Wake Forest University WGSS News 2023-2024 : simplebooklet.com

As I pen this message, I'm acutely aware of the myriad challenges facing ourworld: wars, climate change, economic struggles, anti-Blackness, racism, andmore. We see the scars of colonialism in Haiti and the persistence of hetero-patriarchy in recent court rulings on embryos. These are not issues we cantackle alone. WGSS is here to help us navigate these complex timestogether and to help you refine and amplify your voice within ourcommunity. We must walk this path in unity, in a radical community. This isthe commitment I bring to my role as chair. The late bell hooks tells us that one “of the most vital ways we sustainourselves is by building communities of resistance, places where we know weare not alone.” I want to invite you to join our community. We can build together! I am asking all of you to step forward as feminists tothink critically, to imagine a different and more just future, to lead, to work,and to build together. As chair, I promise you my commitment, my work, andmy solidarity; I ask for yours in return. Thank you for all that you have done,for all that you do, and for all that you will do. Your commitment and yourwork to make the world a better place despite all the uncertainty is aninspiration. As you graduate, we wish you both much success.Please follow us on social media to keep up with departmental events. Andsend us your updates, we are looking forward to hearing from you all.Finally, let us try something new—something that helps us to be incommunity. A NOTE FROM THE CHAIRDear WGSS community,Spring is a time of renewal and growth, and we at WGSS are experiencing our own season of change. We've had someshifts in our faculty, with Dr. Balzano and Dr. Solomon transitioning to the English department. But we've also had someexciting new additions. We were thrilled to welcome Dean Jackie Krasas and Academic Coordinator Sara Goldstein to ourcommunity. Professor Joy Davis joined us this spring semester to teach WGS 150. We're eagerly anticipating the arrivalof Professor Khaliah Reed, who specializes in Black feminist digital studies, fall of 2024. Despite these changes, ourcommitment to activism, justice, research, writing, and student care remains steadfast. We invite you to join us in theseefforts, whether that's through our alumni association, our book club, or by declaring WGSS as your major.DR. JULIA JORDAN-ZACHERYPROFESSOR AND CHAIRDR. JULIA JORDAN-ZACHERYPROFESSOR AND CHAIR1Over the month of May, send us your favorite feminist song so that we can compile a WGSS @WFUFeminist Playlist! We will put together the playlist and circulate it via our social media channels. Anddon’t forget to vote in November.As I conclude this message, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of you, especially ourincredible staff member Sara Goldstein, who carries out the department's work with creativity, grace, anddignity. I also want to thank our graduate assistants Farah Alsakhita and Nadia Marie Johnson. Yourconsistent support and dedication have greatly enriched our department. As you graduate, we wish youboth much success.I sincerely thank each and every one of you for all that you do. I look forward to continuing our worktogether to build community.

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COURSES OF STUDYBLACK FEMINIST THOUGHTBODIES, TECHNOLOGIES, AND ENVIRONMENTSLITERATURE, ARTS, AND REPRESENTATIONPOLITICS, INEQUALITY, AND SOCIAL JUSTICEQUEER+ STUDIESSEXUALITY AND SEXRACE AND RACISM3The Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies concentration provides students with theopportunity to study gender and sexuality from a variety of disciplinary perspectives inconjunction with their study toward a graduate degree. Interdisciplinary by nature,Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies courses primarily address the diversity ofgendered experiences based on race, ethnicity, class, religion, nationality, and sexualorientation. The concentration is an appropriate option for students who wish to focus ongender and/or sexuality in their disciplinary field. This concentration is complimentary tomany majors, including Communications, English, Religious Studies, Liberal Studies,Sustainability and other programs of study.For more information, please email wgs@wfu.edu.NEW TO THE FOREST? DOUBLE DEAC?CONSIDER THE WGSS GRADUATE CONCENTRATIONWGSS UNDERGRADUATE COURSE CLUSTERSThematic clusters were recently introduced to the WGSS curriculum. Students may choose(but are NOT required to) from among the six thematic clusters or design an entirelydifferent concentration alongside their advisor.

