Women’s and Gender Studies
at Wake Forest University
No. 35/Fall 2004
Anne Boyle, Director
Linda Mecum, Editor
336/758-3758
[email protected]
www.wfu.edu/academics/wgs
News & Notes
Interview With Wanda Balzano
Shannon Flynn (’05)
Born in Italy and having taught in Ireland for the past
14 years, Dr. Wanda Balzano brings a totally new perspective to the Women’s and Gender Studies Program.
After attending the Liceo Classico, the University of
Naples, and obtaining a Ph.D. from University College Dublin, Balzano
went on to receive a Fellowship and then a Post-Doctoral Fellowship
from the Irish Government. She is usually described as a Women’s
and Gender Studies Professor who teaches through Literature departments, but at Wake Forest she is teaching literature, film, and gender
theory through the Women’s and Gender Studies Program.
Asked to describe the value of a WGS program at a school like WFU,
Balzano (Continued on page 2)
Suzanne Juhasz
to Visit in the Spring
Suzanne Juhasz,
Professor of English at the University of Colorado,
Boulder, will visit
WFU and present
a lecture on the
construction of
gender and sexuality in the poetry of Emily Dickin-
son on April 7, 2005. With scholarly expertise in American literature, women’s literature, and
queer and psychoanalytic theory,
Juhasz is also an advocate for
gender equity and the advancement of women in the profession;
she received the national Founders Distinguished Senior Scholar
Award of the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation in 1998.
Juhasz (Continued on page 2)
Sunday, April 25, 2004: Washington D.C.
Alexis Rollins (’07)
By the time we reached the second Metro stop on our way
to the Mall, we knew this was going to be much bigger than
we had imagined. The doors to the subway car opened at
every stop, but no one else could get on. Everywhere we
saw pink and purple t-shirted women wearing buttons, carrying backpacks, and holding signs. Our blood-red Wake Forest Women’s Initiative for Support and Empowerment (WISE) t-shirts seemed out of place
among the pastels, but shy smiles reassured us of acceptance. Normally someone bumping into you on the subway early in the morning
would raise the hairs on the back of your neck and jump-start your
internal grumble for the day, but on this day the occasional bump
resulted in smiles. Those who surrounded our little group of four
ranged in age from a couple in their 80s, a bent old man and his wife,
to a woman in pink, pushing her newborn feminist in a bulky stroller.
The march, officially dubbed “March for Women’s Lives,” was sponsored by seven national organizations: the American Civil Liberties
Union, Black Women’s Health Imperative, Feminist Majority, NARAL
Pro-Choice America, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health,
National Organization of Women, and Planned Parenthood. Each of
D.C. (Continued on page 4)
Upcoming
Events
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6
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Dancing at Lughnasa, November 17
7:00 p.m., Pugh Auditorium (Benson)
The Crying Game, December 1
7:00 p.m., Pugh Auditorium (Benson)
November 4, 2004
The Miracle of Lomantan: The Religious
Reflection of the Zapatista Revolt
Dr. Louanna Furbee, University of Missouri,
Columbia
7:30 p.m., Museum of Anthropology
February 2005
Dr. Marlese Durr, Sociologist and
President, Society for Women in Sociology
Date, location and time TBA
April 7, 2005
Construction of Gender and Sexuality in
Emily Dickinson’s Poetry
Professor Suzanne Juhasz, University of
Colorado, Boulder
Location and time TBA
Recent Events
September 23, 2004
Chaucer’s Small Talk
Dr. Susan Phillips, Northwestern U.
September 24, 2004
Mentoring Program Wine and Cheese
Johnson Room, ZSR Library
October 2, 2004
The Spirit of a Woman, Second Sister’s
Inspirational Summit
Nikki Giovanni, English professor, Virginia
Polytechnic; author of 13 books of poetry
October 13, 2004
Beyond Choice: Reproductive Freedom in
the 21st Century
Alexander Sanger
Lecture/reception/book signing
October 18, 2004
Fortaleza de la Mujer Maya (Strength of
Mayan Women) Theatre Group
Original plays focusing on social issues
written and performed by FOMMA team
of five women.
