Department of Interdisciplinary Studies

2000

• In March, Women's Studies organized a Spring film series. It included screenings of Maria's Story: A Portrait of Love and Survival in El Salvador's Civil War, which traces the story of Maria Serrano, a 39-year-old mother of three who is a leader of a guerrilla movement in El Salvador; The Righteous Babes, which explores the intersection of feminism and popular music, focusing on female recording artists' roles and influence in the 1990s; and Wild Swans—Jung Chang, which portrays the lives of three generations of Chinese women as it captures the turbulent transformation of China in the 20th century.
• From April 7-9, Appalachian hosted the SEWSA conference, with the theme "Feminists, Womanists, and Grrrls Imagine the Future." Featured speakers included Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard Out of Carolina, Cavedweller, and Skin: Talking About Sex, Class, and Literature, who delivered a talk titled "Nothing for Sure and Everything in Question—Where We Go from Here"; Joyce Scott, who uses abstract beadwork to create commentary on gender and race in society; and Katha Pollitt, an award-winning feminist writer, poet, essayist, and contributor to The Nation, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper's, Mirabella, Ms., Mother Jones, and Newsweek. Pollitt presented on "Feminism at the Millennium."
• Women's Studies supported a visit by Leslie Marmon Silko, whose work, centered on the Laguna Pueblo of New Mexico, includes Ceremony, Storyteller, Sacred Water, and Almanac of the Dead.
• Demetria Martinez, author of the award-winning Mother Tongue also presented from her work. Mother Tongue is based in part upon Martinez's 1988 trial for conspiracy against the United States government in connection with allegedly transporting Salvadoran refugees into the country, a charge that with others carried a 25-year prison sentence.
• In July, Dr. Betsy Beaulieu became Director of Women's Studies.
• In November, Dr. Maggie McFadden presented "Virginia Woolf's Way of Knowing in 'Three Guineas' and Women Peace Activists Between the Wars" during the 2000-2001 Humanities Thematic Festival.
• Rev. Dr. Carter Heyward, one of the foremost lesbian writers and speakers on feminist theology, presented a lecture titled "Can Christians be sweet-spirited, radically justice-loving folks? A Lesbian Feminist Christian Perspective."

2001

• On February 21, Women's Studies presented Two Dollars and a Dream, a biographical film about Madame C.J. Walker, the child of slaves who became America's first self-made female millionaire. The screening was followed by a discussion led by Dr. Trudier Harris, then a Professor of English at UNC-Chapel Hill.
• On February 28, Women's Studies screened Love, Women, and Flowers, which depicts the story of Colombia's third-largest export: cut flowers. But behind the beauty of carnations and chrysanthemums sold in the United States and Europe lies a horror story of hazardous labor conditions for the 60,000 women who work in the flower industry. Cyndi Mellon, from the Center for Women's Global Leadership at Rutgers University, led a discussion following the film.
• On March 7, Women's Studies presented the film Nu Shu: A Hidden Language of Women in China, about the development of a secret female writing system in China that was a way for women to resist the social constrictions of Chinese Society. Dr. Cathy Silber, a professor of Chinese Studies at Williams College and a Bunting Fellow at Radcliffe College, led a discussion following the film.
• On March 21, Women's Studies presented Beauty and the Beach, a lively documentary on the history of women through the evolution of women's swimwear styles. After the film, Joanne Arbuckle and Ellen Dobrovier, from New York's Fashion Institute of Technology, led a discussion and offered insight.
• On March 28, Women's Studies presented Step by Step: Building a Feminist Movement, 1941-1977. Proving beyond a doubt that feminism began well before the 1960s, and that its players were not just the white middle class, this inspiring film follows the lives of eight Wisconsin women, six of whom became founders of the National Organization for Women (NOW). A panel discussion with Watauga County women followed.
• On April 10, Dr. Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, author of the foundational book Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Culture and Literature, delivered a lecture titled "Toward a Feminist Disability Studies."
• In October, the Women's Studies program celebrated its 25th anniversary with a series of events. These included a lecture by Jane Caputi, Professor of Women's Studies at Florida Atlantic University, whose talk, titled "Everyday Pornography," analyzed commercials that glamorize rape, murder, and battery and promote sexual racism, demonize female sexuality, and valorize male sexuality.
• Throughout October, Women's Studies held its second annual film series addressing LGBTQ issues, including Ma Vie En Rose (October 9), A Union in Wait (October 16), Chutney Popcorn (October 23), and Tongues Untied (October 30). A CD-ROM commemorating 25 years of Appalachian Women's Studies was also presented.
• In November, Women's Studies continued its 25th Anniversary celebration with a series of events. On November 1, Rev. Jimmy Creech, the former United Methodist Church pastor whose ordination was withdrawn after he celebrated a union ceremony for two men in Chapel Hill, spoke on "Freedom to Love Without Fear." Also on November 1, Frank X. Walker and Nikky Finney, founding members of the Affrilachian Poets, delivered readings. On November 5, Karen J. Warren discussed "Ecofeminist Philosophy: What it is and Why it Matters." A philosophy professor at Macalester College, Warren drew on empirical, historical, conceptual, linguistic, literary and religious examples to show the intimate interconnections between the unjustified domination of women, people of color, the poor and children and the unjustified domination of animals and nature. On November 15 and 16, Peggy McIntosh, then the associate director of the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women and director of the Gender, Race and Inclusive Education Center, presented "Unpacking Invisible Knapsacks of Gender and Race Privilege in U.S. Society and U.S. Colleges."

