May 2016 Gender, Sexuality, & Feminist Studies

Dear Students, Dear Staff and Faculty Members, Dear Alumnae/i,

For this issue of the newsletter we are proud to Finally, we want to thank visiting assistant showcase our alumnae/i. The activities they are professor Anson Koch-Rein for his incredible engaging with display the diverse pathways our contributions to our program over the past two students have adopted in their lives after Mid- years. Anson has deftly taken on the task of dlebury. Law, teaching, graduate school, NGOs: teaching core courses for our major, while Lau- these are but a few sites in which they are trans- rie Essig and Sujata Moorti were on research lating feminist knowledge into action. We plan leave over two consecutive years. Apart from on continuing to highlight our alumnae in future providing continuity to the program Anson has newsletters both to celebrate their achievements been an amazing colleague and teacher; he has and to cultivate an intergenerational sense of brought a new range of topics to our curriculum community among our current students. Alums and some vital energy to Chellis House. In the and graduates please keep us updated on your fall Anson will take on a new position. On behalf accomplishments. of GSFS students, staff, and faculty we wish him Intersectionality continued to be the best of luck in his new endeavors. We will miss theme of all our activities in the Spring semester. him and thank him for all that he has done for The spotlight event was the conversation be- GSFS, Chellis House, QSH and the larger cam- tween renowned writers Edwidge Danticat and pus community. Julia Alvarez, which we describe in the pages that follow. To end the year’s activities, the Gens- Sujata Moorti and Karin Hanta ler Family Symposium too centered on intersec- tionality in media representations. Spotlight on some WAGS/GSFS Alumnae/i

Christine Bachman-Sanders Veronica Coates ’14 is pursuing an ’09 is a Ph.D. candidate with a M.A. degree in ethnic studies at San minor in Feminist and Critical Francisco State University where Sexuality Studies at the Univer- her emphasis is Black and/or Afri- sity of Minnesota, Twin Cities. cana Studies. In the fall, Veronica Christine’s dissertation research will be working on her master’s examines the relationship between the “new thesis titled “Gimme the Yam: Black woman,” American imperialism, and the bicycle Women, the Academy and Practices of Self-Care craze of the 1890s. Her work explores the bicycle in Liberal Arts Colleges.” In this thesis, she will as a symbol of progress and a social technology be researching resiliency and trauma, higher that is galvanized to support a specific political education, black women’s student organizing, and moral rhetoric for the “new woman,” and and the comparative study of black women’s ac- to regulate a healthy (sober) civilization primed tivism in the U.S. Veronica was recently accepted for global expansion. She is particularly con- into the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers cerned with how late 19th-century bicycle tour- at Philips Andover, which supports underrep- ism depends upon classed, sexed, and racialized resented students who are applying to graduate associations with leisure. At the 2016 NWSA school and who aim to teach. Through the pro- Conference, she will present two papers titled gram, she will be applying to PhD programs in “Citizen/Cyborg: The ‘New Woman’ as Agent of American/Ethnic Studies with an emphasis on U.S. Empire-Building” and “Time, Space, and gender, sexuality and feminist Studies. Bicycle Travel: The Queer Archive and Mapping Anachronistic Histories” Aifuwa Ehigiator ’09 left Bloomberg LP after six years to start his company Our Street. Our Luke Brown ’13 is working at the fundamentally Street uses community investment via equity feminist organization Compass Working Capital, crowd-funding to create energy efficient afford- whose majority clientele is single mothers. Luke able housing. Aifuwa also works part-time at St. is the NGO’s director of technology and a pro- John’s Bread and Life as a development consul- gram manager for a partnership with the Cam- tant. bridge Housing Authority. In the latter capacity, he serves as a financial coach to clients living in Kolbe Franklin ’08 is a Ph.D. subsidized housing. In September 2016, he will candidate in sociology at the start a feminist MBA program (as contradictory University of Albany-SUNY. as that may sound) at Stanford University. Kolbe’s dissertation project “Queering Sexual Development Frameworks: A Dynamic Sys- tems Approach to Conceptual- izing Other-Sex Sexuality Among ” was for his immersive style and for creating a playful accepted in late April. She will give a presenta- learning environment, Ryan constantly visits tion about her dissertation research at the Na- classrooms to check on 160 children. Within tional Women’s Studies Conference in Montreal two years after his start as principal in 2013, 95 in November 2016. In the fall, Kolbe will also be percent of Ryan’s students hit their language and teaching at Skidmore College. literacy goals, and 91 percent their math goal. The Washington Post credited his success to Ryan Caroline Kahlenberg ’14 published a paper en- taking care of his teachers. Mr. T., as he is affec- titled “’The Gospel of Health’: American Mis- tionately called at his school, has also written sionaries and the Transformation of Ottoman/ five children’s books that incorporate math and Turkish Women’s Bodies, 1890-1932” in the science concepts. Ryan was honored at a ceremo- peer-reviewed journal Gender and History. This ny at the White House, where he met President work is based on her senior thesis for the history Obama and Secretary of Education John King department, and was also shaped by her course- (pictured on the left). In the fall, he will be mov- work in GSFS. Starting in the fall, Caroline will ing on to the position of Director of Early Child- be pursuing a doctorate in history and Middle hood Strategy for charter schools in Washington, Eastern Studies at Harvard University. D.C.

