Author Archive | thomaspr

An Evening With Tara Bynum

Bynum

WGS is co-sponsoring an amazing event with Tara Bynum. She’ll discuss her recent book, Reading Pleasures: Everyday Black Living in Early America.

Join us on Tuesday, Feb. 7th at 7PM at the Avery Research Center, 125 Bull St., Charleston, SC 29424

From the publisher UI Press: In the early United States, a Black person committed an act of resistance simply by reading and writing. Yet we overlook that these activities also brought pleasure. Tara A. Bynum tells the compelling stories of four early American writers who expressed feeling good despite living while enslaved or only nominally free. The poet Phillis Wheatley delights in writing letters to a friend. Ministers John Marrant and James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw memorialize their love for God. David Walker’s pamphlets ask Black Americans to claim their victory over slavery. Together, their writings reflect the joyous, if messy, humanity inside each of them. This proof of a thriving interior self in pursuit of good feeling forces us to reckon with the fact that Black lives do matter.

A daring assertion of Black people’s humanity, Reading Pleasures reveals how four Black writers experienced positive feelings and analyzes the ways these emotions served creative, political, and racialized ends.

Inaugural WGS Community Leader in Residence

Mika Gadsden

Women’s and Gender Studies program at the College of Charleston announces its inaugural Community Leader-in-Residence

Charleston, SC – The College of Charleston’s Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS) program is proud to announce its first Community Leader-in-Residence, an initiative to bridge the College and the greater Charleston community in partnership to advance equity and justice. The WGS program is honored to host Tamika Gadsden as its inaugural Community Leader-in-Residence (CLR), serving in this capacity from January through August 2023.

The Community Leader-in-Residence will support students in applying keystone concepts of the WGS discipline: intersectionality, power, resistance, equity, justice, and advocacy, in their understandings of and skills in areas such as community organizing, political and policy intervention strategies, needs assessment, effective communication, evidence-based advocacy, inclusive strategizing/planning for community action, and grant writing. Finally, the CLR will help to advance the College’s 2020-2030 Strategic Plan in the area of Academic Distinction through innovations for sustainable solutions, commitments to diversity, equity, inclusion and justice, and impactful, strategic partnerships.

This initiative is the culmination of years of critical dreaming by WGS students, faculty, and administrators. In 2018, Women’s and Gender Studies students were central to forming I-CAN, the Intersectional Cougar Action Network, which quickly became a voice for intersectional feminist student activism. Following the 2020 protests against the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and many other Black and Brown individuals as well as sustained national attention to a racial justice movement, the WGS program formed the Student Advisory Committee (SAC) with intentional representation of students with AALANA (African American, Latinx, Asian and Native American) and other underrepresented identities. The SAC provides WGS students with opportunities for shared governance in the program. One of the Committee’s first actions was to detail the Community Leader-in-Residence proposed by I-CAN, as a strategy for developing student leadership capacities.

Embracing the idea, over the last two years the WGS Executive Faculty Committee developed the position description, taking care to ensure that the role is reciprocal and sustainable, and that the initiative honored students’ original vision while advancing WGS program priorities.

Tamika “Mika” Gadsden is a Charleston-based content creator, media entrepreneur and organizer. The daughter of Jim Crow refugees, Mika has built a significant digital presence as an activist and has built Charleston Activist Network Media, LLC. – an outgrowth of her work as the South Carolina leader of the state’s Women’s March organization. Mika also hosts Mic’d Up, a daily livestream show on Twitch.

While the role is continually being defined in collaboration with Gadsden, the WGS program invites student scholar-activist-leaders in WGS and at the College broadly to join faculty leaders in welcoming Gadsden and ensuring her time as the Community Leader-in-Residence is generative and transformative.

The Women’s and Gender Studies program explores the intersections of gender, class, race, ethnicity, age, religion, ability, and sexuality within different cultures, contexts and time periods, offering a Bachelor of Arts major and minor at the College of Charleston, introducing students to relevant social issues while fostering critical thinking, strong verbal, writing and research skills, encouraging social advocacy, emphasizing diversity, and giving invaluable, tangible experience.

For more information, quotes, photos, or to schedule an interview, please email Kris De Welde, Director of WGS at deweldek@cofc.edu.