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FACULTY UPDATESI would define the first year on the tenure track as one of many transitions. I moved to the USA from Guyana to joinWGSS in July 2023. This has meant many moments of adjustment and learning. It also means that this year wasfilled with new and promising experiences and journeys.I taught three WGSS courses, two of which addressed feminist activism in the Global South, with a focus on theCaribbean. Students were very engaged with the materials and on understanding how transnational andpostcolonial feminists have organized to challenge patriarchal violence across the globe. I also offered WGSS’Queer Public Histories course and was awarded a course development grant through the Humanities Institute.Through collaboration with WFU’s LGBTQ centre and with North Star, an LGBTQ group in Winston Salem, studentswere able to interview a queer person in Winston Salem and document current programs being run to supportqueer life in the community. These projects were also a class contribution to Wake Forest’s library archives. This year I co-organised the WGSS annual student symposium with Dr. Julia Jordan-Zachery. Our theme was“Transnationalism, Globalization, and Gender in the Global South”. Given historical and current global disasters,and the ways feminists in the Global South have organized against and challenged patriarchal, hegemonic powers,this theme was very fitting to support our students doing this work. It is also important to bring theseconversations to WGSS at Wake. The symposium was therefore an opportunity to mentor students and foster moreconversations and action. Work also continued outside of Wake Forest. In November 2023 I traveled to Rwanda to meet with fellow GlobalSouth Activists as part of the MenEngage Global Alliance, to be in community and continue to strategize ways toend patriarchal masculinities and the violence experienced by women. In March 2024 I was a speaker on a panel atone of the side events at the Commission on the Status of Women annual United Nations meeting at the UNHQ inNew York. The CSW is instrumental in promoting women’s rights, documenting the reality of women’s livesthroughout the world, and shaping global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women. Here, Ishared space with fellow feminist activists, discussing how patriarchal masculinities and anti-feminist, men’s rightsmovements in the Caribbean have affected the work of local activists. I also amplified the work being done byCaribbean feminist organizations to counter these experiences and create a gender just world. I now look forward to a summer spent in the Caribbean continuing research for my book project and resting. DR. TIVIA COLLINS, ASSISTANT PROFESSORDR. TIVIA COLLINS PRESENTING ATMenEngage GLOBAL ALLIANCE IN RWANDA4

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FACULTY UPDATESDr. Gupta is excited to provide an update about her current book project, Ace(ing) Science: Asexuality andCompulsory Sexuality in Western Science. The book is now under contract with the University of Washington Press,to appear in the Feminist Technosciences series, edited by Rebecca Herzig and Banu Subramaniam. The seriesseeks to publish emerging, intersectional, cutting-edge feminist work in science and technology studies. Ace(ing)Science offers an in-depth exploration of the ways in which western science has contributed to compulsorysexuality. Using analytical tools from intersectional feminist science studies and feminist asexuality studies, thebook examines four case studies: the history of the medicalization of hyposexual desire, scientific research onnonsexuality in non-human animals, neuroimaging research on the neurological aspects of sexual desire, andscientific research on asexual reproduction. The book argues that these bodies of scientific research reflect andreinforce an understanding of sexual desire as an innate drive, which contributes to the marginalization and/orpathologization of various forms of asexuality and nonsexuality. The book also “re-reads” scientific research onsexuality, using this research to demonstrate the incoherency of the social categories of “sexual desire,” “sexualactivity,” and “sexual pleasure.”Dr. Gupta is also excited to report that she was recently elected to the board of the National Women’s StudiesAssociation (NWSA) as a member-at-large and was selected to serve as the Member Liaison for the organization.She looks forward to serving the field of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies as an NWSA board member.Finally, Dr. Gupta is happy to share that the WFU Disability Studies Initiative, which she co-directs, will be offering anew course development summer program called “Disability Studies Across the Curriculum” in the summer of2024. The program is designed to help faculty meaningfully integrate disability studies into their courses. Up to 15faculty participants will receive a stipend of $1,000 for participating in a course development workshop andsubmitting a syllabus for a new course or course module integrating disability studies.DR. KRISTINA GUPTA, ASSOCIATE PROFESSORDR. KRISTINA GUPTABOOK ANNOUNCEMENTDR. GUPTA IS EXCITED TO PROVIDE AN UPDATE ABOUTHER CURRENT BOOK PROJECT, ACE(ING) SCIENCE:ASEXUALITY AND COMPULSORY SEXUALITY IN WESTERNSCIENCE. THE BOOK IS NOW UNDER CONTRACT WITH THEUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON PRESS, TO APPEAR IN THEFEMINIST TECHNOSCIENCES SERIES, EDITED BY REBECCAHERZIG AND BANU SUBRAMANIAM.5