Jamie Mittelman ’10 is a Senior Marketing Man- Zohra Safi ’09 graduated from ager on the Citizen AOL team, a the University of Ottawa’s En- foundation championing women. Jamie heads glish Common Law Program AOL’s cause marketing work, managing a media this month. She will be working portfolio of $30 million of in kind advertising with Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) media supporting nonprofit work. as a duty counsel in Ottawa. LAO provides legal services to Kate Silbert ’08 is a Ph.D. candidate in American low-income people in a number of areas, includ- history at the University of Michigan. She will ing immigration and refugee hearings, family most likely defend her dissertation titled “Com- and criminal matters. Zohra has always been mitted to Memory: Gender, Literary Engage- passionate about social justice and is looking ment, and Commemorative Practice, 1780-1830” forward to applying the skills and knowledge she in spring of 2017. acquired at law school.

Ryan Tauriainen ’08, co-founder Katie Willis ’12 has moved to her native Ala- of the Queer Studies Academic bama, where she works for a bakery, a farm, and Interest House (QSH), garnered the Alabama Sustainable Agriculture Network. the Washington Post’s Principal She is also involved in queer organizing with the of the Year Award. Ryan has Atlanta-based organization Southerners on New been working at the Apple Tree Ground (SONG) and the #ShutdownEtowah Institute Early Learning Public campaign to end the human rights abuses at the Charter School in Columbia Heights. Praised Etowah County Detention Center. Scheherazade’s Sisters: Julia Alvarez & Edwidge Danticat in Conversation

On March 16, writer-in-residence Julia Al- of the henchmen at the service of the Duva- varez ‘71 and Haitian-American novelist Edwidge lier dictatorship in The Dew Breaker, Edwidge Danticat engaged in a conversation for women’s Danticat followed the dictum of ancient writer history month. This event was also designed to Terence: “Nothing human is alien to me.” By honor Julia Alvarez, who will be retiring from exploring the humanity of a character wedded her position by the end of this school year. Julia to the ideals of toxic patriarchy, she was able to Alvarez, renowned for her novels How the García portray him in all his human facets. Edwidge Girls Lost Their Accentsand In The Time of The has also come to realize that many of her novels Butterflies, has been linked center on the effects of to the college for 47 years collective trauma and ever since she started her describe the creative undergraduate education ways survivors of a at Middlebury. dictatorship have come Edwidge Danti- to deal with it. “It is si- cat rose to fame with her lences that draws me to 1994 novel Breath, Eyes, stories,” she said. “This Memory, which explores silence [the fact that the centrality of the moth- these stories initially er-daughter relationship to are not told] makes self-identity and self-ex- Julia Alvarez and Edwidge Danticat at Dana Auditorium them exceptional.” She pression. In her 1998 conducted her research novel The Farming of Bones, she documented the for The Dew Breaker in the Haitian-American 1937 massacre of Haitians living in the Domini- community, which has included both survivors can Republic at the Dajabón River by the Trujillo and perpetrators. Unearthing the stories was a dictatorship. delicate process. In their conversation, both writers, who Julia Alvarez revealed that she did not like also consider themselves human (w)righters, to read as a child growing up in the Dominican pondered on the power of story-telling. Taking Republic. There were just not too many interest- fabled storyteller Scheherazade as a model, they ing books to choose from. “Dictators just don’t spoke about how stories can enter the heart of like people to read. When you get involved in listeners, thereby effecting a change of heart. a story, you become the other, thereby opening Like Scheherazade, Julia Alvarez explained, she yourself up to a part of the world that you hav- has tried to not only save herself, but also to en’t known before.” change the paradigm of cultural norms. When describing the life of a Tonton Macoute, one Reflections on Julia Alvarez’s and Edwidge Danticat’s Conversation by Emilio Ovalles-Misterman