Balzano (Continued from page 1)
Balzano responded, “The fundamental values of any program of Women’s and Gender
Studies lie in its interdisciplinary nature,
both within and beyond the boundaries of
the university, through both research and
community outreach. Also, the values of
such a program are apparent in its dynamic
quality, I mean, in its ability to change as
the role of women in society changes and in
tandem with other transformations of society at large.”
Balzano’s first impressions of Wake—she
has only been here a few months—include
the attractive aesthetics of the campus, the
availability of technology, and the wide variety of places that the students come from—
physically, ethnically, and culturally. One
change Balzano would like to see at Wake
Forest would be an increase in the number
of available places for teachers and students
to converse casually and/or study outside of
the classroom.
Students currently involved in Balzano’s
classes understand well her teaching philosophy and the value she places on interdisciplinary studies, but I, like many others
just getting to know Dr. Balzano, enjoyed
hearing her describe her methods: “We explore many delicate issues from a range of
perspectives and encourage students to get
involved in a variety of activities and events,
such as participating in theatre events, conferences, debates, special forums, etc., organized by WGS and other departments.
There is no such a thing as a ‘pure’ discipline, really. Or you could say that purity is
maintained by the very practice of difference. I am a great believer in the eclectic
method applied to speculation and practice.
The embracing of freedom and diversity is
the natural result of such thinking. It is a
value worth promoting.”
As for the best part of my interview with
Dr. Balzano? She suggested I put my notebook away and learn about her just from our
conversation over lunch. I did and it was
fantastic. What an interesting and delightful
addition to the Wake Forest community. As
for your own conversations with Dr. Balzano? She’d welcome the chance to speak
with you, and she can do so in any number
of languages. Just don’t mention her Italian
accent. For all that she has accomplished
she says one goal remains—being able to
speak without it, though I find her accent
one of the most charming things about her.
Spend some time with her and decide for
yourself!
Juhasz (Continued from page 1)
The Founding Editor of
The Emily Dickinson Journal, Juhasz is author of
several books including A
Desire for Women: Relational Psychoanalysis,
Writing, and Relationships
Between Women. Rutgers
Univ. Press, 2003; Reading from the Heart:
Women, Literature, and
the Search for True Love.
Penguin, Viking Penguin
1994; The Language and
Women Debate: A Sourcebook, with Camille Roman
and Cristanne Miller, Rutgers Univ. Press, 1993;
a n d The Undiscovered
Continent: Emily Dickinson
and the Space of the Mind,
Indiana Univ. Press, 1983.
For her intriguing reading
of Emma as Jane Austen’s
“peak” performance, see
http://www.jasna.org/
pol02/juhasz.html.
News from and about our Minors
Sarah Clore (’05), English major and Women’s and Gender Studies minor, has been invited to join Omicron Delta Kappa, the national leadership honor society; her induction will take place on November 3. Poetry editor of 3 to 4 Ounces, Sarah studied creative writing and Medieval and Tudor Literature at the University of Kent in
Canterbury, England. She hopes to teach high school English next year and may be headed to graduate school for
creative writing. A member of Sigma Tau Delta, the English Honor Society, and an officer in the Kappa Delta Sorority, Sarah works in the Writing Center and volunteers for Meals on Wheels and Habitat for Humanity.
Anjali Garg (’05) is active in WFU College Democrats, NC Federation of College Democrats, WISE (Women’s Initiative for Support and Empowerment), WFU Debate Team, and Winston-Salem Voting Rights Coalition. She is Editorials Editor for Old Gold and Black and serves on the Research, Development, and Advancement Committee of
Women’s and Gender Studies. Anjali was awarded the merit-based Truman Scholarship for students who plan to
pursue careers in government or public service. The Scholarship provides funding for graduate studies. She is a
member of the Omicron Delta Kappa Honor Society and will complete her Sociology Honors Project this spring.