2002

• In February, Women's Studies sponsored The Vagina Monologues, dramatic testimonials by women about their bodies which raised funding to stop violence against women, both locally (with Watauga County's OASIS) and around the world.
• On February 21, Dr. Annie Stevens gave a lecture titled "Creating a Positive Campus Climate for Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transgender Community Members."
• On February 26, the Women's Studies program sponsored a viewing of The Life and Times of Sara Baartman: The Hottentot Venus. Subsequent discussion was led by Dr. Betsy Beaulieu.
• On March 5, Women's Studies screened the film Last Call at Maud's, with a discussion led by Dr. Jill Ehnenn and Dr. Kim Hall.
• On March 19, Women's Studies screened Beneath the Veil, with a discussion led by Dr. Karen Chancey, Dr. Maria Lichtmann, and Dr. Andy Koch.
• On March 20, Women's Studies hosted a lecture by Dr. Gerda Lerner, author of The Creation of Patriarchy, The Majority Finds Its Past, and many more works on women's and gender history. Her lecture was titled "Why Women's History Matters."
• On March 26, Women's Studies screened Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony with a discussion led by Dr. Maggie McFadden.
• In April, Witchwork, a play by Georgia Rhoades, was presented by Black Sheep Theatre.
• In October, the Queer Film Series presented Mariposas en al Andamio (October 8), which examines gays and trans lives in Cuba; The Laramie Project (October 15), a docudrama on events surrounding Matthew Shephard's murder in Wyoming; Hermaphrodites Speak! (October 22), the first documentary by and about intersex people; and Love is the Devil (October 29), on English painter Francis Bacon and his younger lover George Dyer.
• On November 12, Women's Studies sponsored a panel with Dr. Roma Angel, Dr. Mary Ballard, and Mr. Bob White titled "A Girl's Reality: Sugar & Spice and Everything Nice? A Theory Up for Debate."