an author began, and how their style On March 16, 2016 two domestically changed and developed as their life and internationally acclaimed authors, Julia Al- progressed. Often times it is easy to read an au- varez ’71 and Edwidge Danticat, shared the stage thor’s most famous work and feel a sense of in- to engage in a conversation with the Middlebury timidation as a burgeoning artist yourself, as you community. They discussed the effect that their attempt create something as brilliant as those origins (Dominican Republic and Haiti, respec- whom you draw inspiration from. However, by tively) have had on their writing, the role of observing how an author began their career, and women in storytelling, feminism, and the expe- how they incrementally reached the summit of rience of being a bilingual author. their work, the creative process becomes more On the topics of feminism, one response humanized. In the process, emerging artists are from Alvarez particularly grabbed my interest. able to see how other authors progressed to the She talked about how when she was growing epitome of their success, making seemingly far- up, feminism was not presented to her as an fetched goals appear more attainable. ideology. Alvarez noted that she became the As someone who hasn’t had the easiest strong-minded woman that she is today because time navigating Middlebury, hearing from such of the overwhelming presence of strong-minded accomplished and empowering women had a women, whether by nature or necessity, in her galvanizing effect on me as I begin to close my life. There was never a label that was attached first year. Furthermore, as someone who is a first to this particular way of thinking or being, it generation Dominican and has traversed the was simply about women who knew their worth same boarding school and college campus that and were willing to stand up for themselves in Alvarez did, it reinforced to me that this path the face of patriarchy and misogyny... that was may not be travelled very often, but it is one that her feminism. It was only after she came to the is possible. This event described Alvarez and United States that she learned about the formal Danticat as “Scheherazade sisters.” While their concept of feminism and all of its ideals. stories might be what is keeping them “alive” During the Q&A, it was invigorating for every day, similar to Queen Scheherazade, hear- young artists in the room to ask questions about ing their stories as they spoke on stage has also the creative process, more specifically as au- prevented me from losing momentum. I would thors, and ask about how the author’s developed argue that the same goes for the other students a sense of style. Alvarez pointed out how she that were in attendance, especially those that saw keenly studied her favorite authors. A key point themselves represented on stage through these she made was that she would read an author two brilliant women. from their first work until their last work. This way, as a writer she could see how Black Is, Black Ar’nt

