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Women’s Studies NewsVolume 5, Issue 2 / March 2009Spring 2009EnRiching the campus with poetryby Jeannette RileyWorld-renowned poet and activistAdrienne Rich will be the honoredPage 1: EnRiching the campuswith poetryPage 2: Vagina MonologuesreviewPage 3: WMS Fall ‘09Highlights ; Outstanding WomenAwardsPage 4: Spotlight on firstgraduating WMS majorsPage 5: Spotlight ongraduating majors continued ;Siren submissionsPage 6: Women’s HistoryMonthPage 7: New WMS facultyspotlights ; Rich continuedPage 8: WMS Director’s ReportCheck out our website, WMSon the web:www.umassd.edu/CAS/WMSW M S n e w sguest and read her poetry at the 2ndAnnual Women’s Studies Programand Women’s Resource CenterFundraiser on April, 30 at 5:30 p.m.on the University of MassachusettsDartmouth campus. The public isinvited to participate in this fundraisingevent, which is co-sponsored by theWomen’s Fund of the CommunityFoundation of SoutheasternMassachusetts.Rich is a widely acclaimed literaryfigure who, in her writing, exploreswomen’s experiences, identitiesand histories. In her book of essays,What is Found There: Notebooks onPoetry and Politics, Rich writes that“the reading or hearing of a poem cantransform consciousness” as poetrycreates the “seeing and touching ofanother, of others, through language.”Known for coining the phrase, “Thepersonal is the political,” for more thanfifty years, Adrienne Rich’s eloquentand visionary writings have shapedthe world of poetry as well as feministand political thought.Rich will join the UMassDartmouth community for thesecond annual fundraiser to supportthe Women’s Studies Programendowment for student scholarshipsand the work of the Women’sResource Center on campus and inthe community.The first fundraising eventheld in February 2008 featuredGloria Steinem who spoke with anaudience of over 200 people abouther “aha” moments in the women’smovement and her lifelong workto create women’s social equality.Steinem’s presence helped establishthe Women’s Studies endowment forstudent scholarships and raised over 25,000. The first scholarships to astudent majoring in Women’s Studiesand a student minoring in Women’sStudies will be awarded this spring forthe Fall 2009 semester.In addition to providing a readingof her work, along with commentary,Rich will sign books for interestedpeople immediately following thedinner and reading. Books will beon sale at the event from the UMassDartmouth Campus Store. A raffle of aframed broadside of an autographedRich poem will also be held.Since receiving the YaleYounger Poets Award at the ageof 21, Adrienne Rich continues toexceed her own literary boundaries.Her poetry has been honoredwith a National Book Award, twoGuggenheim Fellowships, the firstRuth Lilly Poetry Prize, and theNational Poetry Association Awardfor Distinguished Service to the Art ofPoetry, among others. She has alsobeen distinguished by an Academyof American Poets Fellowship anda MacArthur Fellowship. She is thesee RICH page 71
VVagina Monologues opens lips, eyes and hearts at UMass DartmouthOn February 20th and 21st,2009, The Vagina Monologuesshowed for two successfulperformances at the Angus BaileyAuditorium. The show has becomea perennial favorite for both menand women at UMass Dartmouth,being performed for the fourth timein as many years and nine timestotal.Over 400 people from UMassDartmouth and the greatercommunity attended the shows,with many saying this was the bestyear yet for the vaginas ofUMassD.The show shares the stories,memories, thoughts, and feelingsof women, all based on over 200interviews conducted by playwrightEve Ensler and presented in theform of monologues. Subjectscovered include sexuality,a variety of names for the vagina,feelings on pubic hair, orgasms,and birth. Crowd favorites include“My Angry Vagina,” a woman’srumination on her angry genitalia,and “The Woman Who Loved toMake Vaginas Happy,” in whicha female sex worker demonstratesseveral types of orgasms for theaudience, were performed byStephanie Luz and Olivia Sahlin,respectively and were received2particularly well this year.Three personal monologuesfrom cast members were alsoincluded in this year’s rendition ofthe show, a tradition that began theprevious year.The cast and production teamalso chose to highlight the issue ofdomestic violence in theirperformance. The cast wore purpleand black as a way to support thepurple ribbon campaign, whichcommemorates victims andsurvivors of domestic violence.Two optional monologues “TheCrooked Braid” and “TheyBeat the Girl out of My Boy. OrSo They Tried” - both monologuesabout abuse - were chosen by thedirectors to highlight this seriousissue. Finally, all proceeds from theshow were donated to the DomesticViolence Prevention program atthe Women’s Center, Inc. in NewBedford and to the women of theDemocratic Republic of Congo.The show was not receivedwithout controversy. This year’sadvertising campaign includedseveral racy teaser posters withslogans such as “Read our