02/25/2009
The celebration of Women’s History Month at SUNY Cortland will run from March 3-30 with a series of films, speakers, workshops and art exhibitions.
Presented by the Women’s Studies Committee, the events are free and open to the public.
“Some might say that with the recent passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, women in the U.S. have attained formal equality and don’t need to have a month set aside to celebrate our achievements,” observed Mechthild Nagel, director of the College’s Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies and interim Women’s Studies coordinator.
“And indeed, women have made strides,” said Nagel, a philosophy professor at the College. “Yet, challenges persist for girls and women in all aspects of society. During March, our purpose will be two-fold. First, we will feature women who have excelled in scholarship, art and in social justice work. Why is this important? Well, our curriculum in the university as well as in schools still upholds a certain norm or standard: that of an Anglo-American male. Secondly, many of the events will highlight the state of women’s rights globally and what we can do locally to advance the cause of the rights of the girl child and of women’s human dignity.”
Film and Moderator: “Persepolis,” moderated by Aphrodite Ahmadi, SUNY Cortland assistant professor of physics, and Nasrin Parvizi, SUNY Cortland associate vice president for facilities management, will be viewed at 4 p.m. on Monday, March 2, in Old Main Brown Auditorium. Based on a hugely popular graphic novel of the same name, “Persepolis,” is an animated film described as a poignant story of a clever and fearless girl coming of age in Iran at the time of the Islamic Revolution. Through the eyes of the precocious nine-year-old, Mariane, the viewer watches historical events unfold and the effects they have on one extended family. Part of the College’s Tournées Festival, the film was made possible with the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Ministry of Culture (CNC). Contact: Festival Organizer Timothy Gerhard at (607) 753-2021.
Illustrated Lecture: Barbara Wisch, a SUNY Cortland art and art history professor, will present “The Wedding Planner: Staging Marriage in Renaissance Italy,” on Tuesday, March 3. The illustrated lecture begins at 4:30 p.m. in Sperry Center, Room 104. From “The Wedding Singer” and “The Wedding Planner,” to “Father of the Bride,” “Bridezillas” and the “Bride Wars,” the staging of marriage was and continues to be big business, according to Wisch. Today, the large financial burden falls predominantly on the bride’s family. In the Renaissance, expenditures were equally extravagant, but the preparation, performance and price ? especially the “bride price” or dowry paid to the groom — were very different. Without a dowry, a woman could not marry or even enter a nunnery, and might well be forced into prostitution as a means of self-support. This illustrated talk looks at two different ways marriages were staged in Renaissance Italy. Contact: Wisch at (607) 753-4316 or barbara.wisch@cortland.edu.
Lecture: Afro-Columbian artist, social activist, teacher and lay minister Jafeth Gomez Ledesma will discuss his work at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3, in Dowd Gallery. His lecture, “Hope in a Time of Turmoil,” encompasses his celebratory style of painting that largely relies on feminine figures to evoke peace, nature, community and the interconnectedness of all beings. Co-sponsors of his visit include Latin American Studies, the TransAfrica Project, the Central New York-Cajibio Sister-City Partnership, the Spanish Club, the International Communications and Culture (ICC) Department, and the Campus Artist and Lecture Series. Contact: Colleen Kattau, SUNY Cortland assistant professor of ICC, at (607) 753-4303 or colleen.kattau@cortland.edu.
Sandwich Seminar: Alan Singer, the author of New York and Slavery, Time to Teach the Truth, will offer a workshop on “Teaching About Slavery” on Wednesday, March 4. The presentation by Singer, a faculty member at Hofstra University who is deeply involved in the training of secondary-level social studies teachers, runs from 12:30-1:30 p.m. in Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge. Event co-sponsors include the History and the Africana Studies Departments, Educational Opportunity Program, the SUNY Cortland Professional Development School (PDS), SUNY Education Club, and the Wilkins Foundation. Contact: Karen Hempson, PDS coordinator, at (607) 753-4209 or karen.hempson@cortland.edu.
Panel Discussion: The topic of “Women’s Paths to Success” will be addressed by a panel of SUNY Cortland faculty, staff and students moderated by Jena Curtis, assistant professor of health, on Wednesday, March 4. The discussion will run from 3-4:30 p.m. in Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge. Panelists representing the different career paths at SUNY Cortland include: Regina Grantham, professor and chair of Speech Pathology and Audiology; student Sherri Hicks; Philosophy Professor Mecke Nagel; Mary E. Murphy, University Police lieutenant ; Nasrin Parvizi, associate vice president of facilities management; and Lori Porter, secretary II in the School of Professional Studies. Each presenter will describe her individual career experience, which is based on personal passions, talents, interests, priorities and maybe a bit of luck. Contacts: Co-coordinators of Women’s Initiatives Karen Seibert at (607) 753-5660 or karen.seibert@cortland.edu or Gayle Gleason at (607) 753-2816 or gayle.gleason@cortland.edu.
