| Women's and Gender Studies Graduate Program |
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The Women's and Gender Studies Program has successfully implemented a MA graduate degree program, as well as the 5-year BA/MA program! In its first two years, the program enrolled 30+ new graduate students from a variety of backgrounds and schools, and a number of current students that wished to extend their stay at DePaul, in order to achieve their BA and MA in Women's and Gender Studies! Congratulations to all of the grad students and good luck to this exciting program!
The M.A. Program in Women's and Gender Studies is a 48 credit hour program (12 courses), including five core WMS courses, five or six elective courses organized around a focus tailored to the individual student's needs, and a capstone Project chosen among three options-Thesis, Practical or Creative Project or Portfolio. Deadline for applications: February 15.
DePaul's M.A. Program in Women's and Gender Studies offers a cutting-edge curriculum that
(1) focuses on the interconnectedness of local, global, and transnational feminist theories, methodologies, research, public policies and social movements;
(2) attends to interlocking systems of oppression and privilege-gender, race, sexuality, class, nation-to address issues of power, resistance and social transformation
(3) connects feminist theories to activism and social justice; and
(4) engages communities through research, advocacy and service.
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| Iota, Iota, Iota
Women's and Gender Studies Honor Society
DePaul University |
Iota Iota Iota (Triota) is the academic honor society for the field of Women and Gender Studies. The purpose of the organization is to encourage academic achievement in Women and Gender Studies. Iota Iota Iota is named for the ancient goddesses: Inanna, Ishtar and Isis. We are the DePaul chapter of this honor society.
Please submit completed application form(applications are located in the Women's and Gender Studies Office), transcript, and dues to the Triota mailbox by the end of Fall Quarter (located in the Women's and Gender Studies office, 5th Floor SAC).
If you have any questions or need to set up a meeting, please contact Triota president, Chera Tribble, (chera.patrice@gmail.com); vice-president Chris Jessup (jessupc@gmail.com); or DePaul professor, Dr. Beth Catlett (bcatlett@depaul.edu).
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Letter from the Directors
Greetings! As the leaves begin to turn, and summer gives way to fall in Chicago, this academic year has already brought with it quite a number of significant changes for us! Not only did the WGS program move to its new home on the 5th floor of the Arthur Schmitt Academic Center (SAC), but we also have two new, interim co-directors, Susan Leigh and Tina Chanter. Ann Russo is on leave this year, enjoying a well deserved rest. As the new directors, we would like to express our enormous gratitude to Ann, whose enthusiasm, drive, energy, commitment and vision has made the program what it is. Under Ann's leadership, the program has continued to thrive. Indeed it is has gone from strength to strength. Perhaps most notably, during her time as director, our program expanded its offerings so that we offer an M.A. We welcomed this year's incoming graduate students at an orientation and reception organized by our graduate director, Beth Catlett. The reception was hosted at the local tapas restaurant Café Ba-Ba Reeba, and was a great success. We were all impressed by this year's vibrant group of students, whose diverse interests promise to make this year an even more exciting one than last year!
With our move to SAC comes another big change. As you might have noticed, our administrative assistant Karyn Haney is no longer with us. She recently took a job with the Chicago Public School System as a school counselor. We will miss her but we are so proud of her for landing such a fabulous job and know that she will make a difference in the lives of the students she reaches. In replacing her, we were authorized to hire an administrative assistant who works exclusively with our program. Previously, administrative staff was shared with American Studies. With the continued growth of our program, particularly of the Masters program, we really needed a dedicated administrative assistant. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Inma Leonard and Leo Masalihit who helped us in the interim. (We borrowed from their downtown jobs!) Without the invaluable help of such wonderful staff, we are not sure how we would have been able to get through this transition period! Many thanks to them for being willing to share their expertise.
We are delighted to announce that Leo has now taken over Karyn's job permanently, and welcome him to the program. We are also very pleased to have LaTriece Cast and Talina Phillips as our student workers this year. They too have contributed greatly to helping to negotiate the various changes we have had to face throughout these past weeks. While we are still confronting various challenges, such as finalizing office arrangements, and awaiting a reception desk, things are beginning to fall into place. We are grateful to students, and especially to faculty, for their patience and understanding, while we work to ensure that everyone has what they need. Facility Operations have been busy moving furniture, installing book cases, and moving electrical outlets in order to ensure that the building functions optimally for us.
