College of Arts & Sciences Women and Gender Studies

Research Conference

Gender and Conflict 

Biennial Women and Gender Research Conference

October 18-19, 2012
University of South Dakota campus

conferenceGender and Conflict will be the focus of the University of South Dakota's Biennial Women's Research Conference, to be held on the USD campus in Vermillion, SD on October 18 and 19, 2012.

The 2012 conference identifies several central questions to be addressed within the context of the theme:
  • War, diplomacy, and trauma: How do women and men explore new roles in military environments? How do they negotiate for peace? How do they face or resolve trauma resulting from military conflict and/or its consequences, including displacement and forced relocation?
  • Marginality and resistance: What creative negotiations of gender and agency occur in societies that restrict human rights and free expression? How have minority cultures or individuals maintained their own constructions of gender in the context of dominant ideologies?
  • Assimilation and alienation: What are the current conflicts faced by gay, lesbian, and transgendered individuals? How do immigrants, indigenous peoples, and racial/ethnic minorities re-construct gender within a mainstream culture?
  • Internalized conflicts: How do women and men negotiate body image and self-presentation in mediated contexts? What is the conflict between public and private identity in the context of gender?
  • Personas and politics: How do women and men deal with conflict as they re-negotiate gender roles in parenting and the workforce? How has the conflict between definitions of sex and gender changed? How will it continue to change?

The conference is interdisciplinary. Perspectives from anthropology, art, business, communication, education, film, history, journalism, languages, law, linguistics, literature, medicine, music, philosophy, political science, popular culture, psychology, religion, and sociology are welcome.

Conference Program
Conference Registration Form
Hotel Information and Driving Directions

  

Art Exhibition:
NicoleGeary  Nicole Geary
Nicole, a graduate student at the University of South Dakota, will present an exhibition entitled, "Elements of Memory". The opening reception is October 19 from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Muenster University Center.  The show will feature work that investigates relationships between the artists's body and the effects of place upon memory.
Special Performance:
SusanOsborn  Susan Osborn
Susan, an internationally renowned singer and songwriter who hails from South Dakota, will perform during the conference's Arts Night on Thursday, October 18.  She will also give a talk about her workshops with women in Japan and the U.S.  For more information about the performer, visit www.susanosborn.com. 
Keynote Speaker:
BethBailey_115

Beth Bailey
U.S. Gender and Sexuality, 20th-century U.S. Cultural/Social, War and American Culture

Beth Bailey is a social/cultural historian of the 20th century United States. Her research has focused on the history of gender and sexuality and on war and society/military institutions in US history; her most recent book is America's Army: Making the All-Volunteer Force (2009).