lips.They’re open and waiting for youto come” and “You should come.We will too,” were met with mixedreactions. Instantly recognizable bytheir logo, color theme and style,the eye-catching posters werefirst approved and later removed.One administrator explained thatthe recent budget crisis at UMasshas caused many people to losetheir sense of humor, and notedthat many people were offendedby the sexual allusions the posterscontained. Regardless, there is nodoubt that this year’s advertisingcampaign was highly effective,as the show had the highestattendance and raised more moneythan any VMons in recent history.This year’s production wasdirected by seniors Megan Gauthierand Laura McHugh, spending theirsecond and final year together as adirecting team.The two were immenselyproud of this year’s production,particularly “the highly talented andcohesive cast, which really is whatmakes or breaks a production,”says McHugh.The Vagina Monologues 2009was an undoubted success interms of entertainment, artisticquality, and as a charitablefundraiser. Let us hope that futureyears continue the strong legacy ofvaginas at UMass Dartmouth!UMass Dartmouth
WMS Fall ‘09 Course HighlightsENL/WMS 347: Contemporary WomenNovelistsSOC/ANT/WMS 300: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexualand Transgender Identity and CultureProf. Jeannette RileyProf. Penn ReeveIn this course, we will ready novels bycontemporary women writers from the United States,Canada , India, and Jamaica . We will read these worksagainst a backdrop of feminist literary criticism aswe examine how the identity of “Woman” necessarilyintersects and merges with the identities of race, class,sexuality, and history. These theoretical readings areintended to help us bring different perspectives to thetexts in order to fully analyze the novels we are reading.Our goal is to move beyond reader responsereactions to the novels, as well as learn more aboutthe history and issues inherent to the field of feministliterary criticism. We will also discuss how these novels(re)present contemporary issues. In doing so, we willdiscover and examine how “[I]f one is a woman, that issurely not all one is” ( Butler ).In this course, we will examine what is meant bysexual orientation and transgender identity and theirrelationship to each other. We will look at the historyof lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rightsmovements as well as the social history of same genderrelations and gender variation in the US, including theprocess of “coming out.” We will also discuss the socialconstruction of gender and sexual identity, includingvariations in identity thoughts and behavior as well ashomophobia, biphobia and transphobia in US socialinstitutions.We will explore the importance of religion in formingopinions about homosexuality and gender variation.Finally, we will discuss the current debate in the US overthe legitimacy of gay adoptions, and gays serving in themilitary.PSY/WMS 375: Psychology of SexDifferencesProf. Thomas BooneIn this active learning style class, we will readassigned texts and hold discussions on varioustheories and research that consider the question of sexdifferences. We will examine sexism and stereotypesboth in the world and in our daily lives, going so faras to perform an act that is atypical of our gender forthe purpose of thinking about how our societal idealsinfluence the way we act.At the completion of this course, you shouldbe able to discuss the major questions and issuesregarding sex differences and how such differences,real or perceived, might impact your day-to-day life.PSC/WMS 216: President Obama and thePolitics of Welfare ReformProf. Heidi BerggrenIn this class, our first task will be to gain someperspective on the policies and politics related to welfarein the United States by putting these into a broadertheoretical, historical and comparative context. We willthen focus specifically on the politics of welfare andwelfare reform in the United States. We will highlightcertain negative themes, including the roles played byassumptions about race and social class and assumptionsabout about men, women, work and family. We will alsoexamine the economic, partisan, ideological, interestgroup, public-opinion, and mass-media components ofthe politics of welfare. In undertaking these tasks, we willfollow and assess both the impact of the stimulus packagePresident Obama signed in his early days in office andother policy changes he has made that are relevant utstandingWomen’sAwards!Staff Award : Beth-Anne VieiraFaculty Award : Brenda BerubeStudent Award: Sherrie Anne AndreWMS news3