by Nia Robinson On February 24th, us of Zora Neale Hurston’s 2016, students Tamir anthology, I Love Myself Williams ’16 and Najwa When I am Laughing and Stanford ’16 showed Then Again When I am their art in the show Looking Mean and Im- “Black Is, Black Ar’nt” pressive. Another one of together with works by Najwa’s works centered Chicago based artist, around black women’s educator, and activist hair. There were many Turtel Onli. The main comments incorporated in purpose of the exhibit the work that represent- was to challenge histor- ed how people, including ical and contemporary Mona Lisa Smiles Too by Najwa Stanford ‘19 black women, are attentive definitions of blackness, to their hair, even when it whether they be stereotypes or cultural markers. is not theirs. The work illustrated how the wom- Students were able to come to the student space an in the picture seems irritated by the shallow outside of Wilson Hall and see the three different comments and concerns over her hair. artists’ interpretation of how blackness has been Tamir’s works mostly focus on the black depicted throughout the years. body and protest, mainly the Lindy Hop. She Turtel Onli addressed the stereotype of showed a few archival black and white photo- the watermelon in his work. The pictures did graphs of people dancing. The pictures conveyed not try to gloss over the offensive stereotype an appreciation of the dances that gave rise to of black people having an unusual appetite for Swing. Tamir also highlighted how the Lindy watermelon. Instead, the artist twisted it in a way Hop is central to blackness as it can both express that made it clear that black people were telling individuality and a communal spirit. the story, embracing the fruit—just like the term Overall, the art exhibit was a great way for “black” was by civil rights activists in the 1960s. students at Middlebury to rethink stereotypes Najwa’s work investigated how she has that are attributed to black people. Further, it learned to see herself through the mainstream. inspired students to look at the way they view Najwa created her own version of the Mona Lisa, stereotypes in their own lives. but replaced Leonardo’s original face with that of a black woman. The work raised questions about the girl’s smile: black girls’ expressions are always questioned, whether they be smiling or looking serious. Incidentally, this work reminds some of Looking Back To Three Years Ago: The Lasting Influence of ElectHer by Sarah Kotb Those who know me know that I am a happy this can be your moment of enlightenment), the Economics senior. They also know that as a numbers were not good. I will never forget that GSFS fan, I understand what it means to be a one time a student made a movie about a char- woman in the Economics Department at Mid- acter who speaks one sentence in Arabic, my dlebury. I am also dark skinned, and an interna- mother tongue, and then goes on to bomb Mead tional student (the combination of which makes Chapel. me hesitant to claim myself as a person of color To this day, I remain fascinated by how since I did not grow up with racial structural much effort, fear and hesitation it took me to injustice. That is not to say I do not share many call him out on it. When the professor facilitated frustrating experiences with students of color a discussion during the next class based on my at Middlebury). How- complaint, the student ever, where I struggled who made the movie the most was not in my responded by saying Economics coursework. that his film “was not Today, I reflect on my meant for international freshman year experi- audiences.” ence stumbling through The semester af- the film department ter that, I attended with these identities and ElectHer, a one-day how ElectHer, a con- conference, organized ference I attended, was by Chellis House, that crucial for my under- Rabeya Jawaid, Laura Nuebler and Sarah Kotb at ElectHer.aims to encourage more standing of structural and interpersonal power women to run for student government bodies dynamics. and public office. It is interesting that I walked Enrolling in film classes was my way of out of the conference as disinterested in these being obedient to the classical liberal arts mes- institutions as I walked in. What the conference saging of exploration. I did not know that this did for me, however, was highlight that there exploration would lead me to dangerous territo- are power dynamics that were not in my favor. ry until I took a hands-on filmmaking class over Simple as that may sound, it had mighty implica- J-term that year. Each student made seven short tions. Without this knowledge of power dynam- movies throughout the month. Noticing patterns ics, I had internalized any dissatisfaction I felt as of misogyny on screen, I tallied all the student my own fault. made films to count how many objectified wom- The conference was only the beginning of en uncritically, and how many had silent women, many things with the same end—I subsequently or no women at all. As you may expect (or if not, took gender classes and immersed myself in lit- erature by authors of color. This was a rewarding these systems to end them. However, under- journey, with no better way to describe it than standing identity politics gave me a little more with a metaphor by Junot Díaz: Sometimes, it is room to breathe. Once I understood that my better to paint the cage. Otherwise, we will keep hesitation to call out the appalling racism in my bumping into the cage wire, saying “Gee, free- class stemmed from my conditioning as a wom- dom is fun.” an to be “nice” and take fewer risks, I was ready My support of efforts such as ElectHer to challenge that conditioning. But without this is not to say that marginalized groups have to starting point, I would have been lost, or worse do their homework. I acknowledge structural continued to bump into the cage. injustices exist and it is on the perpetuators of

Students Morgan Grady-Benson, Sarah Karerat, and Kyler Blodgett enjoy the first free Ben & Jerry’s ice cream cone at the Dismantling Culture Conference at the University of Vermont

