Lafayette Celebrates Women’s History Month

Lafayette will celebrate Women’s History Month in March with events focusing on the theme of “Domestic and International Intersections.”

The month captures the spirit of International Women’s Day on March 8 by featuring events on and speakers from Africa, Russia, the Caribbean, and Asia and exploring Native American topics, spirituality, body image, feminism, sexual assault, and women in the STEM fields.

Russian author and journalist Masha Gessen will speak about Vladimir Putin March 11

“We’d like the campus community to consider the complexity of issues that face women, not just here in the U.S., but across the world,” says Gene Kelly, associate dean of intercultural development and director of gender and sexuality programs.

A highlight of the month will be two talks by Russian author and journalist Masha Gessen March 11. “The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin” will be at noon in the Gendenbien Room of Skillman Library, and “The Anatomy of a Crackdown: The Laws, Slogans, and Practices of the New Russia” will be at 4:15 p.m. in Kirby Hall of Civil Rights room 104. Gessen is the director of Radio Liberty’s Russian Service and the author of The Man Without a Face, a biography of Vladimir Putin. She has written for The New Republic, Granta, Slate, Vanity Fair, and U.S. News and World Report, and contributes a weekly entry to the Latitude blog at The New York Times.

Other events include a staged reading of Eve Ensler’s The Good Body 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 13, in Colton Chapel; the photo exhibit “Is Feminism Still Necessary?” March 18-22 in Farinon College Center; and a trip exploring the Lenni Lenape Native Americans 11 a.m. Saturday, March 16, at the Sigal Museum in Easton.

The month’s events are sponsored by the Office of Gender and Sexuality Programs; the Africana studies, film and media studies, international affairs, and women and gender studies programs; the Religious Studies Department; the Office of Intercultural Development, Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, Information Technology Services, International Students Association, Hillel, Association of Lafayette Feminists, Counseling Center, Kaleidoscope Peer Educators, and NIA. For more information, contact the Office of Gender and Sexuality Programs at (610) 330-5819.

Women’s History Month Schedule:

• March 4, Noon, Farinon College Center: Women’s History Month Kick-off
• March 6, Noon, Gendebein Room of Skillman Library: “Gentle, Loving, and Assertive: The Visual Self-Representation of the Hungarian Home-Birth Movement,” with Katalin Fabian, associate professor of government and law
• March 7, 4:30 p.m., Hugel Science Center room 100: “Young Sunni Women in Contemporary Senegal,” with Erin Augis, associate professor of sociology at Ramapo College of New Jersey
• March 8, Noon, Interfaith Chapel of Hogg Hall: International Women’s Day Celebration, “What is the Gender Agenda, Internationally?”
• March 11, Noon, Interfaith Chapel of Hogg Hall: Women and Spirituality discussion
• March 11, Noon, Gendebein Room of Skillman Library: “The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin,” with author and journalist Masha Gessen
• March 11, 4:15 p.m., Kirby Hall of Civil Rights room 104: “The Anatomy of a Crackdown: The Laws, Slogans, and Practices of the New Russia,” with author and journalist Masha Gessen
• March 13, 8 p.m., Colton Chapel: Staged Reading of The Good Body by Eve Ensler, $5 donation to benefit Landis Center Women’s Outreach
• March 14, Noon, Interfaith Chapel of Hogg Hall: “The Good Body and Body Image in Women” discussion
• March 15, 4:15 p.m., Interfaith Chapel of Hogg Hall: Women in STEM Fields discussion
• March 16, 11 a.m., Sigal Museum: Easton Teepees and Wigwams: Learn the Lenape Way, RSVP to blockj@lafayette.edu by Friday, March 8
• March 18-22, All Day, Farinon College Center: Photo Displays, “Is Feminism Still Necessary?”
• March 19, 4:15 p.m., Hugel Science Center room 100: “Afro-Caribbean Migration in North America,” with Amoaba Gooden, associate professor of Pan-African studies at Kent State University
• March 19, 7 p.m., Oechsle Hall room 224: Viewing and Discussion of The Invisible War
• March 20, Noon, Portlock Black Cultural Center: “Is Feminism Still Necessary?” discussion
• March 21, 7:30 p.m., Kirby Hall of Civil Rights room 104: “The Virgin (?) Mary and Her Saucy Sisters,” with Claudia Camp, Weatherly Professor of Religion at Texas Christian University