Category — Department news

WOMS 169 Sexualities & the Body
Taught by Prof. Tanya Bakhru
Fall 2011 – Mon Wed  1:30 – 2:45 pm

*Learn about the politics of sexuality and the body from a feminist perspective

* Explore various aspects of sexuality and gendered bodies including identity, community, and social movements.

*No prerequisites; everyone welcome!

For more info, email Dr. Bakhru at tanya.bakhru@sjsu.edu

Winning the Vote:  A Special Evening Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Woman’s Right to Vote in California

Join us at this special event that will honor the courageous individuals who fought for Woman’s suffrage in California.

The evening will feature a viewing of the University’s rare exhibit highlighting the western state victories, which provided the foundation for the Susan B. Anthony Suffrage Amendment as well as other important Suffrage artifacts from the 19th and 20th centuries.

Additionally, Robert P.J. Cooney, author of Winning the Vote: The Triumph of the American Woman Suffrage Movement will discuss his book that documents this historical achievement.  This event is sponsored by the League of Women Voters San Jose/Santa Clara and the San Jose State University Special Collections Department

February 23, 2011
5pm-8pm
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library
150 East San Fernando Street
San Jose, CA 95112
5th Floor, Schiro Room

5:00 – 6:00pm Reception and viewing of San Jose State’s unique collection of artifacts and exhibits relating to the Suffrage movement in California and the country

6:00 – 7:00pm Robert P.J. Cooney, author of Winning the Vote: The Triumph of the American Woman Suffrage Movement will discuss the color, passion, and excitement of this important part of American history

7:00-8:00pm The League of Women Voters honors the Women’s Studies programs at Evergreen College, Santa Clara University and San Jose State University as well as History San Jose and the Santa Clara Library

Confirm your seat at this special event: league@lwvsjsc.org

Please forward to your student lists:

Take advantage of the opportunity to study this spring in a small seminar with Women’s Studies Professor Shahin Gerami.   WOMS 189, Gender and Sexuality in Islam is a seminar introducing the variety of gender roles and expressions of sexuality within contemporary Islam.  Readings consist of a sample original texts and a selection from popular novels.

Please spread the word!

WOMS 189  Gender and Sexuality in Islam (Add code 26635)
TTh 10:30-11:45 / DMH 126
Questions?  Email: shahin.gerami@sjsu.edu

Women’s Studies Assistant Professor Tanya Bakhru kicked off the Fall 2010 Speaker Series for the new Division of Interdisciplinary Race & Gender Studies (DIRGS) with her talk, “Contesting Globalization and How to Assert Meaningful Reproductive Rigfhts Discourse in an Era of Global Capitalism.”

The following is news coverage by the Spartan Daily.

By Ashley Finden for the Spartan Daily, 9/19/10

Thirteen people came to listen to an SJSU lecturer’s presentation on acknowledging reproduction and its issues as a worldly situation, not just in the United States.

”The main purpose of it is how do we ensure that women have both the power to make the decisions they want to make about their bodies and then the resources to carry out those decisions,” Tanya Bakhru said.
Bakhru is an assistant professor of social science and women’s studies at SJSU.

She held the lecture last Thursday afternoon in the Cultural Heritage Room at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library.

Bakhru said it isn’t just about abortions or contraception, but about if a woman has children, how is she sure she would be able to care for them in the way she would want to. [Read more →]

We are happy to announce that our very own Women’s Studies professor, Victoria Rue,  is directing the Pulitzer prize winning play [07'] , Rabbit Hole, at the Santa Cruz Actors’  Theatre.   Details follow….

Santa Cruz Actors’ Theatre, the longest running theater in Santa Cruz, is proud to announce it’s play to close our twenty-fifth season. Actors’ Theatre will bring to life David Lindsay-Abaire’s Pulitzer Prize winning drama “Rabbit Hole,” running May 14 to June 6, 2010, at the Santa Cruz Actor’s Theatre, 1001 Center Street, Santa Cruz, CA.