In order to address the needs of both undergraduate and graduate students more effectively, we created two new committees this year, the Assessment Committee, and the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. We hope that this restructuring will facilitate a more efficient administrative operation.
Upcoming plans include a "meet and greet," which will provide graduate students with the opportunity to meet and forge links with WGS affiliated faculty. As our M.A. program expands, we are hoping the graduate students will increasingly take advantage of the myriad, interdisciplinary expertise offered by faculty across the university. We will also, at some point in the near future, join together with the other interdisciplinary programs with which we share the 5th floor of SAC, to host a reception. This will give folks a chance to meet and interact with our new neighbors in the African and Black Diaspora Program, the American Studies Program, the Latin American and Latino Studies Program, and the Catholic Studies Program.
We would like to extend a very warm welcome to Dr. Rachel Jones, who joins us as a visiting scholar for this quarter. Rachel teaches philosophy at the University of Dundee, Scotland; feminist philosophy figures prominently among her interests.
We would also like to congratulate Chera Tribble and James Wilson, who have been elected student representatives, and Tanja Messing, Patrick Collins, and Emily Wilson, who will be our alternates for this year.
Our new address is 2320 N. Kenmore Avenue, on the Lincoln Park Campus, and the phone number for our new office is 773 325 4760. Our new joint directors' email address is wgsdirector@depaul.edu |
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Changes in the W'G'S Department
New Address:
2320 N. Kenmore Ave.
5th Floor of the Student Academic Center
FINALLY....Women's and Gender Studies!!!
Currently when registering you
search for "WMS"
Starting in January you will
search for "WGS"
Facilitating a More Efficient Administrative Operation
The WGS Department realized that Beth Catlett's excellent work with Grad students needed to be done with the Undergrad students as well. WGS saw that with Beth's work it was helpful to have one person to go to. To help us strengthen the Undergraduate program Dr. Laila Farah will now be the "go to" professor for the Undergraduate students and Dr. Beth Catlett will continue to be the "go to" for the Graduate students if you have questions about the WGS curriculum.
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Pervertable Tongues
By WGS Alumn Krystal Baugher
 I don't have the voice of an angel. But, I have a voice and I'm going to do all I can to get people to listen to what I'm saying. What I'm saying is a perversion, a kinkiness of our current structuralized language, it's a syntactical makeover. For my final creative project in the Women and Gender Studies program I, together with my partner musician/artist R.W. Ruehlen recorded a full length (13 song album) under the band name Pervertable Tongues. After the CD release we formed a live band and have start performing around the Chicagoland area.
The album and the live shows are vital to the music scene and to me personally. Rock and roll is of course, a boys club, in which we have only been graced sporadically with talented women (comparatively). As a woman the album was not only a way for me to bring feminist theory down to the masses, nor was it just a way for me to express myself (thanks Madonna), but it was also a representation to women and girls everywhere that they can do it too. Maybe they haven't had the same amount of musical training as their male-counterparts-I know I haven't-but that shouldn't keep them away from being a part of the music. We need more "Suck my Left Ones" (Bikini Kill) and "Combat Rock" (Sleater-Kinney);I like to imagine myself part of the next generation of women rockers and hope to see more and more women join along the way.
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Interview with Krystal Baugher
Tell us a little about you and your interests.
Along with working on my Masters in Women and Gender Studies, I am also working on my Masters in Writing and Publishing-I should complete both by June. I have recently helped start the non-profit organization The Feminist Creative Alliance with a group of peers-many from DePaul. I live up on the Edgewater/Rogers Park line with my partner RW Ruehlen who helped record the album and who plays guitar on stage. I also write a blog lipsunzipped@blogspot.com where I try to do Vulvacentric spotting and feminist rants on a daily or close to daily basis.
How did you get the idea to do a performance for your thesis?