Students working hard at zine festival. Students Isabelle Shalcross, Will Brennan, Rebecca Coates-Finke, Molly McShane, and Anu Biswas at the 24 hour zine festival. Beyond the (Monologues): A Production Evolves by Rebecca Coates-Finke When I started working for Chellis House three It was after this second production that a ques- years ago, director Karin Hanta tion arose: should TVM be suggested that I consider using done again next year? Follow- my theatrical talents to stage ing a successful production ’s play The Vagina in February 2015, students Monologues. For over a de- were approaching the work cade, performances of the play with gratitude but also strong had been a mainstay at Chellis criticism. The Western, white House. Over the years, students savior narratives and biolog- were able to raise thousands of ical essentialism of the script dollars for WomenSafe, a local was grating intersectional organization dedicated to end- feminists who expected more ing domestic and sexual vio- from a play that claims to lence. During my first j-term at empower and liberate, and Middlebury, I directed a pro- Actors huddle during the BTVM perfomance. the idea that saying “vagina” duction of The Vagina Mono- over 100 times in one night logues with a cast of 12 students. It was enough to cover the play’s was an empowering and fascinating multiple faults was beginning to experience that launched all of the seem laughable. cast and crew into conversation I was willing to give up on it; this about , empowerment, cul- is what I told myself repeatedly. tural imperialism and Western in- But I wasn’t ready to give up on it fluence, biological essentialism, the quite yet. Each year, the calls for idea of a single story and the power critical analysis of the play was ac- of telling your own. Two members companied by just as many stories of the cast decided to take on the from actors, crew, and audience role of director for the next produc- members who said themselves tion and I served as their producer. to be dramatically altered by the For The Vagina Monologues 2015, experience of this show. I didn’t I wanted to expand on the single want to lose this yearly place for student-written monologue that Jenne Meneses delivers a powerful feminist theater making, didn’t performance. had appeared in TVM 2014 (writ- want to lose the conversations ten by Jiya Pandya ’17), so I published a book of it had sparked and the roads it had opened for student-written monologues, accompanied by those involved. I saw The Vagina Monologues as student-created artwork. an opportunity for students to try on the role of a feminist activist—to play while maintaining its reverence and celebra- take up space and say tion of (separately) the vagina, woman, and the things that many did feminine. not want us to say, to It was a difficult, and at times, frightening pro- practice what discomfort cess. I wanted desperately to make this piece and embarrassment feel something I could stand by and love without like when we’re pressing hurting or alienating members of my communi- against the boxes society ty who deserve celebration. I was supported and uses to confine us and inspired by my cast and crew, friends, advisors, conform us. And I didn’t and TVM alumnae*i. I am proud of the final want to lose the oppor- product, but there is still work to do, and jour- tunity to build a com- neys to take, and concepts to explore, and stories Director extraordinare Rebecca Coates-Finke munity like the one I saw to tell. We will never stop pushing, never stop built in each production shifting, never stop imagining a world in which of TVM: a community that this play does not have practices the balance be- to exist, because this tween individualized advo- world will never stop cacy and solidarity within a changing while we group. So instead of letting work to change it. Next the show go, I transformed year will be another it. adventure. Over J-term, I studied with Professor Anson Koch- Rein, reading various criti- cisms of The Vagina Mono- Erin Reid gives her all. logues and incorporating them into my editing process. I wrote segments and brought in new voices: Tovah Leibowitz’s article about queer crip sexual pleasure for Auto- straddle.com; Mia Mingus’ speech on moving to- wards ugly and the power of magnificence; Julia Serano’s spoken word poem about being a trans- gender woman and the power of her penis; an article outlining the dangers of genital surgery performed on intersex infants. I cut monologues and introductions that reinforced a white savior narrative or slammed too hard on the meta- phor that women are their vaginas. Ultimately, through a hectic, chaotic, and glorious process, I sought to undermine the central metaphor of the Stella Boye-Doe in the spotlight. Fraker Award Goes to Elizabeth Dunn