Lindsay-Abaire’s play, which garnered five Tony nominations and won the Pulitzer for drama in 2007, tells the story of Becca and Howie, a married couple whose 4-year-old son, Danny, was killed by a car eight months earlier. Struggling to cope and unable to reconcile their different ways of grieving, their relationship has begun to unravel: Becca is trying to forget the pain, Howie is holding onto his fading memories, and other family members are complicating the situation. Hope is reignited when Jason, the teenage boy driving the car that killed Danny, comes into their lives. Despite its heavy subject matter, Lindsay-Abaire’s play is a balance of comedic moments with serious themes.

The production is directed by theatre titan Victoria Rue. Dr. Rue’s work as a theatre director and playwright has been seen in Los Angeles at the Mark Taper Forum, San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre and New York’s Shakespeare Festival, among other theaters.

“This is a play about compassion,” said Victoria Rue. “Grief and rage and love rise up. We also laugh. We recognize this as our human condition.”

A quietly moving play, the story explores the reconnection of relationships and the possibilities of hope after tragedy. Rabbit Hole, is a beautifully observed and heartfelt look into the grief and healing one family experiences dealing with a death in the family. Meticulously mapped, Lindsay-Abaire never indulges with sentiment.

“Lindsay-Abaire’s story is about how grief is often held so tightly to the chest that it is difficult for our arms to embrace the present.” said Victoria Rue.

“Rabbit Hole” is Lindsay-Abaire’s first naturalistic work, a departure from his trademark style of dark comedy seen in previous plays such as “Fuddy Meers” and “Kimberly Akimbo.” Despite the differences, Lindsay-Abaire said all his plays deal with the same underlying dilemma: “… it’s about characters finding themselves in an upside-down world and trying to find clarity in a world that doesn’t make any sense.”

The cast includes Kristin Brownstone as Becca; Steven Capasso as Howie; Nan Dejarlais as Becca’s mother, Nat; MarNae Taylor as Becca’s sister, Izzy; and Taylor Closs as Jason.

Dates for “Rabbit Hole” are: Friday, May. 14 (Opening), and closing Sunday, June 6.

Performances are Friday through Saturday at 8PM and Sundays at 3PM.

All performances at Actors’ Theatre, 1001 Center St., Santa Cruz

Tickets are $16 general; $13 students/seniors. Buy tickets at the theatre box office one hour before show times.

To make a reservation, call 831.425.PLAY (831.425.7529). You can also purchase tickets at www.brownpapertickets.com or Visit Actors’ Theatre website at www.santacruzactorstheatre.org

http://www.santacruzactorstheatre.org/

I’d like to share here an interview and discussion that the Social Science 195 Spring class did with Dr. Angela Valenzuela, Professor of Education and Director of the Texas Center for Educational Policy at the University of Texas, Austin.

Dr. Valenzuela spoke with us about the concept of “subtractive schooling,” a critique that traditional schooling divests Mexican and Mexican-American youth of “important social and cultural resources, leaving them progressively vulnerable to academic failure.”  She goes on to discuss several new projects, including the National Latino Education Research & Policy Project (NELRAP) that seek to address these kinds of consistent inequalities in American education.

Click here to see the interview on the SJSU server (or click image)

Some excerpts:

On Mexican identity: “We have been traumatized in this society, and we continue to be traumatized, harmed, because of the languages we speak, the identities that we hold….virulent campaigns that don’t ever seem to stop, against Mexican immigrants, and Mexicans in general, by association….”

“Where is that common discourse, within the mass of silent people, where is that discourse that is really trying to reach out for fairness within this system?”

Demographics: “What people need to know and understand, lead on, is that the way that Texas looks now demographically is the way the whole nation will look in 2050.”

