UGA celebrates Women’s History Month

The Institute for Women's Studies leads the university's celebrations of 2019 national Women’s History Month and its theme, “Visionary Women: Champions of Peace and Nonviolence”:

This year’s Women’s History Month keynote address will be presented by Layli Maparyan, executive director of the Wellesley Centers for Women and Professor of Africana Studies at Wellesley College. Maparyan is best known for her scholarship in the area of womanism and is the author of two groundbreaking texts in the field of womanist studies, The Womanist Reader(Routledge, 2006) and The Womanist Idea (Routledge, 2012). She has also published significantly in the areas of adolescent development, social identities (including biracial/biethnic identity and the intersections of racial/ethnic, sexual, spiritual/religious, and gender identities), black LGBTQ studies, hip-hop studies, and history of psychology. Maparyan’s scholar-activist work interweaves threads from the social sciences and the critical disciplines, incorporating basic and applied platforms around a common theme of integrating identities and communities in peaceable, ecologically sound and self-actualizing ways.

Her lecture, titled “Women, Peace, and Nonviolence: Womanist Case Studies of the Contemplative Path to Social Action,” will take place on Thursday, March 21, at 6:30 p.m. in the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries, Room 271. A reception sponsored by the Lucy Hargrett Draper Center and Archives for the Study of the Rights of Women in History and Law will immediately follow the lecture.

The Institute for Women’s Studies will continue its tradition of hosting a film festival during March featuring documentaries highlighting the often-untold stories of women fighting against discrimination and misrepresentation. All film screenings are free and open to the public and will take place at 6:30 p.m. in Room 271 of the Russell Special Collections Building.

This year’s film screenings include:

• “RBG” on Monday, March 4
• “Mankiller” on Monday, March 18
• “Dolores” on Monday, March 25

More information at the link. Gender equity in intellectual and administrative leadership at the university is ascendant precisely because of comprehensive and tireless efforts of women scholars, staff and students on campus. The Franklin College champions this growing strength as we look forward to the celebrations and related events. A warm welcome and thanks to all of our visitors to campus during March.

Image: Keynote speaker Layli Maparyan, executive director of the Wellesley Centers for Women and Professor of Africana Studies at Wellesley College.