I actually never performed as part of my thesis. I recorded a feminist-inspired album-Syntactical Makeover-as my thesis and then wrote a paper explaining the process as well as the meanings and theory behind the music/lyrics. We started performing the songs live after the thesis was complete.
What was your process in creating Pervertable Tongues for your thesis?
Pervertable Tongues is the band name for the project-it came to me while visiting the Leather and Archives Museum right off Devon-there is a room full of Pervertables-objects from the kitchen (or wherever) that people convert to use as kinky sex toys. I thought-that's what I want to do with language-kink it up, change how people talk, because so much pain and oppression exists within our language and it's the basis for how we communicate change-one of the best solutions is to change the way we talk.
We did it all DIY, recording in our apartment on a Mac iBook, on the garage band program. We used traditional instruments like the guitar and non-traditional instruments like spices from the kitchen, drills, and boxes for drums.
What were some of the challenges in completing this thesis?
The Challenges were time, confidence, and structure. I was the first WGS masters student to do a creative project and I didn't have much to compare to, I basically had to have the confidence to know that what I was doing mattered and that I could actually sing-which has always been a struggles for me. One of the reasons I chose to sing on an album was to overcome my anxieties and fears and do what I've always loved.
What are your favorite parts of the work?
My favorite parts are random people's reactions to the album or the shows. I love feeling that I have connected to people through the music-I basically chose to do an album because I wanted people to get a piece of feminist theory without having to read my 90 page thesis paper. They could ask me what I learned and I could hand them over a cd and say "listen. love. learn" wow-that sounds cheesy haha.
Tell us about the performance? What are some themes or interesting facts about it?
We perform like a band, not necessarily an art project or anything. I'd say we're pretty basic rock and roll, without the typical boys club bullshit. I don't try to be theoretical in my dress, when I go on stage I focus on living through the music, moving my body how it wants me to, and belting out the lyrics with the clearest annunciation I can do on stage. The theme of the album is the syntactical makeover-changing not only the words we say but how we read between the lines.
Who were your main supports while recoding the album?
My partner pushed me through. I'll admit, I cried quite a bit toward the end especially when I had to try to hit a high note and couldn't ever quite get it. I don't know, I think all people working on their thesis' end up crying at some point because it's just so stressful and so meaningful-it can't be fucked up, it is your life, it's what you've been working on for the last 2 years or however long. What I've loved about this project though is that it keeps going. I've been able to take the album and expose it live to many more people. We have a myspace page and a facebook fan page where people can listen to us and gain great feminist insight whenever they want. On my blog I've started taking the songs and writing elaborate (but short) stories regarding some of the characters-like Cyborg Irene. It feels like Pervertable Tongues will keep expanding for awhile in different avenues, but all within the same focus on the music and the ideas behind the music.
Final thoughts:
Our drummer has to have shoulder surgery. We NEED a new drummer, we've been looking for months, so if you're interested contact us ASAP. stalher03@yahoo.com
We have two shows lined up in November-
Nov. 11th at the Redline Tap
Nov. 22nd at Reggies Rock Club
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WGS Visiting Scholar Fall 2009:
Dr. Rachel Jones
I am very happy to be spending my research leave as a visiting scholar attached to the Women's and Gender Studies Program at DePaul (Sept. 2009 - Jan 2010). At my home institution - the University of Dundee in Scotland - I am based in Philosophy but also teach on a postgraduate course in 'Women, Culture and Society' (WCS rather than WGS!). I am already gathering some good ideas from how the WGS program works that I plan to take back to Dundee to help develop our own program further.
My own interests are in feminist philosophy and theory, though I also work on aesthetics and philosophy of art and enjoy the way that the visual arts, poetry, music and film can help us think in more imaginative and unexpected directions. I am especially interested in feminist thinkers who affirm sexual difference as a central and positive aspect of our being. Philosophy has often privileged death as the key horizon of our existence: in some ways, this is not unreasonable; after all, death comes to us all. But by privileging death philosophers have tended to forget we are all also born, that existence begins with birth from a mother who is also a woman. I'm interested in thinkers like Luce Irigaray and Adriana Cavarero who ask us to remember that existence begins with birth and nationality, but also to remember that women are not reducible to a maternal function but should be valued as women, in their sexed specificity.