On March 8, International Women’s Day, the Excerpt from Sarah Kotb’s paper ““The Death of GSFS Program gave out the annual Fraker Scheherazade...” Award. The prize was named after Alison G. On her supposed death bed, Scheherazade Fraker, an avid feminist who tragically died has to think fast. She has to strategize. Like Da- before her graduation from Middlebury. Sujata vid facing Goliath, she can’t use physical force. Moorti introduced the award, saying that it was After all, force has been the king’s craft, and the a great time for faculty to silence of the dead vir- “bask in the brilliance” of gins who have had her students’ works. The prize place on the same bed is given to an essay that is the loudest testimony. speaks to the topics of gen- So instead, “Scheheraza- der, sexuality, and feminist de breaks the cycle of studies. This year’s submis- violence by choosing to sions were quite diverse and embrace different terms included podcasts, songs, of engagement” (Nafisi and power points. 19). To regain her safety, Elizabeth Dunn ‘18 Fraker award winnter, Elizabeth Dunn ‘18 she resorts to storytelling. won the Fraker Award for Like Azar Nafisi, the au- an essay titled “Race Play and Racism” for An- thor of Reading Lolita in Tehran, I too am awed son Koch-Rein’s “Sexuality in the U.S.” class. She by the power of storytelling and find this met- studied sexuality within race, noting how impos- aphor so mighty in its implications. (…) I was sible it is to separate the sexual and the political. growing up in Egypt, unfamiliar with what my Race play, she said, has much to do with consent womanhood meant; discontent with my moth- and fetishization of the desired race, but also fits er’s and grandmother’s invocations of virtue and in the historical context of slavery. purity, but unable to find any other narrative. Sarah Kotb ’16 earned an honorable men- It was not until I met the stories and novels of tion for her self-reflective work “The Death of feminists, especially those who trace their or- Scheherazade Or How Not to Write About Arab igins to Third World countries, that I started Men” for Catharine Wright’s class on “Outlaw converting. My body still remembers the almost Women.” electrical shock that went through it when one Sarah Karerat ’18 earned another honor- of Nawal El Saadawi’s heroines in She Was the able mention for a paper titled “Policing Native Weaker, spits on her father’s portrait. She had Sexualities: Section 377 of the Indian Penal just walked in on him assaulting the maid, who Code” for Sujata Moorti’s Foundations in Gen- happened to be as old as his daughter. I emerged der, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies. out of this book capable of asking questions and questioning assumptions. I found it soothing to culture. This seems ironic, given that Section immerse myself in Julia Alvarez’s How the García 377 of the Indian Penal Code is a remnant of the Girls Lost their Accent as she opened that can of British colonial rule. Section 377 reads: “Who- worms called Catholic school and fleshed out ever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against so elegantly why my stomach gets cranky at the the order of nature with any man, woman or mention of Sacred Heart Girls’ School in Alexan- animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for dria. Reading these women’s stories validated my life, or with imprisonment of either description voice. Their writing made my questioning legiti- for a term which may extend to ten years, and mate. Whenever guilt visited after an episode of shall be liable to fine.” (…) It is important to first breaking the rules, I revisited the stories of these understand the fluid nature of Indian sexualities Scheherazades, and guilt went in history. Ruth Vanita writes away, scared and exposed. So in a of same-sex sexuality being spirit of true concern, I write today “one dimension of a wide erot- with the worry that Schehrezade ic spectrum” (“Dear Supreme has yet another problem to deal Court”) in ancient Indian soci- with. If the fictional one is facing ety. (…) The problematic nature a sexaholic royalty that is about to of this series of occurrences kill her, the real Schehrezades, the arises when we consider who Third World feminist authors, are has come to constitute the sod- facing attempts to silence them. omite subject. Despite the lack I am not referring here to the all of explicit definition, “carnal so familiar anti-feminist school of intercourse” has been used by thought. That is merely old news. colonial and postcolonial Indi- What worries me today, however, an courts to describe anal sex, is the intellectual brand of silenc- oral sex, and other non-pro- ing, the one made by critics and creative sexual acts like mutual Sarah Karerat ‘18 earns honorable mention. other policing feminists. A promi- . Even though het- nent pattern, and one that I focus on throughout erosexual couples also commit these acts, the last this essay, is the critique of female writers with 150 years have witnessed the burden of Section Muslim and Arab origins. As they write about 377 falling almost completely onto homosexuals gender oppression, their voices become accused (Misra 21). Homosexual bodies, as part of the of following the Western tradition of condemn- British rule’s surveillance, have been conceived ing the Arab man and exposing his violence and to be marked with appearances that indicate the lack of civilization. possibility of committing the acts that Section 377 forbids. Consequently, Section 377 is used Excerpt from Sarah Karerat’s “Policing Native not only to regulate individuals caught in the act Sexualities:” of sodomy, but also to dominate those whose In modern India, there is a common bodies and behavior suggest they may be ho- logic that homosexuality is an influence of the mosexual and therefore likely to commit the act immoral West that debases traditional Indian (“Section 377 and the Dignity of Indian Homo- sexuals”). Excerpt form Elizabeth Dunn’s paper “Race Play complicate the concept of “consent”. (…) People and Racism:” are more than receptacles for power or bodies Race play as a sexual fetish illustrates that political and social identities are inscribed important and uncomfortable intersections upon. Although influenced by power, individuals between Blackness, violence, and sexuality. still have the ability to make their own sexual Although among some who practice it, there is choices, and just because consent is complicated a notion that it is possible to separate the sexu- doesn’t mean it’s impossible. To say it is impos- al from the political, or from the historical, in sible for marginalized people to consent to sex actuality even when peo- under the systems that op- ple engage in sexual acts press them is to strip them of in private, there are still the autonomy they have over significant implications their own bodies. (…)Race for the public. On the level play may be political, but so of individual practitioners, are all sexual practices, even analyzing race play gen- the so-called “vanilla” ones; erates questions about they’re just less titillating. consent, fetishization, and Every form of self-expres- where the line between sion, every sexual act, is race play and other types Sarah Kotb ’16 earns honorable mention. political, not just the ones of sex is. Broadening the that are taboo. The question scope, analyzing race play through a political then becomes not whether race play is political lens reveals the ways in which anti-black racism, or individual (it’s both), but whether it is po- the historical legacy of slavery, and reluctance to litically useful to queer, feminist, Black, or any include sexuality in modern conversations sur- other number of groups. There has been a trend rounding race that are important issues in the in queer theory for the idea of transformative United States. (…) political potential to attach itself to queer theory; Mollena invokes the common argument could race play be theorized to be transformative that as long as what is happening is consensual, it in a way that is useful and progressive, or like should be accepted. But what exactly is consent? fake would it be viewed in the same way A simple working definition is that consent is as fake orgasm, in a way that reinforces oppres- achieved when all parties involved in a sexual act sive structures (Jagoose 521). In one sense, race are aware that what they’re engaging in is sexual, play and the discourse it generates could be a are not being coerced or manipulated, and are form of consciousness raising, because it makes in full control of their mental and physical sit- people aware that these types of issues do still uations, who have agreed to engage in specified exist. It forces the people involved to be aware sexual acts, and have communicated this clearly. of race in a political sense. Race is impossible to However, consent may be more complicated escape, but ignoring it leads to the institution- than that, because as effective as this definition alization of certain sexual practices that once may be on an individual basis, the above outline entrenched are incredibly difficult to dismantle. of what makes sex consensual leaves out analysis And the more smoothly they function, the less of how political structures such as racism can noticeable they are. Ecosexuality in Performance

