Category | Arts & Living

Women’s and gender studies play a role in student life

Published on March 20, 2007 by The Sentinel

    The Gender and Women’s Studies Student Association is a new organization at KSU.It is “founded on the premise that gender, which takes on different forms in different times and places, centrally shapes the everyday lives of all people,” said Dr. Stacy Keltner

, philosophy professor and faculty advisor to GWSSA. 
    
    Keltner hopes the new group will help “facilitate discussion about gender and womens’ issues by creating a campus culture that is sensitive to issues regarding race, class [and] sexuality, and help bridge the gap between thought and action.”

    According to their mission statement, they plan to “provide leadership and support for students interested in learning about and getting involved with gender related issues,” and “help ensure that all KSU community members see the university as a safe place and inclusive environment.”

    Michael Tillman, a junior English major and one of the founding members of GWSSA, has many goals for this new student organization. Tillman hopes the group will help to “breakdown barriers that exist in our society when it comes to women and gender stereotypes, by sponsoring informative educational events on campus and throughout the community.”

    Because of popular interest and a desire to further KSU’s Interdisciplinary studies department, they have just added a minor in gender and women’s studies, known as the GWST. The 15-hour minor includes an intro to gender and women’s studies and other relevant classes, and internship and study abroad opportunities.

    “Drawing on all the academic disciplines,” as noted in the GWST program description, “the curricular program expands the traditional focus on women’s experience to include important discussions on diverse conceptions of gender and sexual identity, including studies of masculinity, thus affirming that GWST classes are [as they have always been] inclusive and meant for all students.”

    The new minor in gender and women’s studies begins this fall.

    GWSSA is presenting a spring lecture series on campus including a lecture held last Thurs, March 15, entitled “Ain’t Your Mamma Aunt Jemima? Material Obsessions and the Black Female Body,” by Kimberley Wallace-Sanders, associate professor of the Graduate Institute of Liberal Arts and Women’s Studies, Emory University.

    She “applauds Kennesaw State University’s commitment to interdisciplinary studies,” Wallace-Sanders said.

    Her lecture explored African American popular culture and the “perceptions that these stereotypes create,” especially the continued fascination with the Aunt Jemima character. GWSSA is also participating in a walk rally “Walk for Women’s Lives,” on Sun. March 25, at the Georgia State Capitol.