Congratulations to the first graduating Women’s Studies Majors!Meghan ThompsonSenior Meghan Thompsonis big- chief[tess] on campus atUMass Dartmouth. She is one ofthe founding sisters of Iota Delta Nusorority, an ARD in Hickory/Birch andone of the first students to graduatewith a major in Women’s Studies with a dual major in Psychology.Thompson is excited to be oneof the first to graduate with a WMSdegree. She is uncertain as to herfuture career plans, but knows thatshe would like to go back to schoolfor a Master’s Degree. Ideally, shewould like to work with women orchildren in some way that benefitsthem, which was no doubt fueledby her involvement in Women’sStudies.Of her experience in WMScourses at UMassD, Thompsonnotes, “I have learned about femaleempowerment and feminism.”She discusses how feminism ismisunderstood by our society andasserts that people should be moreopen minded when it comes to thetopic, adding: “They just might findout that they are feminists, too!”Since becoming involved inWomen’s Studies, Thompson hasworked with the Women’s Shelterin New Bedford, donating bothpersonal care products and schoolsupplies for children along with agroup of other women. She hasalso become more involved with theWomen’s Resource Center, workingwith Dr. Juli Parker, Director of theWRC, to put on the early feministplay “Trifles,” written by SusanGlaspell.Thompson’s favorite Women’sStudies class was “actually acombined history class that lookedat women in Africa.” She admits, “Atfirst, I was not a fan of this class,and then we began talking aboutcontroversial issues that really gotme thinking about different types ofactivism that I could take part in tochange the lives of women.” Sheis also quite fond of “Mothers andDaughters,” a class taught by Dr.Parker which explores the complexrelationship between mothers anddaughters. Says Thompson of thecourse, “It’s really opening my eyesto motherhood and is helping meto understand where my mother iscoming from on different issues.”We wish Thompson the best ofluck in her endeavours and expect tosee great things from her.Michelle HallSenior Michelle Hall is one offour graduating Women’s StudiesMajors. As if dual-majoring inboth Psychology and WMS isn’tenough, Hall also holds theposition of a third year RAin Oak Glen Hall and is afounder of the Iota Delta Nusorority.Hall, fomerly ofWinchester Massachusetts,originally took WMS 101as a general educationcourse and never thoughshe would end up being aWomen’s Studies major.She explains “After I tookthe initial class, I decidedI really liked the issuesdiscussed and became aminor.” As she progressedthrough her minor, shebecame increasingly4interested in the issues anddecided to become a double major.Her favorite Women’s Studiesclass was WMS 101 (Introductionto Women’s Studies) because “itlaid such a good foundation for allof the other classes to follow,” shesays. She adds, “I really wish thatWMS 101 was made into alarger class so it would beavailable to more students.I think this would helpadd more students to theprogram.Overall, Hall is veryglad that she decidedto take WMS 101 andproud to be one of the firstgraduating WMS majors.Her future plans includetaking a year off and thenhopefully pursuing LawSchool.We wish Hall the bestof luck in her studies andhope she will continue tofollow her path to success.UMass Dartmouth
First graduating Women’s Studies Majors continuedYvonne HitchensYvonne Hitchens is set tograduate with a Women’s StudiesMajor. She began her career atUMass Dartmouth as a Liberal Artsmajor and notes, “I started workingon my degree later in life!”After taking the eye-openingclass History of Feminist Thought,Hitchens realized how unfairlywomen have been treatedthroughout history and how littleprotection there is for women legally and otherwise. While takingthe course, it was brought to herattention that Women’s Studies wasgoing to become a major. ProfessorElizabeth Lehr suggested that itmight be good for her.Once she declared WMS as hermajor, she gushes “I felt comfortablethat it was, in fact, a good fit, andit has made me explore my ownexperiences and priorities as awoman and work in what ways I canto change both myself and others.”Although Hitchens has notWMS newsdone any work specifically throughWMS at UMass Dartmouth dueto family and work commitments,over the last few years she hasbeen involved with AmnestyInternational’s Stop Violence AgainstWomen campaign. She has alsoparticipated in protests in New YorkCity and engaged in letter-writingcampaigns toward oppressivegovernments.Hitchen’s favorite Women’sStudies class was American WomenPlaywrights with Professor Houser.She explains “I have always enjoyedthe theater and plays chosen forthe class gave a wonderful crosssection of women’s lives andexperiences. It was a class thatwas a break away from some ofthe feminist theory and exploredwomen’s lives through the arts.”Hitchens’ future plans includegoing to Boston University’s Schoolof Social Work for Fall 2009.Although she already works inthe field, she is looking forward tointernship placements with BU tobroaden her perspective regardingwomen and their place in the world.We would like to congratulateYvonne for her acceptance to BUand we wish her the best of luck inpursuing her desired career.5