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DEPARTMENTAL UPDATESKhaliah Reed is an assistant professor in theDepartment of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.She holds a PhD in English Literature from theUniversity of Southern California. Her scholarship andteaching coalesce around fan studies with an emphasison fanfiction, contemporary African American women’sdigital praxis, and marginalized Black literary audiencesand culture—all engaged through the lens of Blackfeminist and queer theory. Her current research focuseson the intersections of Black women, shame,respectability, and fanfiction. Her work has beenpublished in The Journal of Creative Writing Studies. Dr.Reed will begin teaching this fall and will offer twoclasses, #Black Feminism: Contemporary BlackFeminism and Introduction to Gender and Sexuality:American Perspectives. WGSS WELCOMES DR. KHALIAH REEDWE EXTEND A HEARTFELTTHANK YOU TO WGSSGRADUATE STUDENTWORKERS FARAH ALSAKHITAAND NADIA MARIE JOHNSON.CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUREXTRAORDINARYACCOMPLISHMENTS ANDTHANK YOU FOR ALL OFYOUR CONTRIBUTIONS! 6

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WGSS SYMPOSIUMOn Monday, March 25, 2024, students and faculty gathered virtually for the 12th Annual Student Research Symposium,organized by Dr. Julia Jordan-Zachery and Dr. Tivia Collins. The symposium aimed to provide a platform for scholars,researchers, students, activists, artists and community workers to engage in critical discussions and share insights onthe gendered dynamics of transnationalism and globalization and its effects on and within the Global Majority/GlobalSouth. The program featured the work of six student scholars, each supported by a mentor. Keynote speaker Dr. AndreaN. Baldwin concluded the symposium with her discussion of Brackish Possibilities: Transnational Feminism SensingSpatiotemporal Aliveness at the End of the World.Walker Newman, Wake Forest University | Mentor: Dr. Eddy Souffrant, University of North Carolina CharlotteContinuing Effects of Colonial Legacy on Gender Relations and Women’s Empowerment TimeChunduoer (Natalie) Yang, Wake Forest University | Mentor: Dr. Kristina Gupta, Wake Forest UniversityBeyond Boundaries: Reimagining Sexual Liberation in a Global Feminist Perspective Time Gabby Mahabeer, Emory University | Mentor: Taitu Heron, Senior Development ProfessionalWheel an Come Again: (Re)introducing Obeah as Africana Epistemology and Queer Afro-Caribbean SpiritualityAlicia Haynes, University of the West Indies | Mentor: Dr. Gentles-Peart, Roger Wheeler University Women Negotiating Public Space on Online Social Media Platforms Anique Edwards, Barnard College | Mentor: Dr. Julia S. Jordan-Zachery, Wake Forest UniversityThe Haiti-Dominican Republic Border & Haitian Migration: Understanding Maternal Rights, Healthcare, and Gender-based Violence with Border Infrastructures Amita Khurana, Columbia University | Mentor: Dr. Michaelle L. Browers, Wake Forest UniversityThe Power of Tatreez: Transformations in Politics and Practice Post-1948 “WE CENTER A FEMINIST ANALYTICALAPPROACH TO DECONSTRUCTING THECOMPLEXITIES THAT EMERGE FROMCONSISTENT GLOBAL DISASTERS IN ALLFORMS, AND WORK IN SOLIDARITYTOWARDS A GENDER JUST WORLD. ASPEOPLE CONCERNED WITH THESECHALLENGES IN THE GLOBALMAJORITY/SOUTH, WE WANT TO ENGAGEIN AN IMAGINATIVE PRAXIS THAT ASKSWHAT A NEW WORLD SHOULD LOOK LIKE,WITH GENDER AND DIFFERENCE AT THECORE OF ITS CONSTRUCTION.” 7

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WGSS SYMPOSIUM“WE SHOULD NOT BE APPREHENSIVE OF WORLD ENDINGS, BUT RATHER AT THE END OF THIS WORLD, WESHOULD BE INVESTED IN RADICALLY THINKING ABOUT BOTH HUMAN AND NONHUMAN LIVING BEINGS,FUTURITY, AND ECOLOGIES OF FUTURITY. WHEN I THINK ABOUT ECOLOGIES OF FUTURITY, IT IS AS SIMPLEAS WANTING A SOCIETY WHERE WE LIVE IN A WAY THAT PROMOTES MORE LIFE, WHERE THERE ARECOMMUNAL AND EMBODIED ETHICS AND PRACTICES, WHERE WE LITERALLY CHANGE THE AIR, AND IT SAVESTHE PLANET.SO IN THIS PRESENTATION I HAVE ARGUED THAT AS WE ARE TASKED WITH REMAKING A WORLD IN A PLACESTILL WHOLLY INVESTED IN WORLD ENDINGS, THE BRACKISH AS A SPACE OF MIXING THE THRESHOLD OFLIMINALITY INTO A NEW WORLD OF RELATIONALITY AND REINVENTION HAS MUCH TO TELL US ABOUT HOWWE CAN DO MORE THAN SURVIVE IN THIS WORLD AND MORE ABOUT HOW WE CAN LIVE AND BE ALIVE IN THENEXT.”DR. ANDREA N. BALDWIN:8