Professor Michael J. Morris was invited to Mid- Ecosexuality thus directs attention towards vari- dlebury by Andrew W. Interdisciplinary Chore- ous ways in which sexuality is already ecological, ographer Maree Remalia for a series of talks and and the ways in which ecology might be under- performances in early April. In their lecture for stood as sexual or erotic. Morris illustrated this the GSFS Program, Professor Morris presented point by describing Green Wedding, an artistic their views of ecosexuality, a term used to de- performance by Annie Sprinkle and Elizabeth scribe the entanglements of human sexuality Stephens, who in 2008 married the Earth. In with the non-human world. Since our human this and subsequent performances, they want bodies are already vast ecosystems of nonhuman to shift the metaphor from “Earth as Mother” lives—our DNA is cohabiting to “Earth as Lover.” Sprinkle and with billions of bacteria and fungi Stephens have thus taken this very etc. in our body—sex is never human, fairly normative institu- simply a human affair. The -ma tion/practice and utilized it as a jority of safer-sex practices—our performance structure with which careful use of pharmaceuticals to recognize long-term, necessary, and latex barriers, gloves and life-affirming relationships with condoms and dental dams—stra- our planet. By using the struc- tegically mediate between our ture of a wedding, they adapted open, permeable, vulnerable a way of thinking about love and bodies and the plethora of viral commitment and utilized those and bacterial sexual partners that familiar ways of thinking about may be in bed with us. Synthetic relationship to transform how we pharmaceuticals and materials think about our relationship to the that enable our intimacies have Earth. At the same time, they ask Michael J. Morris talks about ecosexuality. become the most used pharma- why is it that we elevate particular ceutical molecules in the whole of human his- forms of human relationships above all others— tory, not only in human bodies but also in eco- above all other human relationships as well as systems beyond our bodies. A number of studies the countless other relationships in which we live have shown that the synthetic hormones used and thrive? Why is it that we neglect our lon- in birth-control pharmaceuticals are excreted gest and most vital relationships, those with the in urine and waste, and have come to circulate planet? At the same time, this wedding is not a in water supplies and ecosystems, with effects utopic vision of ecological harmony. Even while ranging from mutated inter-sexed amphibians to requesting no gifts, it depends quite a lot on impacting the reproductive potential of aquatic consumption, all of the fuel used to bring collab- life. orators from all over the world to this one spot, all of the materials needed to fabricate elaborate tion as a domain in which both human excep- costumes, the electricity used to run the sound tionalism and normative/naturalized sexualities system, the waste produced by the reception, and are defended and maintained. Sexuality specif- so on. This wedding, too, is part of the mess of ically functions as an ideological frontier along our relationship with the planet. There is no illu- which we steadfastly maintain that separateness, sion here of a “pure nature” or a return to Eden. an area in which we insist on maintaining some This bright, colorful, campy wedding stages a fantasy of our own purity. By insisting that wedding to an Earth full of the organic and the sexuality has never been a purely human affair, inorganic, the biotic and the synthetic, an Earth ecosexuality challenges the mythology and ide- for and with which we are responsible, and it is ology of human exceptionalism that would set an Earth of which we are a part. “humankind” apart from and above other life on In sum, Morris argues, addressing the nonhu- this planet, and in doing so, creates an opportu- man dimensions of sexuality is necessary for the nity to intervene in the often violent ways that deterritorialization of human sexuality, specifi- we engage with nonhuman lives. cally when “human sexuality” continues to func-