Tamika Gadsden

Annual Black History Month Lecture Presented By Dr. Tamika Y. Nunley, PH.D.

Black History Month PRESENTED BY DR. TAMIKA Y. NUNLEY, PH.D.

WGS is excited to be co-sponsoring the 3rd annual Black History Month lecturer, Dr. Tamika Nunley. Join the Department of History at College of Charleston and co-sponsors of this event on Wednesday, February 15, 2023 at 5:30 p.m. in the Septima Clark Auditorium on the College of Charleston campus (ECTR 118, 25 St. Philip St). 🤩

Tamika Nunley is Associate Professor of History at Cornell University. Her first book, At the Threshold of Liberty: Women, Slavery, and Shifting Identities in Washington, D.C. (University of North Carolina Press, 2021) reveals how African American women—enslaved, fugitive, and free—imagined new identities and lives beyond the oppressive restrictions intended to prevent them from experiencing liberty, self-respect, and power. Nunley traces how black women navigated social and legal proscriptions to develop their own ideas about liberty as they escaped from slavery, initiated freedom suits, created entrepreneurial economies, pursued education, and participated in political work. In telling these stories, Nunley places black women at the vanguard of the history of Washington D.C., and illuminates how they contributed to the momentous transformations of nineteenth-century America. This book was named the 2021 Letitia Woods Brown Book prize winner for best book in African American women’s history and the 2021 Pauli Murray Book prize winner for best book in Black intellectual history. Nunley is currently finishing a second book, The Demands of Justice: Enslaved Women, Capital Crime, and Clemency in Early Virginia, 1662-1865 with the University of North Carolina Press.

This lecture is co-sponsored by the African American Studies Program, the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, Carolina Lowcountry and Atlantic World, Center for Public Choice and Market Process, Center for the Study of Slavery in Charleston, Department of Political Science, Office of Institutional Diversity, and the Women’s and Gender Studies Program. Registration is not required.

If you would like to pre-register for the lecture, you may do so here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/black-womens-history-as-american-history-with-tamika-nunley-tickets-514881984877?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

Qisasna Program

Qisasna Program

 

The Qisasna program engages American and Yemeni students in 1) online dialogue sessions to learn about each other’s cultures and discuss issues of mutual interest, and 2) collaboration to produce international podcasts related to shared challenges and opportunities—all through virtual exchange. No previous podcasting experience is necessary, as podcast training will be provided. Students will gain valuable skills in cross-cultural engagement and dialogue as well as international podcast production, and become part of a program alumnae network with access to additional US Department of State-sponsored opportunities. There is no fee to participate in the program.

Through our previous and current collaborations, partner universities participated through different kinds of arrangements:

  1. Some designed their syllabus around the program (we understand this might not be an option if class registration is already open at your university).
  2. Other partners included Qisasna in their classes as a graded assignment.
  3. Students can also apply through an open enrollment mechanism without any involvement from the department other than spreading the word about the program. If this is the best option for your department, we would be grateful if you would share the announcement and visuals below with students at your university. Spaces are limited, and applications are generally considered on a first-come, first-served basis, so we encourage interested students to apply as soon as possible.

Please feel free to visit the following link to see some student testimonials about the positive impact Qisasna has had: https://www.stevensinitiative.org/impact/sound-waves-a-virtual-journey-in-podcast-making/

Opportunity for interested undergraduate students to participate in virtual exchange with students in Yemen this semester

The ‘Qisasna’ (‘Our Stories’ in Arabic) program will engage American and Yemeni students in 1) online dialogue sessions to learn about each other’s cultures and discuss issues of mutual interest, and 2) collaboration to produce international podcasts related to shared challenges and opportunities—all through virtual exchange. No previous podcasting experience is necessary, as podcast training will be provided. Students will gain valuable skills in cross-cultural engagement and dialogue as well as international podcast production, and become part of a program alumni network with access to additional US Department of State-sponsored opportunities. There is no fee to participate in the program.

Requirements to participate:

1.     Be a US citizen currently enrolled as a university undergraduate.

2.     Commit to attending 3 online dialogue sessions with Yemeni students and completing an 8-hr self-paced online podcast skills training by Mar./Apr. 2023.