Gallery Talk: On Thursday, March 12, Kassim Koné, a SUNY Cortland associate professor of sociology and anthropology, will discuss an exhibition of Bògòlanfini, or mudcloth, from the Bamana women of West Africa, on display at the Homer Center for the Arts through March 31. Titled “Bògòlanfini: A Female Art Form of the Bamana of Mali,” will begin at 7 p.m. in the Center’s Borg-Warner Morse TEC Gallery. The mud-dyed cloth of the Bamana women artists of Mali is a living art form, constantly changing, reflecting new concerns, inspirations and patronage. Researchers suggest that the complicated technique used for mudcloth has been known in the western Sudan for several centuries. The exhibit is from the private collection of Kassim Kone. Most pieces were made by the renowned Nakunte Jara, whose work has been put on permanent display at the Smithsonian. Kone is Bamana himself and is from Mali. Contact: Kone at (607) 753-2726. Gallery contact: (607) 749-4900.
Film: Caroline Kaltefleiter, associate professor of communication studies at SUNY Cortland, will moderate a discussion following a viewing of the movie “Veronica Guerin: True story of an Irish Journalist,” on Tuesday, March 17. Presented by members of Planet of Women for Equality and Respect (POWER), the presentation begins at 6 p.m. in Sperry Center, Room 106. The film documents the story of a Dublin journalist who was murdered in 1996. Guerin, portrayed by actress Cate Blanchett, exposes a series of drug trafficking activities in Ireland through her investigative reporting. Her courageous reporting paved the way for social justice in Dublin in campaigns against drugs. Her death incited public outrage and prompted the passage of new laws confronting drug trafficking and related crimes that had plagued Ireland for so long. Co-sponsors: Planet of Women for Equality and Respect (POWER), Women’s Studies, and the Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies. Contact: Kaltefleiter at (607) 753-4201 or caroline.kaltefleiter@cortland.edu.
Sandwich Seminar: SUNY Cortland Professor and Chair of Philosophy Kathryn Russell will address a people’s rebellion that grew out of the public teachers’ strike in Mexico during 2006, on Wednesday, March 18. Her talk, “2006 Rebellion in Oaxaca, Mexico: Women’s Transformation,” begins at noon in Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge. Oaxacans took to the streets in support of the teachers and to protest police repression and government corruption. The city, including the college radio station, was in their hands until late November. In this process, women forever transformed their male compatriots, themselves and the town of Oaxaca. Contact: Russell at (607) 753-2727.
Lecture: Award-winning filmmaker Jennifer Fox will visit the campus to present “Global Women’s Voices: The Quest for Equality and Identity” at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 18, in Old Main Brown Auditorium. Fox travels the globe to create compelling stories. Her documentaries have brought light to the harrowing lives of families living in war-ravaged Beirut as well as the emotionally charged complexity of interracial families living in America. Her recent project, which is the subject of her talk at Cortland, is “Flying: Confessions of Free Woman,” the widely praised, six-part documentary that offers a portrait of women’s experiences as they struggle against the gender inequalities that limit their lives. Sponsors include the Cultural and Intellectual Climate Committee Lecture series on “Inequality.” Contact: Anne Vittoria, associate professor of sociology/anthropology, at (607) 753-2726 or anne.vittoria@cortland.edu.
Sandwich Seminar: Ute Ritz-Deutch, who lectures in SUNY Cortland’s History Department, will review the efforts of activists that culminated in the creation of Brazil’s first federal Indian Protection Service (SPI) in 1910, in her Thursday, March 19, discussion. The talk, titled, “Human Rights in Brazil: Developments of Indigenous Rights from the Creation of the Indian Protection Service to the Present,” begins at noon in Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge. Indigenous people in Brazil hold a special place in the nation’s identity, yet they remain at the margins of Brazilian society. Disputes over land and resources often turn violent and deadly. Ritz-Deutch will also examine the work of the SPI and its successor, the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), in Brazil. Finally, she will look at contemporary challenges, the process of land demarcation, and the efforts of Indians and activists to protect their traditional way of life. These struggles have profoundly affected women and their families, even though the media covering news of violent clashes often seems to render them invisible. Contact: Ritz-Deutch at (607) 753-2723.
Film: Brett Troyan, SUNY Cortland assistant professor of history, will moderate “Blame it On Fidel” at 4 p.m. on Friday, March 20, in Old Main Brown Auditorium. The film portrays Anna, a nine-year-old girl living a bourgeois life in France in the early 1970s until her parents decide to become involved in left-wing politics, opposing Francisco Franco in Spain and supporting Salvador Allende in Chile. “Blame it on Fidel” is a critically acclaimed movie, described as funny and poignant, that follows Anna and her younger brother as they adapt to the radical changes in their lifestyle. Part of the College’s Tournées Festival, the film was made possible with the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Ministry of Culture (CNC). Contact: Festival Organizer Timothy Gerhard at (607) 753-2021.