During my research leave, I will be working on a series of articles in this area, focussing particularly on the work of Luce Irigaray. One of the frequent criticisms of Irigaray's approach is that she is not sufficiently attentive to other kinds of difference alongside sexual difference, especially differences related to race and ethnicity. As the intersection of questions of race with questions of sex and gender has been a strong thread in recent feminist debate in North America, and a significant number of WGS Faculty at DePaul teach and research in this area, I am looking forward to becoming more informed about these debates so that I can bring them to bear on my own research.
I am also fortunate to be able to engage with one of the new co-directors of WGS, Professor Tina Chanter, whose work on feminist philosophy and Irigaray in particular I have known for a long time and often draw upon. I have recently been teaching a course on Antigone at Dundee so it's especially interesting for me to be able to hear more about Tina's recent work on Antigone's ongoing political and feminist significance. I'd like to thank both Tina and co-director Susan Leigh for making it possible for me to spend my research leave at DePaul, and everyone I've met on the WGS program for making me feel so welcome - I look forward to more conversations with you all in the coming months.
If you'd like to come and talk to me, I'll be around most weekdays so please feel free to drop by and see me or send me an email.
RJONES58@depaul.edu
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Rosie the Riveter
By Caroline Smith
 While perusing the library, looking at thesis and dissertation manuals, I came across a dissertation written by Sister Mary Herman Bauer in 1947. Her thesis title: "Business Curricula in the Catholic College of Liberal Arts for Women" grabbed my attention. It was the only thesis I'd seen from this time period that focused on women. Her thesis question: "What is the present state of business curricula in the Catholic college of liberal arts for women in the United States?" may seem irrelevant to us today with women taking business education in the same schools as men, but it was different for women in 1947. She writes that, "The Catholic college of liberal arts for women must, because of its very nature, offer a business program which differs essentially from that of the professional school of business established primarily for men." (Bauer, 1947: 18) This meant a focus on typing, shorthand and secretarial work. Sister Mary argues against the 1947 system of accrediting in shorthand and typewriting because it "imposes a time restriction which prevents adequate study in other fields." (56)
Times were different for Sister Mary. In 1941, a massive government and industry campaign persuaded women to take jobs during the war. During this time came the creation of the ad campaign with "Rosie the Riveter" (featuring the strong armed woman and the words: "Yes We Can"). Almost 7 million women responded to the call to work. In 1945, women industrial workers began to lose their jobs in large numbers as men returned from the war. Surveys show that 80% wanted to continue working. After the war, women were encouraged to return home or find "female" jobs. This led to a new campaign in the 1950's - "Susie Homemaker" as a female ideal in mainstream America.
Digging through Sister Mary's thesis, I found many small treasures. She wrote that all Catholic colleges prepare women for vocation as "private secretary, librarian, teacher, laboratory technician, social worker, dramatic artist, dietitian, or hospital administrator." (p. 6) Her focus was not on the types of jobs for women, but rather the importance that universities prepare women for vocation. From our perspective now, colleges in the 1940's did not prepare women for many other professions or give them many choices in majors. Sister Mary also made an insightful observation. She lived in a time where women's roles differed from men's roles, yet, she wrote, "but young women graduates from any college group will mingle in the same world; perform the same business functions; and participate in the same social, economic, and political systems." (Bauer, 1947: 18) Here, she advocates for a more equal role in business education for women.
In Sister Mary's conclusion, she writes that researchers and educators agree that "a synthesis of the traditionally cultural and the current practical will invigorate and strengthen both and will effect the liberal education necessary in modern and distinctive America." (55) But, what does she mean by a synthesis of the "traditionally cultural" and "current practical"? Both of my female roommates in college decided to earn their degrees in business. Being practical, they reasoned that in today's world, despite cultural traditions for women, that they would need a solid business degree. While in the university, they found that they received the same business education as men. After leaving the university, they found that despite equality in education, men still dominate the world of business. The secretarial jobs continue to be filled primarily by women. My roommates experience shows how necessary it is to critique modern America's social, economic and political systems. I don't think a synthesis of the traditionally cultural and current practical will invigorate and strengthen both. I think we need a critique of both.