3.     Commit to attending 1 final online dialogue session and to working with fellow American and Yemeni students to complete a short podcast, and related tasks, by May 2023 (each student group will determine its own schedule for meeting to produce podcasts).

The Qisasna program is being facilitated by AMIDEAST and the International Center for Religion & Diplomacy (ICRD) as part of the Stevens Initiative of the US Department of State.

Benefits for students who complete the program include:

·       Receiving a digital badge that can be posted on LinkedIn profiles (badge issued by AMIDEAST references the Stevens Initiative program that is sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State);

·       Acquiring media skills in podcast production through training by a professional podcast company and hands-on experience;

·       Developing technical skills in using Microsoft Teams, a platform used by many employers;

·       Building skills in cross-cultural communication, teamwork, and project implementation;

·       Co-creating a podcast for broadcast to international audiences;

·       Joining a program alumni network and becoming eligible for involvement in continued alumni activities from the Stevens Initiative and the US Department of State. Alumni are invited to join the US Department of State International Exchange Alumni site which provides access to events, research databases, alumni grant fund opportunities, and other resources. Alumni are additionally invited to join Localized, an online professional development platform. Alumni may also be invited to have their stories featured on the Stevens Initiative website. In addition, alumni are eligible for special consideration for internship and networking opportunities from the International Center for Religion & Diplomacy.

Spaces are limited!  To apply, please complete the online form at the link below as soon as possible.  Applications will be considered on a first-come, first-served basis.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=d_9m7eJZ5Eq6hz_pSG7cGOQBMQYCco5IqqMQShlRbMlUMVlJNlZLQlRWVFo4SzZYSFRVNzI3U0VNRC4u

For questions, please contact Loujain Kiki at loujain@icrd.org .

The Qisasna program is being facilitated by AMIDEAST and the International Center for Religion & Diplomacy as part of the Stevens Initiative of the US Department of State.

 

Post-Grad Programs in WGS

What post-graduate programs exist in WGS?

This list was created with current WGS students (especially upperclassmen) in mind. While by no means exhaustive, the document linked below lists countless M.A., Joint Degree, and Ph.D. programs in WGS. This list also includes programs that have WGS minor, concentration, or certificate programs.

WGS Connect Issue 9

WGS Newsletter Issue 9

 

WGS is excited to share our next issue of our WGS Connect Newsletter! This issue features WGS’s podcast What IFF? that was launched by student Marissa Haynes, new faculty and affiliate faculty members (Cristina Dominguez and John Thomas), introducing WGS’s new Associate Director – Lauren Ravalico, REI reflections with WGS student Kristen Graham, and more!

We hope you enjoy this special issue! WGS is already outlining the next newsletter, and we cannot wait to share the next iteration of WGS Connect in the spring! In the meantime, be sure to check this blog site and our social media to keep up-to-date on Women’s and Gender Studies’ current events and spotlights.

WGS would also love to hear from you! Always feel free to reach out with ideas for the blog or newsletter. We embrace all things collaboratively produced and will continue to embody that philosophy in all that we do.

Use the button below to view this special digital PDF, complete with embedded links and lots of great info on WGS students, faculty, events, and more.

Ketner Scholarship Recipients for 2022-2023

Ketner Emerging Leaders Ketner Emerging Leaders Page 2

WGS is excited to highlight the recipients of 2022-2023 Ketner-Crunelle LGBTQ+ Scholarship and Ketner Emerging Leaders Scholarship.

The Ketner-Crunelle LGBTQ+ Endowed Scholarship is the only one of its kind at the College of Charleston. It is offered to those who will contribute significantly in matters of concern to lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or queer persons, because they have worked to build coalitions that advance the full equality and dignity of LGBTQ+ persons, and because they are able to describe how they plan to help advance LGBTQ+ persons’ full equity, equality, and dignity during their time at the College of Charleston.

