Gender, Race and Space Conference

Gender, Race and Space Conference

Undergraduate students present research that examines connections of gender, race and space in modern society

 

“It was empowering to see students my age presenting work with thought-provoking findings.”

—Conference Participant

Undergraduate students embraced the opportunity to present their own research at Pacific's "Gender, Race and Space Conference" on September 25, 2010. About 100 people attended the conference, which took place in the De Rosa Center. In all, 30 students participated as presenters: 26 from Pacific and 4 from Stanford University.

The conference was organized by the Gender Studies Program (directed by Professor Gesine Gerhard) and the Ethnic Studies Program (directed by Professor Xiaojing Zhou). It was co-sponsored by the GHES Center, Humanities Center, Phi Beta Kappa, CAPD, College Pacific Fund, College Dean's Office, and the University of the Pacific Library. Support from students, staff and faculty from these organizations helped make the conference a success.

The theme of the conference was the production and transformation of living spaces through social relations and interactions, policies, and representations at the local, national, or global level. A call for papers went out in spring 2010, and students were asked to submit brief abstracts of their proposed research by June 1. Final papers were due mid-September.

Gender, Race and Space Concept

The purpose of the conference was to examine the connections of gender, race and space in modern society. Gender Studies organized a similar event in 2008:  the Gender and Science Conference.

Keynote Address

Dr. Mary Ting Yi Lui, Professor of American Studies and History at Yale University, delivered an engaging keynote address titled "Reading Race and Gender in Everyday Landscapes." Dr. Lui is the author of The Chinatown Trunk Mystery: Murder, Miscegenation, and Other Dangerous Encounters in Turn-of-the-Century New York City (Princeton University Press, 2005), which won the "Best Book in History" awarded by the Association of Asian American Studies.

Student Panels and Posters

The student presentations were grouped into panels chaired by faculty members who led a discussion following the talks. Panel topics included:

• Recalibrating Norms in Math and Science
• En-Gendering Childhood and Adolescence
• Sexuality and Embodiment
• Real and Imagined Spaces
• Morality and Transgression in Film and Literature

The conference also included poster presentations, in which students display a summary of data and their findings on a poster and speak on the research they conducted.  The poster presentations covered a range of issues, such as transnational capitalism, education of bilingual children, the LGBTQ rights movement in South Korea, and race in U.S. higher education.

Faculty Panel

A faculty panel on "Constructions of Identity in Cinema, Visual Culture, and Literature" was chaired by Dr. Merrill Schleier (Art and Graphic Design/Art History). Presenters included Dr. Diane Borden (English/Film Studies), Dr. Schleier, and Dr. Xiaojing Zhou (English/Ethnic Studies). Dr. Teresa Bergman (Communication/Film Studies) was the discussant of the panel.

Program Details

You can see a complete list of the presentations on the 2010 Conference Presentations web page or on the Program.

Best Paper Awards

From left: Stephanie Mohr (Pacific), Dr. Carrie Schroeder (Religious & Classical Studies Professor/Pacific), Nicole Chorney (Stanford) 

Awards for "best paper" were given to three students: Charles Syms, Stephanie Mohr and Nicole Chorney Learn More