Stories and The O. Henry Prize Stories. In 2002 she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for fiction, and last year was awarded a Cullman Research Fellowship at the New York Public Library. She has taught at U-C Berkeley, the University of Houston, New York University, Brown and Syracuse University. Sponsored by the Department of English and Co-sponsored by the Women's Studies Program.
The Vagina Monologues:
Wednesday, February 22nd, 6:30 p.m., Avon Cinema 260 Thayer St. Providence, RI 02906
Saturday, February 25th, 1:00 p.m., Avon Cinema 260 Thayer St. Providence, RI 02906
Event Info:
The Vagina Monologues is an award-winning play which is organized, performed and produced exclusively by students of Providence College. This campaign is completely independent from the college and is part of the larger global activist movement V-Day, which works to end violence against women and girls. The Vagina Monologues is a creative performance done to increase awareness, raise money, and generate broader attention for the fight to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital cutting, and sex slavery. V-Day is a fierce, wild, unstoppable movement - please join us!
Juliet Schor, Tuesday, February 28, 2012, 5:00 p.m., '64 Hall
Juliet Schor is Professor of Sociology at Boston College. Her most recent book is True Wealth: How and Why Millions of Americans are Creating a Time-Rich, Ecologically Light, Small-Scale, High-Satisfaction Economy (2011 by The Penguin Press, previously published as Plenitude. More information can be found at julietschor.org.) Previous books include national best-seller The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure (Basic Books, 1992) and The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don’t Need (Basic Books, 1998). The Overworked American appeared on the best-seller lists of The New York Times, Publisher's Weekly, The Chicago Tribune, The Village Voice The Boston Globe as well as the annual best books list for The New York Times, Business Week and other publications. The book is widely credited for influencing the national debate on work and family. The Overspent American was also made into a video of the same name, by the Media Education Foundation (September 2003).
Schor also wrote Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture (Scribner 2004). She is the author of Do Americans Shop Too Much? (Beacon Press 2000), co-editor of Consumer Society: A Reader (The New Press 2000) and co-editor of Sustainable Planet: Solutions for the Twenty-first Century (Beacon Press 2002). An essay collection, Consumerism and Its Discontents is forthcoming from Oxford University Press in 2011. She has also co-edited a number of academic collections.
Schor is a former Guggenheim Fellow and recipient of the 2011 Herman Daly Award from the US Society for Ecological Economics. She has also received the George Orwell Award for Distinguished Contributions to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language from the National Council of Teachers of English. In 2006 she received the Leontief Prize from the Global Development and Economics Institute at Tufts University for expanding the frontiers of economic thought. Sponsored by the Women's Studies Program. Co-sponsored by the Sociology and Political Science Departments and the Social Sciences and Public and Community Services Programs.
Sujatha Fernandes, Tuesday, March 6, 2012, 4:00 p.m., Feinstein 400Sujatha Fernandes is Associate Professor of Sociology at Queens College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Chicago in 2003. She has taught classes on Social Theory, Latin American politics, Caribbean politics and society, and cultural politics. Her research interests include hip hop culture; neoliberalism; state-society relations; urban public space; and the role of culture in social movements; with an area focus on Latin America and the Caribbean. Dr Fernandes has been the recipient of various fellowships, including a Wilson-Cotsen Postdoctoral Fellowship at Princeton University’s Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts (2003-2006) and a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Center for the Humanities, CUNY Graduate Center (2007-2008). In 2008, she was awarded the Feliks Gross Award from the CUNY Academy for Arts and Sciences in recognition of outstanding research. She is currently a mid-career Mellon Faculty Fellow at the Committee on Globalization and Social Change at the CUNY Graduate Center.
Dr Fernandes is the author of Cuba Represent! Cuban Arts, State Power, and the Making of New Revolutionary Cultures (Duke University Press, October 2006) and Who Can Stop the Drums? Urban Social Movements in Chávez’s Venezuela (Duke University Press, April 2010). Her most recent book is Close to the Edge: In Search of the Global Hip Hop Generation (Verso, September 2011).