The next step: “A systems approach, a systems analysis. We have many piecemeal programs…we have the intellectual knowhow. We really don’t need another study that shows us bilingual education works if it’s well-funded, well-trained, well-staffed. Now it’s about leadership, critical, respectful partnerships…. We need to work together to change systems….”

See the interview here

Join us for a wonderful afternoon talk with sex educator Carol Queen!   Writer and cultural sexologist Carol Queen offers observations about women’s sexuality and discusses key issues like information, desire, boundaries, support, and communication — including specific tools that may help any woman learn what she wants for her sexuality, and move toward achieving it.

Carol Queen is a writer, speaker, educator and activist with a doctorate in sexology.  She has a long history of organizing in local and international lesbian/gay communities, including co-founding one of the first gay youth groups in the United States.  She is a worker/owner at Good Vibrations, the women-owned, worker-owned sex toy and book emporium, where she directs Continuing Education for the staff. She also organizes workshops at The Center for Sex and Culture, a non-profit sexuality education center which my partner Dr. Robert Lawrence and I have spent the last several years organizing.

The multialented queen writes explicit fiction and memoir, essays, commentary, analysis, book and film/video reviews, reportage, and interviews.  She publishes a sex and relationship advice column which is available at the Good Vibrations Magazine.

Please join us Wednesday at 1:30-2:45 in Engineering 189.

Related links:
www.goodvibes.com
www.sexandculture.org
www.carolqueen.com

Students Majoring in any of the Social Sciences are Invited to Apply for
Spring 2010 College of Social Sciences Scholarships
(DEADLINE: 3/25/10, to WSQ 103)

Seven scholarships will be awarded to students majoring in the Social Sciences.  Both undergraduate and graduate students may apply.  Last year’s scholarship recipients are not eligible to apply for any of these scholarships during Spring 2010.

• SJSU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION DEANS’ SCHOLARSHIPS (2) • $1,250  (The SJSU Alumni Scholarship is awarded to a student only once during their academic career at SJSU.  This scholarship will be disbursed Fall 2010 and is only available to students enrolling at SJSU for Fall 2010. Scholarship applicants must demonstrate community service or participation in student organizations.)
• GERALD WHEELER SCHOLARSHIP (1) • $1,000
• CHARLES BURDICK SCHOLARSHIPS (1) • $1,000 (student must demonstrate financial need based on the 09-10 FAFSA – FAFSA must be on file in the SJSU Financial Aid Office)
• INEZ AND DONALD BURDICK SCHOLARSHIPS (1) • $1,000 (student must demonstrate financial need based on the 09-10 FAFSA – FAFSA must be on file in the SJSU Financial Aid Office

Application available here in MSWord format or here in PDF format [Read more →]

Come learn how SJSU Women’s Studies alumni are making change in local communities with Noemi Teppang, Lindsey Mansfield, and Margie Strubel.  From 10:30 – 11:45 in MLK Library rooms 255/257

Womyn United:  International Womyns’ Day Marcha & Festival 2010

March begins 11am at Roosevelt Park, continues down Santa Clara and First Street to the Biblioteca Latinoamericana.  Festival from 1 to 4pm with vendors, food, and entertainment.

Participating Organizations: Cihuatl Tlatocan (MAIZ), FOCUS-SV, Silicon Valley
DEBUG, San Jose Peace and Justice Center, Women’s International League for Peace and  Freedom , San Jose CodePink, SJSU WoWi (Womyn on Womyn’s Issues), Santa Clara County’s Office on Women’s Policy,  LGBTQ Youth Spaces, SOMOS Mayfair, Cardea Center for Women, Bay Area Radical Women, SJSU Women’s Studies.

Cihuatl Tlatocan  is a women’s based mass organization whose vision seeks the liberation of Mexican womyn at an individual and community level, in a collective struggle towards social change and is a member organization of the MAIZ Alliance  (Movimiento de Accion, inspirando Servicio). Questions?  Cihuatl.Tlatocan@gmail.com

Download flyer here (click on image to see fullsize)

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