Claim by Karin Gottshall

I spent most of fourth grade in outer space. Lemon-scented soap, pine sap, roses. Those red pants with the slight flare. A jump-rope truth I can no longer access.

This restlessness--obviously not new. Ruined In dreams my mother is without substance, with everything translucent. without dimension. Without love, an empty boat.

One fevered day in bed, another, another. A day like a heavy black kettle. My mother in the kitchen, cooking a fish. The half-asleep feeling I could go back and claim it.

When I light a cigarette our bus will come, A cup of coffee forgotten on the windowsill: she always said, and it did. Ground under her heel. a conjugation of the verb “to haunt.” A Farewell To Anson Koch-Rein

If you’ve been at Middlebury the past couple of initiated several reading groups within GSFS years, you’ve probably met Anson Koch-Rein. and across the campus community. Amidst this After completing his Ph.D. at Emory University, hectic schedule Anson also found the time to Anson came to Middlebury in 2014 to teach core present his own research in different venues GSFS courses while Sujata Moorti and Laurie across campus. Whether it was a talk on Caitlyn Essig each took year-long re- Jenner or one analyzing blogs search leaves. Anson taught about transgender children the core courses in our major Anson has drawn audiences with great aplomb. Anson also from across the disciplines. brought his own research inter- On each of these occasions ests in transgender studies and Anson was able to bring disability studies and invigo- insights that enriched and rated our curriculum with new deepened the discussions our approaches and cutting-edge campus has engaged with materials. Students particularly topics of difference and diver- loved sity. Anson’s class on dogs, With his signature bow ties a course that highlighted his Anson’s presence has enliv- Anson Kocj-Rein reading at the ened Chellis House. His ability to bring cutting-edge Fraker Award Ceremony feminist studies approaches to dedication to the program, Middlebury. our students, the project of feminism, and, of Not only will GSFS miss Anson but, so course, dogs has been remarkable. We are sor- will the rest of the Middlebury community. ry to see him leave us. We wish Anson luck at Within his first few months on campus, Anson Grinnell. We in GSFS and Chellis House cannot established himself as a familiar face. He was a thank him enough for all that he has done to member of several campus committees, served ensure our continued success. as faculty head of Queer Studies House, and

Questions or comments about this newsletter? Email Karin Hanta at [email protected]