Keynote Speakers
bell hooks
bell hooks is one of America's most important and independent thinkers and one of the foremost Black intellectuals in America today. hooks has described herself as a "Black woman intellectual, revolutionary activist". Dr. hooks has focused attention on the myriad forms of racism, from subtle to blatant, in the United States. She has criticized the way in which the lives of Black women have been either ignored or worsened not only by what she has termed "white supremacist capitalist patriarchy" but, in many instances, by the mainstream feminist movement and the Black liberation struggle. A prolific author, she was written over 30 books and numerous essays, including Ain’t I Woman?: Black Women and Feminism; Feminism is for Everybody; Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center; Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black; We Real Cool; Black Men and Masculinity. Dr. hooks received her Ph.D. from the University of California at Santa Cruz and is currently a Distinguished Professor in Residence at Berea College in Kentucky. Dr. hooks will speak on Friday, April 4th from 7:00-8:30.
Anne Fausto-Sterling
Anne Fausto-Sterling is a leading feminist biologist whose work challenges entrenched scientific beliefs about gender and sexuality. She is an active participant in the field of sexology and has written the intersection of biology and gender, sexual identity, gender identity, and gender roles. Her work has been widely published and includes the ground breaking books Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality and Myths of Gender: Biological Theories About Men And Women. Dr. Fausto-Sterling received her Ph.D. in Developmental Genetics from Brown University. She is currently Professor of Biology and Gender Studies in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Biochemistry at Brown University. Dr. Fausto-Sterling will speak on Thursday, April 3 from 7:00-8:30.
Cynthia Enloe
Cynthia Enloe’s research focuses on the interplay of women’s politics in the national and international arenas, with special attention paid to how women’s labor is made cheap in globalized factories and how women’s emotional and physical labor has been used to support governments’ war-waging policies—and how many women have tried to resist both of those efforts. Racial, class, ethnic, and national identities and pressures shaping ideas about femininities and masculinities have been common threads throughout her studies. Among her nine books are The Morning After: Sexual Politics at the End of the Cold War ; Bananas, Beaches and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics; Maneuvers: The International Politics of Militarizing Women’s Lives; and The Curious Feminist: Searching for Women in a New Age of Empire. Cynthia Enloe received her Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley and has served as chair of Clark University’s Government Department and Director of Women’s Studies. Professor Enloe is currently a Research Professor in the International Development, Community and Environment Department at Clark University. Dr. Enloe will speak on Friday, April 4 from 1:00-2:30.
Rosie Tong
Rosie Tong is nationally and internationally known for her contributions to feminist thought and bioethics. Her research focuses on the ways in which developments in reproductive and genetic technology, the neurosciences, and medical research are affecting women’s lives. She also centers her thinking on the ways in which medical developments affect women’s self-image. Her books include Women, Sex, and the Law; Feminist Thought: A Comprehensive Introduction; Feminine and Feminist Ethics; Controlling our Reproductive Destiny (with Lawrence Kaplan); Feminist Approaches to Bioethics, Globalizing Feminist Bioethics (with Aida Santos and Gwen Anderson); and Linking Visions: Feminist Bioethics, Human Rights, and the Developing World (with Anne Donchin and Susan Dodds). Currently, Dr. Tong is Distinguished Professor for Health Care Ethics in the Department of Philosophy and Director of the Center for Professional and Applied Ethics at UNC Charlotte. Dr. Tong will speak on Saturday, April 5 from 12:30-2:00.