2003

• Dr. Martha McCaughey (IDS and Sociology) becomes Director of Women's Studies.
• In February, Women's Studies again sponsored The Vagina Monologues.
• The "Women's Realities" film series continued to host screenings with post-film discussions led by faculty members. Films included Loyalties (February 24), which features interracial co-workers with a common past of slave and slave-holder; Just Mom and Me,  about single motherhood (March 3); The Female Closet on the lives of variously closeted women artists (March 17); Women and War, with footage from the Middle East, Bosnia, northern Uganda, and South Africa (March 24); and America's Victoria: The Victoria Woodhull Story, the story of the first woman to run for U.S. President in 1872 (March 31).
• On March 1, Women's Studies again hosted the  Women's Leadership Conference.
• On March 27, Women's Studies supported a poetry reading, by Natasha Trethewey, author of Domestic Work and Bellocq's Ophelia.
• On March 31, Dr. Kristen Neuschel (Duke University) spoke on "The Surprising History of Women and War." 
• On September 2, the annual Walk for Awareness about sexual and gender-based violence was organized around the theme "Stick Together."
• On September 4, Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America lectured at Appalachian as part of the first-year reading program.
• The Queer Film Series featured The Times of Harvey Milk (September 29), a documentary about one of the country's first openly gay elected officials in San Francisco; Paragraph 175 (October 6), on the persecution, incarceration, and murder of gay men and lesbians by the Nazi regime; You Don't Know Dick: Courageous Hearts of Transsexual Men (October 13), which explores the motivation to change one's gender; The Trip (October 20), an epic gay romance of two men from 1973-1984; and Venus Boyz (October 27), a documentary about Drag Kings.

2004

• February 12-14, Women's Studies again sponsored The Vagina Monologues to bring attention to violence against women around the world. 
• Women's Studies sold Super Woman t-shirts to raise money for the program.
• From February to July Dr. Maggie McFadden served as the Fulbright Distinguished Chair of Gender Studies at the University of Klagenfurt (Klagenfurt, Austria).
• In March, the "Women's Realities" film series featured When Women Unite: The Story of an Uprising (March 1), the story of rural women in India's state of Andhra Pradesh, who campaigned against liquor, leading to prohibition; Gloria Wteinem, the Spice Girls, and Me: Defining the Third Wave of Feminism (March 15), on current perceptions of feminism, with a discussion led by Dr. Kim Hall; March 22: Womenstudies@vt.edu (March 22), which documents one of the first online classes in women's studies, with a discussion led by filmmaker Amber Vellenga; and Songcatcher (March 29), which explores the folk music history of North Carolina, with a discussion led by Paul Robertson and Julie Shepard-Powell.
• On April 2-3, Women's Studies supported the Women's Old Time Appalachian Music Festival, which included a lecture by Mary Greene on "Bessie Eldreth and Ora Watson: Appalachian Women Musicians"; a potluck dinner and barn dance; workshops on banjo, fiddle, flatfoot dance, ballad singing, and mandolin; and a concert featuring all-female bands "Too Hot to Cook," "The Tobacco Bursts," and "The Cacklin' Hens."
• The Fifth Annual Queer Film Series presented the following films, with a discussion after each screening: The Business of Fancydancing (September 27), based on Spokane writer Sherman Alexie's work, which depicts the friendship of two Spokane men, Aristotle Joseph and Seymour Polatkin; Tipping the Velvet (October 4), based on Sarah Waters's novel of lesbian love, betrayal, and redemption in Victorian England; Doin' Time at the Homo no Mo Halfway House (October 12), a one-man show based on various ex-gay ministries; Keeping It Real (October 19), which documents the adventures of gay, disabled Harlemite Greg Walloch; and Iron Ladies (October 25), based on the true story of a Thai volleyball team composed mostly of queer and trans people that competed in the 1996 national championships.
• Dr. Kathryn Kirkpatrick (English) published three poetry collections: Beyond Reason, The Master's Wife, and Looking for Ceilidh.

2005

• Dr. Cheryl Claassen published Whistling Women: A Study of the Lives of Older Lesbians.
• The Women's Studies film series focused on women of the Middle East, showing Umm Kultham: A Voice Like Egypt (February 19), on the life and career of Kulthum, the celebrated diva of the Arab world; Wedding in Galilee (March 19), a compelling meditation on two conflicting cultures coming together for a long day of celebration; A Veiled Revolution (April 2), on educated granddaughters of early Arab feminists who choose to embrace Islamic modest dress; Iranian Journey (April 9), a documentary on the first woman long-distance bus driver in Iran; Divorce: Iranian Style (April 16), that depicts Iranian women's lives through depicting several weeks in an Iranian divorce court.
• On March 17, Dr. Pamela Nickless of UNC-Asheville spoke on "Scarlett's Sisters: Spinsters, Widows, Wives, and Free-Traders in 19th Century North Carolina."
• On October 4-5, Rev. Jeanette Stokes, the Executive Director of the Resource Center for Women and Ministry in the South, spoke on "Women and Spirituality" and discussed footage of the lifelong pilgrimage of artist Meinrad Craighead and encounters with the divine feminine.
• The sixth annual Queer Film Series showed Loggerheads  (October 3), which explores love, sexuality, and their place in how people create meaning in their lives; Brother/Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin (October 17), which profiles the career of activist Bayard Rustin, disciple of Gandhi, mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr., and founding member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation; Kinsey (October 24), on the life of Alfred Kinsey, author of Sexual Behavior in the Human Male; and Ruthie and Connie: Every Room in the House (October 31), on two Jewish women who live together in Brooklyn and won domestic partner benefits for New York City employees. 