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WGSS SYMPOSIUM9Walker Newman is a sophomore at Wake Forest University from Beaufort,South Carolina. She is very interested in STEM and thus is majoring inBiology on the pre-vet track. However, after taking a WGS 150 class lastsemester, she has acquired a passion for the subject and hopes to continuelearning more.Natalie YangNatalie Yang is a sophomore at Wake Forest University. She is intended tostudy Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Mathematics. Her passionlies in the interdisciplinary nature of gender studies, offering a freshperspective on the world. In her symposium presentation, she will delve intoa direct reading of Amia Srinivasan's The Right to Sex. Through closeexamination, she challenges and questions perspectives in the book,concluding with insights that contribute to future feminist thinking. She isvery interested in exploring the intricacies of gender dynamics andadvancing progressive ideas in academiaGabby Mahabeer (they/them) is a Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studiesdoctoral student at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Born and raised inSouth Florida to two Jamaican immigrant parents, they engage theCaribbean as home, future, and (re)making modernity. Their researchanalyzes queer presences and histories in the Caribbean alongside Black andIndigenous epistemologies to articulate ethical decolonization and future-making. Their graduate research specifically thinks through dancehall andObeah as queer Afro-Caribbean spiritualities and Black liberatory practices.Gabby’s interdisciplinary research centers themes of care, resistance,embodiment, and affect and employs modalities like essays, short films, anddigital magazines.Gabby MahabeerWalker Newman

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WGSS SYMPOSIUM10Alicia Haynes is a PhD student at The Institute of Gender and DevelopmentStudies: Nita Barrow Unit (IGDS: NBU), University of the West Indies, CaveHill. She is a trained educator whoteaches Literatures in English. Herresearch thesis conceptualizes public spaces astransnational and shifting,through Caribbean women’s engagement. Her research interests span digitalcultures,Caribbean women writers, gender and development, and queertheory. Alicia has been awarded the Ann Denis Scholarship for FeministResearch (2022-2023) from the IGDS: NBU.Anique Edwards, a first-generation student from Brooklyn, New York, is anUrban Studies (Architecture) and Africana Studies double-major. She isadditionally a first-generation American, of Jamaican and Grenadianancestry. In collegiate life at Barnard, Anique has served on numerousboards, including Student Government as Vice President, and founder-president of Society of Black Artists. Anique works in the Barnard CollegeLibrary as an assistant researcher in the Archives. She currently holdsmembership in the NYC Diversity Awareness Initiative alumni network andthe NAACP. Anique cares deeply about social matters, such as AfricanDiasporic identities, Caribbean stories and livelihoods, and the BIPOCLGBTQ+ community. She is planning to pursue a graduate degree, aftergaining some professional work experience. Aside from work, Anique ishoping to fund initiatives by black creatives and continue contributing towriting poetry.Amita KhuranaAmita Khurana is a Palestinian-Indian researcher pursuing her MA inSociology at Columbia University. She graduated from Barnard College inMay 2023 with a double major in Political Science and Women’s, Gender, andSexuality Studies (with Distinction) and a minor in Dance. She is broadlyinterested in queer and SWANA (Southwest Asian and North Africa) studies,transnational and decolonial feminism, and alternative ways of thinking andliving. Her WGSS thesis investigated tatreez (Palestinian embroidery) as amethod of resistance, a mode of connecting to Palestine, and a means ofsurvival in a capitalist system. Her current research explores queer SWANAspaces in New York City and how they might foster identity formation,community-building, and political action. Anique EdwardsAmita KhuranaAlicia Haynes