Anjali is a volunteer for Erskine Bowles for U.S. Senate campaign and voter registration with the Winston-Salem Voting Rights Coalition.
Heather Hobgood (’05) completed an internship at the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation this summer,
working on cases ranging from recent homicides, the continuing investigation of the Darryl Hunt case, drug transactions, searches and seizures, as well as a number of crime scene investigations. Her first internship was at the
North Carolina Justice Academy where she received training in SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) and attended
classes including Child Death Investigation, Fundamentals of the Investigative Process, Rapid Deployment, and
Anti-Terrorism. Heather researched and analyzed data for the North Carolina Special Operations Directory, published in August 2003 and distributed to law enforcement agencies throughout North Carolina. She has written an
article entitled "Target of Change: Obstacles Female Officers Face on Patrol," which will be published in Law Enforcement Trainer, a nationally accredited monthly publication dealing with topics central to law enforcement. Her
research is being used in a grant proposal to implement a training program at the N.C. Justice Academy geared
specifically for female police officers. Heather volunteers with Family Services as a Rape Victim's Advocate for at
least one shift each month, and volunteers once a month for a 24-hour shift at the Samaritan Inn Men's Homeless
Shelter. Heather recently joined the V-Day team for this year's production of Vagina Monologues.
Jenny Billings (’06), an Old Gold and Black columnist for three years, is a member of the Sign Language Club
and interns at Hand to Hand and Catholic Social Services of Winston-Salem. She has tutored middle school students
through service learning classes at WFU and, later, as a volunteer. A member of WFU College Republicans, Jenny
writes poetry and is a regular contributor to 3 to 4 Ounces (a student literary publication). She also is an active
member of Weight Watchers, maintains her own website, and lifeguards during the summer.
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Faculty Congratulations
Dr. Wanda Balzano (Visiting Professor in Women’s and Gender Studies) developed a course for fall
2004, Irish Women in Writing and Film, and organized the fall Irish Film Series at WFU. She attended the
Southern Regional Meeting of the American Conference for Irish Studies, Emory University, at which she
presented a paper entitled "'A Green Leaf of Language': Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin's thing-poetry," March
2004. She also attended Feminism Contesting Globalization, a conference organized by the Women's Studies Association (UK and Ireland), University College Dublin, July 2004; the James Joyce Symposium, National College of Ireland, June 2004; Irish Studies Symposium, UNC, Chapel Hill, October 2004. Balzano gave lectures on
“Multiculturalism in the Context of Central Eastern Europe” (Dublin, National Gallery of Ireland, March 2004) and
"The Study of National and World Literatures in an Era of Globalization” (Dublin, Humanities Institute of Ireland,
May 2004). Balzano had two articles published: "'Between the Devil and the Deep Sea': Joyce's Cinderella in Dubliners," Studi Irlandesi (Italian Journal of Irish Studies), Vol. 1.1, 2004, and “’Eveline,’ or The Veils of Cleaning,” A
New & Complex Sensation: Essays on Joyce’s Dubliners, ed. Oona Frawley (Dublin: Lilliput, 2004). She is co-editing
with Moynagh Sullivan the forthcoming issue of The Irish Review.
Ms. Valerie Cooper (Religion) published, "Someplace to Cry: Jephthah's Daughter and the Double Dilemma of
Black Women in America" in Pregnant Passion: Gender, Sex, and Violence in the Bible, Leiden and Boston: Brill,
2004. She developed a new first year seminar, "Religion, Race and Relationship in Film."
Dr. Angela Hattery (Sociology) and Dr. Earl Smith (Sociology) presented “Dirty Little Secret: Intimate Partner Violence in the African American Community,” September 2004, Faces of a Healthy Future Conference, Winston-Salem
State University, Winston-Salem, NC. They also presented “Cultural Contradictions in the Southern Mode of Segregation: Black Tits, White only Water Fountains, Bad Blood, and the Transmission of Semen,” April 2004, Southern
Sociological Society annual meeting, Atlanta, GA. Hattery gave a keynote address, “Intimate Partner Violence, at
AKD graduate conference, Department of Sociology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, April 2004. She had an article published with Dr. Cindy Gendrich (Theatre), “Borderless Academe: ‘Families in Crisis’ and A Lie of the Mind,”
Theatre Topics. 14(1):293-315. 2004. Hattery has been awarded a Zachary T. Smith Reynolds Fellowship for
2004-2007.