UMass Dartmouth celebrates Women’s History Monthby Megan GauthierEvery March, the Women’sResource Center goes all out tocelebrate Women’s History Month- and this year is no exception!Over the course of the month, theWRC - in conjunction with otherDepartments and organizations,including the International Student& Scholar Center - hosted anastounding eleven events honoringwomen.The events kicked off with aviewing of the film “DisposableMen,” which looks at AfricanAmerican males in contemporarymedia. Hosted by the Mentorsin Violence Prevention, whichis a program of the WRC, themovie was followed by a PanelDiscussion.A lecture was held in theLibrary Browsing Area onMarch 5, which looked into “TheHidden History of Women WhoSurrendered Children for Adoptionin the Decades Before Roe v.Wade,” led by RISD PhotographyProfessor, Ann Fessler.On Sunday, March 8, the NewBedford YWCA in conjunction withUMass Dartmouth’s FMLA brought“Sweet Indulgence” to over 150women from the community.Females flocked to the WoodlandCommons for free massages,makeovers, psychic readings, fruit,raffles and spa treatments.March 9 marked UMassDartmouth’s celebration ofInternational Women’s Day (whichwas actually on March 8). Theday’s events included 5 guestspeakers, including KeynoteSpeaker Dr. Sorosh Roshan,followed by the presentation of the2009 Outstanding Women Awards.Later that evening, the movie“Persopolis,” which tells the storyof an Iranian girl growing upunder the Islamic Revolution, waspresented by Professor StephanieO’Hara. There was a secondshowing of the movie on March 31.On March 10, the WRCco-sponsored a Fundraiser forAfghan Midwives with the NursingDepartment and MidwivesAssociates. A movie on AfghanMidwives was played, followedby a panel on Global Women’sHealth.The Shotokan Karate Clubheld a free Women’s Self-DefenseClinic at the fitness center onMarch 11 to teach women waysto protect themselves, which iscrucial to a campus environment.On March 23, Dr. AnupamaArora spoke about prominentIndian literary and politicalfigure Sarojini Naidu in America.Later that evening, Professor ofHistory, Bridgette Sheridan, fromFramingham State, discussedmidwifery in pre-revolutionaryFrance.Dario Borim aired a specialedition of the radio show“Brazilliance”and explored“100 yearsof Women’sSongwriting inBrazil” from 3 to 6p.m. on UMD’s ownradio station, 89.3on March 26.Five lectures on“Women, Religion and Power”were presented on March 30 inthe Library Browsing Area. RoseHorton discussed the passion ofearly Christian women martyrs,Matthew Thomas Sneideroffered insight into “the mysticas crusader,” Stephanie O’Haradiscussed “The Defiant Nunsof Port Royal,” Steven Badenpresented “American FeminineSpirituality” and Robin Robinsonpresented ‘We Had No Fearof Poverty.’: Young WomanReligious in the Time of the MortalHunger.”Your celebration ofwomanhood should not berestricted to one month! TheWRC celebrates females all yearround and are thrilled to presentAmerican poet and feministAdrienne Rich on April 30 as partof the annual UMass DartmouthWRC and WMS Programfundraiser.For more information on theWRC or any upcoming events,please visit www.umassd.edu/wrcThe Women’s Studies Department is Hiring!Student Intern for PublicationsEarn 3 credits a semester for compiling and designing a semesterlydepartment newsletter and overseeing the production of the annual femalecentered literary journal, Siren.If you are interested, please contact U M1Gauthier@umassd.edu for more information.6UMass Dartmouth
Welcoming new Women’s Studies faculty and affiliatesAnumpama AroraDr. Anupama Arorajoined the UMDEnglish departmentin Fall 2008. Shereceived herPh.D. in Englishliterature fromTufts Universitywhere herdissertation wason first-generation South AsianAmerican autobiographies. Her B.A.(Honours) English degree is fromSri Venkateswara College, DelhiUniversity, and her M.A. (Honours)English is from Jawaharlal NehruUniversity (New Delhi). Dr. Arora’sarea of specialization is Anglophonepostcolonial literatures from Africa, theCaribbean and South Asia, and SouthAsian American diasporic culturalproductions. Her teaching and researchinterests include gender studies, AsianAmerican and Asian British literature,and literary theory and criticism. At herprior institution, she taught courses onwomen and literature, and non-westernwomen’s literature, among others. Sheis currently collaborating on a bookproject on the documentary history ofSouth Asians in North America.Matthew SneiderMatthew Sneider has been at UMassDartmouth since 2004. He receivedhis BA from the University of Coloradoand his PhD in History from BrownUniversity. His research and hispublications focus on the history ofconfraternities in Early Modern Italy. Heis currently working on lay spiritualityin the country towns surrounding thecity of Bologna in the 17th and 18thcenturies. He likes to jump back intime too - he and a colleague haverecently completed the first completetranslation of the final book of GiovanniVillani’s 14th century New Chronicle.He loves teaching WMS-316: Womenand Gender in Medieval and EarlyModern Europe, a course which traceswomen’s experience, and