Occupying a Third Place: Pro-Life Feminism, Legible Politics, and the Edge of Women’s Liberation
By Laura Strait, Doctoral Candidate, Media Studies, School of Journalism and Communication
CSWS Graduate Student Research Grant
Minor Genre, Major Revolution: Queer & Punk Histories of the San Francisco Transgender Film Festival (1997-2017)
by Andrew Robbins, PhD Candidate, Media Studies, School of Journalism and Communication
With funding from a CSWS Graduate Student Research Grant, I was able to travel to the GLBT Historical Society Archive in San Francisco in November 2018 to explore the unsorted collection of “Tranny Fest,” the original name of what is now known as the San Francisco Transgender Film Festival. The collection was donated by the festival’s original co-founders, media lawyer Alex Austin and late filmmaker Christopher Lee, who started the festival in 1997.
Seeking Understanding of the Experiences of Non-Cis Students: Developing an Affirmative Substance Use Preventive Intervention
by Peter P. Ehlinger, PhD Student, Counseling Psychology, College of Education
“They’re tired of waiting for things that aren’t going to come.” — Non-cisgender student
“I drank a lot as a young teenager…I think a lot of that came from a strong sense of lack of belonging and social anxiety.” — Non-cisgender student
A Study of NGOs’ Strategies To End Fistula in Senegal
by Layire Diop, PhD Candidate, Media Studies, School of Journalism and Communication
The figures released by the World Health Organization (WHO) are staggering. Even though fistula was eliminated in developed countries a century ago, it still affects two million women around the world (WHO, 2018).
On the Backs of Women: Participatory Communication for Livelihood Empowerment of Women under Ghana’s ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ Program
by Elinam Amevor, PhD Student, School of Journalism and Communication
The nineteenth century colonial legacy of the British in the Gold Coast—now Ghana—which ensured that men produce cash crops for export to keep the engines of the Industrial Revolution running, while women engage in food-crop production to feed the home, continues to determine the gendered nature of Ghana’s agricultural sector in the twenty-first century.
Closed Captioning: Reading Between the Lines
by Celeste Reeb, Doctoral Candidate, Department of English
Anyone who watches the majority of their media with closed captioning (CC) turned on is aware that captions can often get creative with their phrasing. This creativity can be humorous, can evoke the same campiness of B-movies (as seen in the examples above), but can create frustrating experiences for those who rely upon captions to communicate sonic elements. Online conversations of captioning focus on odd phrasings or terminology, comedic mis-captioning, or demanding better captioning practices.
Anyone who watches the majority of their media with closed captioning (CC) turned on is aware that captions can often get creative with their phrasing. This creativity can be humorous, can evoke the same campiness of B-movies (as seen in the examples above), but can create frustrating experiences for those who rely upon captions to communicate sonic elements. Online conversations of captioning focus on odd phrasings or terminology, comedic mis-captioning, or demanding better captioning practices.
Witch-Hunting in Colonial Assam
by Daizi Hazarika, PhD Candidate, Department of Anthropology
My CSWS fellowship allowed me to travel to the India Office Records at the British Library in summer 2019. At the British Library, I focused on the effects of colonial policies on witch-hunting on indigenous women in Assam, India. After spending two months poring over colonial documents, I discovered a strong connection between British colonial laws and an increase in witch-hunting allegations against tribal populations in Assam. My first research finding contests the prevalent view that tribal communities in Assam practiced witch-hunting pre-dating British colonialism. I found the opposite to be true.
My CSWS fellowship allowed me to travel to the India Office Records at the British Library in summer 2019. At the British Library, I focused on the effects of colonial policies on witch-hunting on indigenous women in Assam, India. After spending two months poring over colonial documents, I discovered a strong connection between British colonial laws and an increase in witch-hunting allegations against tribal populations in Assam. My first research finding contests the prevalent view that tribal communities in Assam practiced witch-hunting pre-dating British colonialism. I found the opposite to be true.
Radical Korean Feminism: Women's Movement Seeks to #escapethecorset
by Jane Nam, PhD Candidate, Department of Philosophy
South Korea is often deemed the beauty capital of the world, as the cosmetic surgery hub and home to one of the largest beauty industries in the world. Beginning in early 2018, however, thousands of young South Korean women began to cut off their hair, smash their beauty products, and opt for androgynous wear. They are partaking in what they call the Escape-the-Corset Movement, or Tal-Corset, a radical feminist movement calling for all women to take off their figurative corsets. This project is an effort to describe the philosophical meanings behind the experiences of these women, using feminist phenomenology.
South Korea is often deemed the beauty capital of the world, as the cosmetic surgery hub and home to one of the largest beauty industries in the world. Beginning in early 2018, however, thousands of young South Korean women began to cut off their hair, smash their beauty products, and opt for androgynous wear. They are partaking in what they call the Escape-the-Corset Movement, or Tal-Corset, a radical feminist movement calling for all women to take off their figurative corsets. This project is an effort to describe the philosophical meanings behind the experiences of these women, using feminist phenomenology.
The Work of Black Feminist Liberation: Writing Erotic Freedom in Black Feminist Fiction and TV
by Carmel Ohman, PhD Candidate, Department of English
I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to engage creative texts by and about Black women in this historic moment of collective action. Toni Morrison famously wrote that the relationship between artist and reader is central to Black art and storytelling: “it is the affective and participatory relationship between the artist or the speaker and the audience that is of primary importance.” The audience, like the text, needs to work. For Morrison, the engaged, deep-feeling work of reading is part of the work of Black liberation.
I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to engage creative texts by and about Black women in this historic moment of collective action. Toni Morrison famously wrote that the relationship between artist and reader is central to Black art and storytelling: “it is the affective and participatory relationship between the artist or the speaker and the audience that is of primary importance.” The audience, like the text, needs to work. For Morrison, the engaged, deep-feeling work of reading is part of the work of Black liberation.
In the Name of Honor?: Evaluating the Impact of Weather Variability on “Honor” Killings in Pakistan
by Amna Javed, PhD Candidate, Department of Economics
Every year, approximately 5,000 women are murdered globally in the name of honor. These crimes, labeled as “honor” killings, are meant to punish transgressing individuals who are believed to have brought shame to their families by overstepping social boundaries regarding acceptable sexual freedoms. In Pakistan’s context, where the “purity” of a woman is crucial to ensuring a successful arranged marriage, dishonor might result from, among other reasons, coming home late, having an alleged affair, or eloping.