Film: “La Vie en Rose” will be shown at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 24. The film will be moderated by Marie Ponterio, SUNY Cortland lecturer of French. Actress Marion Cotillard won the Oscar for Best Actress in 2008 for her performance as Edith Piaf, a French girl from the streets, who became one of the most popular and highly praised singers around the world. Rolling Stone magazine writes that Cotillard “gives a performance for the ages.” Part of the College’s Tournées Festival, the film was made possible with the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Ministry of Culture (CNC). Contact: Festival Organizer Timothy Gerhard at (607) 753-2021.
Illustrated Lecture: Kathryn Rudy, curator of illuminated manuscripts with the National Library of The Netherlands, will give an illustrated lecture on “How Medieval Nuns Invented the Postcard,” on Wednesday, March 25. Rudy’s talk will begin at 4:30 p.m. in Sperry Center Room 104. Rudy asserts that Hollywood versions of the Middle Ages often omit an important player in the construction of medieval libraries: women. Especially in Northern Europe, women living in monastic communities probably made even more manuscripts by hand than their male counterparts. Women copied books and, despite having limited access to artistic training, made illuminations. Rudy will show what kinds of images 15th century nuns and religious women made and how they used those images in new ways. Co-sponsors: Art and Art History, the Campus Artist and Lecture Series, the Cortland College Foundation, Women’s Studies and the Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies. Contact: Barbara Wisch, professor of art and art history, at (607) 753-4316 or barbara.wisch@cortland.edu.
Lecture: Tonia St. Germain, a lawyer, assistant professor and program coordinator of Gender Studies at Eastern Oregon State University, will discuss “Rape as a War Crime: Gender Mainstreaming in International Criminal Prosecution,” on Thursday, March 26. Her talk will take place at 4:30 p.m. in Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge. St. Germain will analyze the experiences of the international legal trailblazers whose work transformed human rights law by making rape a war crime during the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). She will discuss how lessons from these pioneers can help the International Criminal Court (ICC) today better respond to war crimes in countries like Sudan where the government has turned all of Darfur into a rape camp or the Congo where it is more dangerous to be a civilian woman than a soldier. Her speech will be published in a future edition of Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women’s and Gender Studies, the online magazine published at the College. Co-sponsors: the Wagadu Lecture Series and the TransAfrica Project. Contact: Professor of Philosophy Mechthlid Nagel at (607) 753-2013 or mecke.nagel@cortland.edu.
Film: On Friday, March 27, Kassim Kone, SUNY Cortland assistant professor of sociology and anthropology, will moderate “Moolaadé” at 4 p.m. in Old Main Brown Auditorium. Legendary Senegalese author and director Ousmane Sembène provokes the audience by tackling female circumcision in a Senegalese village and he does so in a film that, according to film critic Roger Ebert, “contains humor, charm and astonishing visual beauty.” He writes, “This was for me the best film at Cannes 2004, a story vibrating with urgency and life.” Part of the College’s Tournées Festival, the film was made possible with the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Ministry of Culture (CNC). Contact: Festival Organizer Timothy Gerhard at (607) 753-2021.
Lecture: Claudia Brenner, the author of “Eight Bullets: One Woman’s Story of Surviving Anti-Gay Violence,” will speak on Monday, March 30. The lecture will begin at 7 p.m. in Old Main Brown Auditorium. Brenner will tell her story about how, in May 1988, she survived a gunman’s attack while hiking with her partner on the Appalachian Trail. Her partner was killed. She walked four miles with five gunshot wounds to get help. “Anti-gay violence is much bigger than anyone admits,” she said. “It affects all sorts of people. And my story seems to have a huge impact on all people because it is so horrific and it doesn’t leave room for a person to stay uncommitted. When you hear the story ? two women, unarmed, innocent, shot ? people don’t stay neutral. They go to a place of compassion.” Co-sponsors: the campus group Contact: Judy Ouellette, psychology, at (607) 753-4218 or judith.ouellette@cortland.edu.
Women’s History Month is co-sponsored by the Women’s Studies Committee of the Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies (CGIS); Latin American Studies; the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Committee; the President’s and Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Offices; TransAfrica Project; the Campus Artist and Lecture Series (CALS); the Art and Art History, History, Philosophy, Africana Studies and International Communications and Culture Departments; the Education Club; the Cortland College Foundation; the Cultural and Intellectual Climate (CIC) Committee; Planet of Women Equality and Respect (POWER); Affirmative Action Committee; Educational Opportunity Program; Professional Development School; Deans of Arts and Sciences and Education; the President’s Committee on the Status and Education of Women (CSEW); the Women’s Initiatives Committee; the Educational Opportunity Program; the SUNY Cortland Professional Development School (PDS); the SUNY Education Club; and the Wilkins Foundation.
For more information about Women’s History Month, contact Nagel at (607) 753-2013 or mecke.nagel@cortland.edu.