Thursday, March 28, 2024

Event highlights global feminist opinions

March 19, 2001
Marjorie Agosin speaks to faculty, students and guests about the power of writing Friday in the Kellogg Center Auditorium. Agosin, a professor at Wellesley College, was one of three major speakers who presented during the weekend as part of the “Globalizing Women’s Studies: Feminist Perspectives.” —

More than 100 participants celebrated Women’s History Month at “Globalizing Women’s Studies: Feminist Perspectives” on Friday and Saturday at MSU.

The conference, sponsored by the Women’s Studies and The Women and International Development programs, served as a kickoff to the new Women and Gender graduate specialization and the graduate specialization in Gender and the Environment.

Marjorie Agosin, a professor at Wellesley College, spoke Friday night at the Kellogg Center Auditorium. Barrie Thorne, a professor of women’s studies and sociology at the University of California-Berkley, and Madhu Kishwar, a professor and activist from Delhi University in India, spoke Saturday morning at the Union Ballroom.

“Speaking both personally and on responses, I would say it was very successful,” said Joyce Ladenson, director of MSU’s Women’s Studies Program. “It addressed issues with an international focus by women who have been involved in women’s issues in the world. They brought some of their own experiences and solutions.

“I hope it helped people to think more globally and internationally.”

Thorne, who spoke about connections between localism and globalism, is a former professor of sociology and women’s studies at MSU.

“I think this is a very interesting group of people here from very diverse backgrounds,” Thorne said. “I think it is a great conference. You really got a taste of the global.

“Globalization is not a distant process, it is reshaping daily life in local areas around the world. There are direct connections between local and global.”

Agosin, a Chilean poet with a background in Latina women’s literature, spoke Friday night and said the conference was a good forum to exchange ideas.

“All the speakers presented different topics of women and globalization from very different perspectives,” Agosin said. “I thought it was really exciting.”

Students such as psychology sophomore Katie Drayton and prelaw freshman Jennifer Savage said the conference offered interesting information.

“It showed us what is going on in other cultures,” Drayton said. “The lady from California told us how the kids in Oakland schools are mostly different cultures and whites are minorities in the classroom. That stuff really interested me.”

Savage said the conference may affect her studies at MSU.

“I think I want to switch my major to something like that,” she said. “I think it is more interesting to learn about how other women deal with their surroundings, especially from other countries.”

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