ideas aboutgender, from the fall of the RomanEmpire to the end of the Middle Ages.He invites everyone to come to thepanel Women, Religion, and Power on30 March!Stephanie O’HaraStephanie O’Hara is AssistantProfessor of French at the Universityof Massachusetts Dartmouth. Prior tojoining the faculty at UMass Dartmouthin the fall of 2007, she was VisitingAssistant Professor of French atthe University of North Carolina atGreensboro (2004-2007), and Lecturerin French at Iowa State University(2003-2004). She received her Ph.D.from Duke University in 2003.Prof. O’Hara teaches Frenchlanguage and literature courses.She is a specialist of early modernFrench literature. Her researchand teaching interests also includewomen’s studies, early modernEuropean history, and the theory andpractice of literary translation. Shehas completed a translation of the firstEuropean midwifery treatise written bya practicing midwife: Louise Bourgeois’Various Observations concerningsterility, miscarriages, fertility, births,and diseases of women and newbornchildren (1609), to be published bythe University of Toronto Centre forReformation andRenaissanceStudies. She is alsoat work on a bookproject, PoisonOnstage andOffstage in EarlyModern France.RICH: Poet Adrienne Rich to appear at UMass Dartmouth fundraisercontinued from page 1a MacArthur Fellowship. She isthe author of more than sixteenvolumes of poetry, including,Diving into the Wreck , TheDream of a Common Language,An Atlas of the Difficult World:Poems 1988-1991, Dark Fieldsof the Republic: Poems 19911995, Midnight Salvage, and Fox.Her recent collection,The SchoolAmong the Ruins, was honoredwith the National Book CriticsCircle Award and was chosenas one of Library Journal’s BestPoetry picks of 2004.The author of five booksof non-fiction prose, includingthe famous Of Woman Born:WMS newsMotherhood as Experience andInstitution, Rich will publish a newcollection of essays, A HumanEye: Essays on Art in Society, inApril 2009.All ticket proceeds benefit theendowment fund for studentscholarships and the work of theWomen’s Resource Center. Thestudent scholarships are awardedbased on scholastic achievement,involvement in co-curricularactivities with preference givento students from the South Coastregion.The Women’s StudiesProgram and Women’s ResourceCenter is especially pleased withthe support and co-sponsorshipfrom the Women’s Fund ofthe Community Foundation ofSoutheastern Massachusetts,which highlights the cooperativerelationship between theorganizations and their commonwork for improving women’s lives.Tickets go on sale March 20,2009. Sponsorship for a table of8 is 1,000, with individual tickets 100. For more information,contact Dr. Juli Parker at jparker@umassd.edu or by calling508.910.4584.Tickets can also be orderedonline at www.umassd.edu/cas/wms/rich.cfm7
Women’s Studies ProgramUMass Dartmouth285 Old Westport RoadNorth Dartmouth, MA 02747-2300Non-profit Org.US Postage PaidNew Bedford, MAPermit # 149Phone: 508-910-4586Fax: 508-999-9235Questions? Comments?Suggestions?Design/EditorMegan GauthierU M1Gauthier@umassd.eduWMS Director’s ReportGreetings from the Women’sStudies Program! It is hard tobelieve that it has only been a yearand a half since the WMS majorbegan. Our first ever majors will begraduating in May and we wish themevery success in their careers afterthey leave us.Jen Riley is currently onsabbatical taking a well earned restand writing a book. However, sheis still active in many of the WMSprojects, especially the secondannual Women’s Resource Center/Women’s Studies fundraiser. Thisyear we are excited to have poetand feminist Adrienne Rich comingto campus on the 30th of April todeliver a talk at a fundraising dinner.Monies raised from this event willgo towards an endowment forstudent scholarships. In this currenteconomic climate the ability to helpstudents with the costs of theireducation grows ever more vital,especially for a program such asours which recognizes at both anacademic and a personal level theeconomic and social realities of ourstudents. Tickets will go on sale inMarch, so please save the date andplan to attend.The WMS program itself isblossoming. This is thanks in part tothe energy of some of our newestaffiliates; they are organizing someWMS newsgreat events and creating somewonderful new classes. The WMSonline program is going full steamahead and I hope to be able toreport on its successes in the nextnewsletterIt looks as though this will be thelast year that Megan Gauthier, ourWMS student intern, is going to bethe designer, editor (and writer !) ofour newsletter. We shall be sorry tolose you, Megan, and thank you forall your wonderful work.Best,Cathy GardnerInterim Director,Women’s Studies8
Vagina Monologues opens lips, eyes and hearts at UMass DartmouthV On February 20th and 21st, 2009, The Vagina Monologues showed for two successful performances at the Angus Bailey Auditorium. The show has become a perennial favorite for both men and women at UMass Dartmouth, being performed f