Dr. Evie Shockley (English) presented "Representations of Desire in the Poetry of African American
Women Survivors of Rape," Poetry and Sexuality Conference, University of Stirling, Scotland, July 2004,
and "Loss and Identity in Erica Hunt's and William Stanley Braithwaite's 'House' Poems," Furious Flower
Poetry Conference, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA, September 2004. Shockley was invited
to read her poetry in two literary festivals recently: the BookMarks Literary Festival, Winston-Salem, NC,
September 2004, and the St. Mary's Poetry Festival, St. Mary's College of Maryland, June 2004. She will be offering
a poetry workshop, "The Political is Personal," at the Feminist Action Forum, UNC-Chapel Hill, October 30, 2004.
In the summer of 2004, five women in the Department of Theatre and Dance (Ms. Sharon Andrews, Dr. Brook
Davis, Dr. Cindy Gendrich, Ms. Leah Roy, and Ms. Mary Wayne-Thomas) were involved in an experimental theatre production that toured to the largest Fringe festival in North America—the Minneapolis Fringe. Entitled Dix, the
play is an original work based on the experiences of abused women at North Carolina’s Dorothea Dix Mental Hospital.
Ms. Sharon Andrews (Theatre) and Dr. Brook Davis (Theatre), with student dramaturge/stage manager
Mike Kelly (’05), met for five weeks this summer with eleven student athletes and one non-athlete student playwright. Out of a process of reflection, writing, theatre exercises and some fiery open communication developed a funny, sometimes angry, thoughtful and moving piece of theatre that reflects student athletes
in a light not often seen on the field or court. The play, Our Reality, offered insights into what it is like to be a
black athlete in a predominantly white environment, how the past sometimes collides with the present and the future, and the rewards and challenges of a life of rigorous physical discipline and academic commitment.
Dr. Anne Boyle (WGS/English) co-authored an article with Dr. Patricia Rigg, “A New Literacy: Teaching Writing
with Technology,” delivered at Ed-Media 2004: World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia, and
Telecommunications in Lugano, Switzerland, June 26, 2004. Boyle also had published a review of Strange Bodies:
Gender and Identity in the Novels of Carson McCullers, by Sarah Gleeson-White, The Mississippi Quarterly, 57:2
(Spring 2004): 350-354.
Dr. Mary DeShazer’s (English/WGS) new book, Fractured Borders: Reading Women’s Cancer Literature, has been accepted for publication by the University of Michigan Press. It will appear in the fall
of 2005.
Dr. Susan Borwick (Music) attended the National Women’s Studies Association Conference in June
2004, Milwaukee, WI, and was a presenter in three sessions of The Contemporary Curriculum Transformation Project and in the Program Administration and Development Committee Preconference.
PBS (the Public Broadcasting Service) will feature Dr. Linda Nielsen and her WGS class, Fathers and Daughters, in
a documentary on fathers and daughters scheduled to air on Father’s Day 2005.
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WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES
WELCOMES NEW MINORS!
Jenny Billings ‘06 Andy Lobashevsky ‘06 Lily Robinson ‘07
WGS and Crosslisted Courses
Spring 2005
GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
WGS 221
Issues in Women’s and
D.C. (Continued from page 1)
Gender Studies
these groups played a prominent role in the organization and theme
WGS 321
Sem: Women’s Health Issues
of the march, and offered a sense of unity among the many groups
WGS 359
Fathers and Daughters
and factions. Walking with so many different people was as important
WGS 377
Sp.Tp: Origins of DifferenceLiterature and History from
to me as was marching for our cause.