This talk explores whether the culture of hip hop can forge alliances between Afro-descendant people across the globe. The American culture of hip hop was integrated into the arsenal, repertoire, and landscape of black youth across the globe. But through an exploration of hip hop in four cities, the talk reveals that the global hip hop ‘hood may be more a fantasy than a reality. Hip hop had galvanized the imagination of young people around the world, but it couldn’t erase the differences between them, or the difficulties of translating lives, cultures, and political visions. The talk also explores the specific contributions and engagements of women rappers within a global hip hop "brotherhood." Co sponsored by the Sociology Department, the Women's Studies, Social Science, Black Studies,Global Studies Programs, and Balfour Office for Multicultural Activities.
Women's Art Show, Thursday, March 22nd, 5:00-9:00 p.m., McPhail's
A forum in which artists of all kinds are free to exhibit or perform their art! Pieces should display or exhibit a piece of art that was either originally completed by a woman, is being performed/displayed by a woman now, or honors and respects women in general. All forms of art, including vocal, acoustic, paintings, crafts and dance will be welcome! Pizza and refreshments will be served! Sponsored by Women Will.
Women in Sport Event:
THURSDAY, MARCH 1: Speaker: 7:00 p.m., Reception, 7:30 p.m., Film, 8:00 p.m., Moore Hall I
A Hero for Daisy/Lynette Labinger
Documentary film about and discussion of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 which states that: "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance..." While this changed the landscape of sports in schools across the country from elementary to university level, it enabled and facilitated women athletes to participate in sports for the first time in modern history. Nonetheless, it debuted amid much controversy, and women athletes and teams often needed to sue for their rights under the law. Attorney Lynette Labinger was at the forefront of the struggle, successfully suing Brown University in 1991 in a landmark sex-equity case, Cohen vs. Brown
THURSDAY, MARCH 8: Speaker: 7:00 p.m., Reception, 7:30 p.m., Film, 8:00 p.m., Moore Hall I
Whip It/ Katherine and Meghan Follete
Whip it is the 2009 comedy-drama about a young girl’s maverick decision to join the roller derby in defiance of her mother’s pressure to enter beauty pageants. It stars Ellen Page and was the directorial debut of Drew Barrymore. The Folletes are our own mother-daughter roller derby family, with Katherine an employee at PC, and Meghan a skater with the Rhode Island derby team.
THURSDAY, MARCH 22: Speaker: 7:00 p.m., Reception, 7:30 p.m., Film, 8:00 p.m., Moore Hall I
A League of their Own/Wilma Briggs
A League of their Own is the much-beloved film of 1992 which tells a fictionalized story of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, formed during World War II to replace the men’s leagues that had been drained by the draft. Rhode Islander Wilma Briggs is the actual former female left fielder who played from 1948 through 1954 in the League, and discusses her experiences.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28: Movie and Pizza, 6:30 p.m., '64 Hall
We will be showing "Pray the Devil Back to Hell" at 6:30 pm in '64 Hall Wednesday, March 28. The film is about an hour long, and we will also have pizza.
The film chronicles the actions taken by Liberian women in order to end civil war in their country. Both Christian and Muslim women joined together to protest the government through non-violence until they agreed to resume peace talks, which ultimately brought an end to the civil war.
Thank you! Nicole
THURSDAY, MARCH 29: Speaker: 7:00 p.m., Reception, 7:30 p.m., Film, 8:00 p.m., Moore Hall I
Girlfight/Dr. John Sullivan
Girlfight tells the story of a Latina woman who comes up through the ranks to become an award-winning prizefighter, surpassing her boxer boyfriend in the process. Sports psychologist Dr. John Sullivan talks about the dynamics of relationships when athletics and competition enter the mix.
MONDAY, APRIL 2, Movie, 7:00 p.m., Feinstein 400
For Colored Girls movie will be shown Monday, April 2nd at 7 p.m., Feinstein 400. Pizza.
THURSDAY, APRIL 12TH, 7:00 p.m., '64 Hall
Take Back the Night
On behalf of Women Will, we wanted to reach out to you, as allies to our club and our many initiatives, regarding Take Back the Night, a night for survivors of sexual assault to have the opportunity to share their stories anonymously and for others to come support in solidarity in an effort to raise awareness and end violence. It will be Thursday, April 12 at 7 PM in ’64 Hall. You are welcome to attend and we would appreciate it if you could encourage your students to come as well. Attached is a copy of the flyer for the event—if you could forward it to your students, as well as other faculty and staff; hang one up on your office door; and announce it in your classes, we could greatly appreciate it.
From all of Women Will, we thank you for your help and support!