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FALL IN THE FORESTWGS 101Window on Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality StudiesWGS 150 APerspectives in Gender and Sexuality Studies: AmericanPerspectivesWGS 150 BPerspectives in Gender and Sexuality Studies: FeministPolitics in the Global SouthWGS 150 C-EPerspectives in Gender and Sexuality StudiesWGS 214Gender and Sexuality in World HistoryWGS 222Introduction to Sexuality StudiesWGS 250#Black Girl MagicWGS 329Anthropology of Gender and SexualityWGS330/630Gender and the Politics of HealthWGS377/677 ASpecial Topics: #BlackFeminism: Exploring Contemporary Black FeminismWGS 377 BSpecial Topics: Race, Class and Gender in a Color-BlindSocietyWGS 377 CSpecial Topics: Gender, Sexuality and MusicWGS 377 DSpecial Topics: Prostitutes, Machos, and TravestisWGS 397Public Engagement in Women’s, Gender, and SexualityStudiesWGSS FALL 2024 COURSE OFFERINGS12

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WGSS LOVES...TRICIA HERSEY’S THE NAP MINISTRY“WE ARE SOCIALIZED INTO SYSTEMS THATCAUSE US TO CONFORM AND BELIEVE OURWORTH IS CONNECTED TO HOW MUCH WECAN PRODUCE. OUR CONSTANT LABORBECOMES A PRISON THAT ALLOWS US TOBE DISEMBODIED. WE BECOME EASY FORTHE SYSTEMS TO MANIPULATE,DISCONNECTED FROM OUR POWER ASDIVINE BEINGS AND HOPELESS. WE FORGETHOW TO DREAM. THIS IS HOW GRINDCULTURE CONTINUES. WE INTERNALIZETHE LIES AND IN TURN BECOME AGENTS OFAN UNSUSTAINABLE WAY OF LIVING.” REST IS RESISTANCE: A MANIFESTO13Wake Forest has earned the moniker Work Forest. UniversityAdvancement’s most recent fundraiser poked fun by offering “WorkForest” gym towels to donors and in stark contrast, the studentmagazine centered its entire issue around the serious implications ofWork Forest grind culture. Even the admissions office preparesstudents for what to expect on their website: “We’re called Work Forest for a reason. In many ways, you are aboutto trade comfort for trepidation, familiarity for the unknown. It’s goingto be hard. And fun. That’s entirely the point. Our end of the bargain isto put everything we have into an experience and environmentdesigned to challenge you completely. Yours is to give nothing lessthan your all.”WGSS students are not immune to hard work, but within WGSSclassrooms a certain magic happens. Students learn about the conceptof community care, transformative justice, and self-care. Self-care isnot an act of self-indulgence or for the benefit of just one individual.Audre Lorde wrote, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation and that is an act of political warfare.” In the spirit of Audre Lorde, one of the resources utilized in WGSSclasses includes Tricia Hersey’s The Nap Ministry. Founded in 2016,The Nap Ministry has grown wildly popular on social media and Herseyhas since released Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto. In 2022, the New York Times profiled Hersey. “The Nap Ministry is nota religious movement, she said, but a spiritual antidote to the veryearthly problems that are plaguing communities: exhaustion, chronicdiseases and mental health crises, issues she sees as arising fromsystems of capitalism and white supremacism.”In the spirit of collective care, WGSS encourages each of you to find asunny spot in the forest and take a rest. Explore The Nap Ministry. Curlup with a good book. Close your eyes. Just be.

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SAVE THE DATEWake Forest UniversitySeptember 13-14, 2024Interested in participating?Email wgs@wfu.edu13TH ANNUAL STUDENT RESEARCH SYMPOSIUMMARCH 24, 2025WGSSRESEARCHSYMPOSIUM@GMAIL.COMFRIENDS OF WGSSUPCOMING WGSS EVENTS15WGSS hopes to connect with YOU! Sign up to receive our monthlynewsletter, The F Word, by emailing wgs@wfu.edu. Follow us onInstagram and X to stay up-to-date on events. @WFUWGSS@WGSWFUContact Us:Dr. Julia Jordan-Zachery, Department ChairWomen’s, Gender, and Sexuality StudiesWake Forest University | Tribble Hall A105wgs@wfu.edu | wgss.wfu.eduSUPPORT WGSSThe Dr. Mary DeShazer Fundsupports the overall developmentof Women’s, Gender, and SexualityStudies including the creation ofnew and innovative courses,faculty research and collaboration,and a variety of programmingdesigned to critically addresspressing issues of public concern.

Wake Forest University WGSS News 2023-2024

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