2006

• The seventh annual Queer Film Series featured the following films, all followed by discussion: Transamerica (October 3), an Oscar-nominated film story of a transwoman, Bree, and her son; Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema (October 10), a documentary on the history of queer cinema; Unveiled [Fremde Haut] (October 17), a story of the arbitrary violence of exile that follows an Iranian translator refused asylum in Germany; Brokeback Mountain (October 24), the ecstatic and bitter love story of two young cowboys in Wyoming.

2007

• On February 8, Kit Gruelle, domestic violence activist, educator for the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and Appalachian State student, previewed her film, Private Violence: The Movement Against Battering in America.
• Women's Studies supported a recital of songs by women composers from Hildegard of Bingen to Amy Cheney Beach.
• On April 14, Friends of Women's Studies held a reception at the Jones House and $3,500 raised for a semester-long visiting professorship in Women's Studies. Giving levels were Matriarchs (The Mary Wollstonecraft Group, Over $500); Mothers (The Elizabeth Cady Stanton Group, $250 -$500); Sisters (The Ida B. Wells Group, $100-$199); Daughters (The Margaret Sanger Group, $50-$99); and Friends (The Betty Friedan Group, $20-$49).

2008

• On February 4, Gloria Steinem spoke as part of the Forum Lecture Series, and was introduced by Dr. Maggie McFadden. The next day she appeared on Appalachian Perspective, hosted by Appalachian State Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock. She said, "It's calculated that we lose 6 million women every year because of discrimination against females, whether it's in utero, or letting little girls starve to death or not get enough medical care, but I don't think that has the same level of recognition [as discussions of racism]. . . . I think we have a way to go."
• On February 8, Women's Studies supported The Vagina Monologues.
• On February 24 the Women's History Student Symposium convened on campus.
• From February 29-March 3, the Women's Leadership Conference met on campus.
• Dr. Sally Roesch Wagner, the Executive Director of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation spoke on "Native American Influence on 19th Century Women's Rights."
• On March 17 Dr. Merry Wiesner Hanks spoke on early modern women.
• On March 19, Dr. Chris Cuomo, Professor of Philosophy and Director of Women's Studies at the University of Georgia, delivered a lecture titled "Claiming the Right to be Queer."
• In April, Women's Studies hosted a seminar series that featured Dr. Jill Ehnenn, who spoke on "Thinking About 19th Century Women's Literary Collaborations Today: Feminist and Queer Considerations" and Dr. Martha McCaughey, whose lecture was titled "The Caveman Mystique: How Popular Scientific Claims Shape Men's Consciousness."
• On October 7, Dana Collins of UCLA visited campus.
• On October 7, Women's Studies supported the Queer Film Fest.

2009

• SEWSA was hosted at Appalachian, with the conference theme "Women and Environments: The Ecology of Feminism and the Feminism of Ecology." Keynote speakers included Dr. Elisabeth Lloyd, who spoke on "Darwinian Evolution and the Female Orgasm: Explanations and Puzzles"; Dr. Chris Cuomo, whose talk was titled "Climate Change, Ethics, and Local Knowledge"; Ms. Marilou Awiakta, whose lecture was titled "Upholding Hope: Our Foremothers' Legacy"; Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall, who delivered a lecture on "Black Feminist Perspectives on Women and the Environment"; and Starhawk, who presided over a workshop on "Vision and Action."