Kaicie Boeglin
News Editor
On April 23, Rhode Island College is set to have their first ever Graduate Student Conference: Feminism in Reverse, to which all are invited. The event will be hosted by Dr. Ricardo Quintana-Vallejo and will consist of three panels with 12 graduate showcases.
Each student will present their showcase within ten minutes followed by a ten minute question and answer period for their chosen topic.
Panel one, entitled “Cyborgs, Mean Girls, Awakenings and Nuns in Literature” will be from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. These panelists will be analyzing and presenting the feminist stance in various pieces of well-known literature. Timothy Kelly will be exploring Cyborgs, Robots and Objects: Plastic Love in Mary Shelley's “Frankenstein”. Georgia Testa will analyze Hyperfemininity, Marriage and Womanhood in Mary E. Willkins Freeman's “A New England Nun”. Emily Caprio will explore the meaning of the mean girl Rosalind Wiseman's “Queen Bees and Wannabes”. Haley Carbonneau will examine Compulsory Heterosexuality in Kate Chopin's “The Awakening”.
Panel two analyzes “Visual Pleasure and Bad Feminists in Film” from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. These panelists will display several pieces of cinematic experience to exhibit gender performance and the role of females on the screen. Aly Marzini will expose how female directors utilize the male gaze. Connor Lanoie will be explaining Robert Rodriguez's zombie slasher “Planet Terror” through a cyborg analysis. Kaicie Boeglin will be making a comparative analysis of Margo and Janet from Lev Grossman’s and SyFy’s “The Magicians”. Chantel Figueroa Torres will be deconstructing gender performance in Neil Gaiman's "Stardust”.
Panel three will discuss “New Directions in Feminist Theory” from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. These panelists will survey literature, genres in whole, anime and Gazan Resistance art. Mo Blackwood will discuss the Waves of Resistance: An intersectional examination of the forms of resistance employed in “A Question of Silence” and “Born in Flames”. Reba Mitchell will debate Gender and Genre: Romance and Erotica as Heterosexual Simulacra. Kaila Dipetrillo will be Looking Beyond Fan Service in “Fairy Tail” character Lucy Heartfilia. Madison Akkaoui will end with Gazan Resistance Art: A Performance of Feminist Protest.
The conference will be held Tuesday April 23, in Gaige Hall room 200. The panels are back to back and attendees are welcome to stay as little or as long as they would like. The Feminism in Reverse Conference will be from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and attendees are welcome to come for one, a few or all graduate showcases. Family and friends are encouraged to come out and support. The conference is a free event open to both the campus and the public.