Sister Mary Herman Bauer's words bring up many questions for me: In what type of world do we mingle? Do the college curriculum influence our choice in the major that we choose? How much does the "traditionally cultural" and the "current practical" influence how we decide our majors? And, finally, I wonder, what is the present state of curricula for women in the Catholic College of Liberal Arts?
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The Feminist Creative Alliance:
An Exciting New Organization!
by Lauren Repzka
I hope this academic year is starting well for everyone involved in the Women's and Gender Studies department! I am a recent graduate of the 5 year BA/MA program and would like to introduce you to a new feminist organization in Chicago. Since graduating from DePaul, I have been working with fellow graduates, students and artists to establish the Feminist Creative Alliance. The FCA is a non-profit community arts organization that works to provide safe spaces for individuals to create, discuss, challenge, and act from feminist based artistic expressions. The mission of the FCA is to cultivate various feminist artistic expressions through events and educational programming. The members of the FCA have diverse experiences and interests, but we allshare a passion for feminist thought and creativity. We will be hosting artistic events throughout different communities in the Chicagoland area ranging from spoken word, poetry, performance, music, dance, visual and beyond with the intent to provide people with the opportunity to talk and share ideas relating to a variety of social and political topics.
In September the FCA hosted its inaugural fundraiser, "The Changing Seasons/Changing Genders Drag Ball." We introduced our organization, featured drag performers and met many people who shared our enthusiasm for feminist creativity. We are currently planning our next event, which will feature feminist musicians, spoken word performers and comedians. We would love the support of the Women's and Gender Studies community and encourage you to become involved with the FCA. For information regarding the FCA, upcoming events and volunteer opportunities you can email us at feminist.creative.alliance@gmail.com.
If you would like to donate to our organization to assist with the costs of filing for 501 (c) 3 status and event programming, you can simply log on to PayPal.com, click "send money" and enter in our email address.
I sincerely hope that the FCA can be a creative outlet for the Women's and Gender Studies Program. We welcome everyone who is passionate about feminist thought and creativity to join us in providing a safe space for individuals in the community to participate in feminist discussions and creative projects!
Next Event:
Thursday Nov. 5th 7pm-10pm
The Atlantic Bar and Grill at 5062 N Lincoln Ave
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Events on Campus
Mujeres de Juarez Symposium
Saturday,
November 7th
10am-2pm
Panelists:
Sergio González Rodríguez
Critic, narrator, essayist, screenwriter, literary historian and author of "Huesos en el desierto".
Marisa Belausteguigoitia
Director of the University Program on Gender Studies of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
Oscar Máynez Grijalva
Professor in Psychology and Law at the Universidad Autónoma in Ciudad Juárez, and Council President for Sin Violencia, A.C.-the refuge for women victims of extreme violence.
Moderator:
Lourdes Torres - professor in Latin American and LatinoStudies Program / DePaul University
"Iran Inside Out" 
The DePaul Art Museum is open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. For more information about "Iran Inside Out" or other museum programs and exhibitions, please call 773/325-7506 or visit http://museums.depaul.edu/artwebsite/
Events Off Campus
An Exhibition of Paintings by Mays Mayhew
The Zhou B Center presents an exhibition of paintings by contemporary Chicago artist, Mays Mayhew, entitled The Brain on Love.
Dates:Oct 16, 2009 - Nov 13, 2009
Hours:Monday - Saturday; 9:30 am - 5:30 pm
Location: The Zhou B Center
1029 W. 35th St., Suite 304
Virtual Rainbow: Redefining the LGBT Community in the Digital Age Through Art & Performance
Dates:
Oct 9, 2009 - Nov 15, 2009
Location:
Center on Halsted
3656 N. Halsted St
Chicago, IL 60657
Website:
http://www.centeronhalsted.org
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Check out Facebook and join the WGS Newsletter Group under "WGS DePaul". We will provide ongoing news updates and information. | |
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Feel free to submit articles, poetry, art, or anything else you would like to see published in your Women's and Gender Studies Newsletter.
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