Medieval to Modern (HST 211G)
The platform at the Washington Mall exit swarmed with marchers.
WGS 396
Independent Study
As I rode slowly up the tallest escalator on the entire Metro system, I
WGS 397A
Internships: Non-PREPARE
looked below and behind me at the waiting pro-choicers. The daylight
WGS 397B
Internships: PREPARE
above filtered through dark clouds; rain seemed imminent. As soon
WST 100A-H RAD: Rape and Aggression
as we arrived at the Mall we signed in with a college student, one of
Defense for Women
the many volunteers working to count the number of marchers with
ANT
333
Language and Gender
accuracy. We proudly donned neon green “Count Me In” stickers and
COM 341
American Rhetorical Movewandered around the Mall, looking at homemade signs and listening
ments Since 1900
to speakers, such as Hillary Rodham Clinton, Camryn Manheim,
ECN 273
Economics for a Multicultural
Whoopie Goldberg, Madeleine Albright, Gloria Steinem, and many
Future
more men and women for choice.
ENG 340
Studies in Women and
Our group, Ashley Bumgarner (’04), Ashley Lubenkov (’07), Liz
Literature
Lundeen (’07), and I, were joined by Sarah McArver (’05) and Ben
ENG 381
Domestic Figurations in AfriHalfhill (’05). We walked around, laughing at the signs and slogans
can American Literature
people had created: “Menopausal Women Nostalgic for Choice,” “This
HST 211E
Love, Marriage and Family:
Is What a Feminist Looks Like,” “I’m a Pro-Choice Republican,” “Against
Gender in Renaissance
Abortion? Don’t Have One!” “Mother – By Choice” and many others. As
Europe
we marched, from the Mall, down Constitution Avenue, in front of the
HST 338
Gender in Modern America
PSY 265
Human Sexuality
White House, and down Pennsylvania Avenue back to the Mall, we saw
PSY 359
Psychology of Gender
Pro-Life supporters on the sidelines, carrying signs with barbequed
PSY 364
Prejudice, Discrimination,
baby dolls, messages from God, and wishes for eternal damnation diRacism, and Heterosexism
rected toward those who support choice. Most of the protestors reREL 318
Feminist & Contemporary
mained respectfully silent, holding their signs and the hands of their
Interpretations of the Bible
kids who wore “My Mommy Chose Life” t-shirts. A few did speak into
REL
390
Womanist Theology
megaphones, prayed, or screamed at me and my fellow marchers.
SOC 359
Race and Ethnic Diversity in
I suppose at the end of the day, when my throat hurt from shouting
American Society
“My Body, My Choice!” I felt impressed with three main aspects of the
SOC 360
Social Stratification and Social
March. First, the emphasis from the speakers was never pro-abortion;
Inequality
it stressed women’s right to privacy and the right to choose. The
For more about any of these courses—description/
March leaders made it clear that we were marching so that women
day/time/location/professor—visit our website:
could maintain access to a safe, legal abortion through the coming
www.wfu.edu/academics/wgs
years. Second, the feeling of being one of 1,150,000 people (by official March count) who share these ideals can be compared to nothing News and Notes is published twice each year, fall and
else--it was awe-inspiring. And finally, during the March, I experi- spring, to report on Women’s and Gender Studies
enced myself, for the first time, as a minority. Noting the race, gen- developments. We welcome comments and suggesder, age, sexual preference, economic status, and place of origin of tions from our readers at [email protected]
those with whom I marched, I realized that, as a white college student
from Ohio who had never marched for anything, I was definitely one in pointing her finger toward the Capital
a thousand. Ashley Judd pretty much summed up the attitude of the building, loudly and clearly led us all to
day when she took the stage in a plain white t-shirt and jeans and, chant: “Get your laws off my body!”
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