The Ketner Emerging Leaders Scholarship was established to reward students with a record of working to achieve social justice, to encourage students to become integrally involved in activities to promote social justice, and promote leadership that leads to social justice.  The intent is to inspire and financially aid students who are actively engaged in creating and promoting social justice locally, nationally, and globally. It is the Donor’s wish that through this scholarship, and the experiences that recipients have at the College, that Ketner Emerging Leaders will be change agents who identify social problems and devise steps to ameliorate those problems.  Ketner scholars are not simply volunteers.  They are change agents that are committed to making a positive impact locally, nationally, and globally.

Scholarship applications are available from December 1st through February 8th every year. Learn how to apply through CofC’s Cougar Scholarship Awarding System (CSAS) here. Stay tuned for the 2022-2023 cohort announcement!

 

10 Years of Yes! I’m a Feminist is Great Success

Yes! I'm a Feminist 2022

click through for the event photo album

Yes! I’m a Feminist celebrated 10 years as an annual event organized by WGS Community Advisory Board in support of the Women’s & Gender Studies Program at CofC.

We gathered in community to celebrate shared values and our hope for a feminist future. The work is far from over, but together we fight for justice and inclusivity and support the next generation of changemakers!

Thanks to YOU, our generous friends and supporters, YIAF was a great success! These funds support student scholarships, research, and activism.

We offer deep gratitude to everyone who made a financial gift and to our event sponsors – we couldn’t do this without you!

EVENT SPONSORS

CC Bloom Florist Wildflour Pastry Bloom Town Flower Market Reese Moore Photography The Gilded Graze Bottles Beverage Superstore

 

 

Common House Aleworks

 

Special thanks to the Band!: Marissa Haynes, Bridie Molen, Kris Manning, Kelly Sánchez, and Laurin McGee

COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON SPONSORS

 

Avery Research Center Logo

 

AV Event Support Logo

 

HSS Logo

Dept Teacher Ed Logo

 

Dept Teacher Ed Logo

Transgender Day of Remembrance

TDOR 2022

Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) is an annual observance on November 20 that honors the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence. Gwendolyn Ann Smith, TDOR founder, said “TDOR seeks to highlight the losses we face due to anti-transgender bigotry and violence. I am no stranger to the need to fight for our rights, and the right to simply exist is first and foremost. With so many seeking to erase transgender people—sometimes in the most brutal ways possible—it is vitally important that those we lose are remembered, and that we continue to fight for justice.” – From the Human rights campaign website

WGS Community Leader in Residence

WGS Community Leader in Residence

WGS is now accepting applications for our new initiative: The Women’s and Gender Studies Community Leader in Residence. Posting details can be found here: https://jobs.cofc.edu/postings/12982

The Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS) Community Leader in Residence (CLR) position serves to bridge the College of Charleston and the greater Charleston community in a knowledge-based partnership. Recommended by the WGS Student Advisory Committee as a strategy to support student leadership development, the CLR will advise student leaders in WGS through workshops and one-on-one mentoring to develop strategies for disrupting and dismantling local systems of oppression. Through rotating one- year appointments, CLRs representing and/or serving marginalized and minoritized populations will help students apply the keystone concepts of the WGS discipline: intersectionality, power, resistance, equity, justice, and advocacy. We aim for this initiative to reflect sustainable, reciprocal partnerships, rippling out into the Charleston and campus communities, strengthening the College’s role as a vital source of ideas and partnerships in Charleston, and across the South.

Goals include:

  • Tangibly support a community leader – emerging or established – in ongoing efforts to advance equity and justice in a way that reflects a reciprocal partnership between the College of Charleston and the Charleston community;
  • Strengthen community engagement for students, faculty and staff within and beyond WGS;
  • Offer role models of inclusive and intersectionally-focused community leadership, activism, advocacy, and organizing on topics relevant to the field of Women’s and Gender Studies;
  • Develop students’ understandings of and skills in areas such as community organizing, political and policy intervention strategies, needs assessment, effective communication, evidence-based advocacy, inclusive strategizing/planning for community action, grant writing, and collaboration;
  • Advance the College’s 2020-2030 Strategic Plan in the area of Academic Distinction through innovations for sustainable solutions, commitments to diversity, equity, inclusion and justice, and impactful, strategic partnerships.

Read more at the link above, and please share this with folks in our community whom you think would be a good fit for this role. The posting will close on Monday 11/21.

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