Gendered Borders
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
NEWSLETTER OF THE UCLA CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF WOMEN MACARENA GÓMEZ-BARRIS WITH KATHLEEN MCHUGH AT MACARENA’S TALK ON NOVEmbER 28TH. CSW JANUARY 07 update BY KELLY LyTLE HERNÁNDEZ Gendered Borders UnsanctiOned Female MigratiON and the Rise OF Chickens, Wolves, Warriors, & Zoos BOrder EnfOrcement alOng the U.S.-MEXicO BOrder FEMINIST SCIENCE STUDIES MEETS n the late twentieth-century, During World War II, U.S. agribusi- ANIMAL STUDIES AND LaW border enforcement emerged nessmen wanted access to Mexican eld this year on February 2 at the as the primary method of workers. Many Mexican workers, HUCLA Faculty Center, Thinking migration control along the however, were unable to fulfill the Gender is an annual public conference U.S.-MexicoI border. Fences, officers, administrative requirements for legal sponsored by the UCLA Center for the and electronic sensors strategically migration to the United States. Hop- Study of Women and the USC Center located along the border function as ing to prevent a rise in unsanctioned for Feminist Research. It brings to- a virtual wall designed to prevent and Mexican labor migration, the U.S. and gether graduate students from across the police unsanctioned border crossings. Mexican governments established the disciplines to share feminist research on Scholars attribute the escalation of Bracero Program (1942 to 1964) to fa- women and/or gender. No registration is border enforcement to new funds pro- cilitate the legal migration of Mexican required. Parking at UCLA is $8. To view vided for drug interdiction in the 1970s agricultural workers into the United the conference program, please visit www. and anxieties regarding the increasing States. Between 1942 and 1964, over csw.ucla.edu/thinkinggender.html. number of Mexican migrant labor- two million Mexican nationals entered This year’s plenary session, Chickens, ers entering the United States without the United States as legal contract Wolves, Warriors, & Zoos: Feminist Science sanction since the collapse of the workers known as braceros. Still, the Studies meets Animal Studies and Law, Mexican economy in the early 1980s. establishment of the Bracero Program will feature these presentations: “Chinese Gender remains an under-recognized did not prevent unsanctioned migra- Chickens, Ducks, Pigs and Humans, and factor in the rise of border enforcement tion. During the course of the pro- the Technoscientific Discourses of Global as a primary strategy of migration con- gram, more Mexican nationals were U.S. Empire,” by Gwen D’Arcangelis, PhD trol along the U.S.-Mexico border. continued on page 12 Candidate, Women’s Studies/UCLA; “The Commodification of the Cactus: Patents Gender & Science and Benefit-Sharing Agreements,” by Laura Foster, PhD Candidate, Women’s February 23, 8 am to 5 :30 pm, UCLA Faculty Center This public conference presents a group of preeminent scholars-- Studies/UCLA; “Figuring the Human: Kavita Philip, Banu Subramaniam, Joan Roughgarden, and Londa A Postcolonial Feminist Animal Stud- Schiebinger--who collectively bring a feminist analysis to the study ies Perspective,” by Dipika Nath, PhD of science. A lunchtime panel discussion will feature Associate Vice Candidate, Women’s Studies/University Chancellor Rosina M. Becerra, Professor Elma Gonzalez, and UCLA of Washington; and “Categories and Legal student Arpi Siyahian and the plenary session will be moderated by Personhood,” by Kris Weller, PhD Candi- Professor Sandra Harding. Space is limited for the luncheon portion of the program. Please RSVP as soon as possible (before Feb. 9) by date, History of Consciousness/UC Santa sending an email to [email protected] Cruz. CSW update JANUARY 07 CSW update is a monthly PDF/ → GENDERED BORDERS BY KELLY LYTLE HERNÁNDEZ . 1, 12 web publication of the UCLA Center for the Study of Women. EDITOR/DESIGNER: Brenda Johnson-Grau → FROM THE DIRECTOR BY KATHLEEN MCHUgh . .3 UCLA CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF WOMEN DIRECTOR: Kathleen McHugh → THE CHRONICLES OF CHICABA: SUE HOUCHINS SPEAKS ON THE TRIALS OF AN AFRICAN NUN BY DENNIS TYLER . 4-5 ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: April de Stefano FINANCIAL MANAGER: Van DoNguyen MANAGING EDITOR: → “MISS CHINA”: THE HYPERVISIBLE FEMALE BODY ON THE GLOBAL Brenda Johnson-Grau STAGE BY JIAYUN ZHUANG . 6-7 ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT: Jessie Babiarz EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS: → LOIS WEAVER PERFORMS RESISTANT FEMME Alessandra Brophy, Amy Chen BY NICOLE ESCHEN . 8-9 • BOX 957222 → NEW DIRECTIONS IN FEMINIST SCHOLARSHIP PublIC POLICY 1400H BY EVANGELINE M . HEILIGER . 10-11 LOS ANgeles, CA 90095-7222 campus maIlcODE: 722203 310-825-0590 310-825-0456 (faX) [email protected] CSW ANNOUNCEMENTS . 13 PUBLICATIONS UNIT THINKING GENDER PLENARY SESSION ANNOUNCEMENT . 14 BOX 951504 2210 ROlfe Hall LOS ANGELES, CA 90095-1504 campus maIlcODE: 150402 310-206-5487 [email protected] From the Director Kathleen McHugh elcome back and Happy Becerra, Elma Gonzalez, and Arpi Siyahian New Year from all of us and the afternoon plenary session will be at CSW. Two years ago, moderated by Sandra Harding. In addition on January 16th, then to this daylong conference, the plenary at WHarvard president Lawrence Summers made this year’s Thinking Gender conference what would be career-altering remarks on on February 2nd will also focus on issues the status of women in the sciences. He pertaining to gender and science: “Chickens, observed that, among three possible reasons Wolves, Warriors, and Zoos: Feminist for women’s underrepresentation in these Science Studies meets Animal Studies and fields, socialization and discrimination Law. “ We invite everyone to join us for ranked third, behind what he referred to as these two CSW conferences. In addition to women’s “different availability of aptitude” our programming on gender and science, and their ability and desire to flourish in CSW is delighted to host Rickie Solinger for high-powered careers in science. This the annual Roe v Wade Lecture on January quarter, on the second anniversary of 22nd; she will be speaking on “Who is a Summer’s remarks and the firestorm of Mother? Who Decides? Race, Class, and important debate and analysis that ensued, Reproductive Politics in American History.” CSW’s programming is focused on issues Throughout U.S. history, race and class have pertaining to Gender and Science. On been at the center of reproductive politics, February 23rd, we will hold a daylong nationally. From slavery time, across the eras conference, featuring four distinguished of immigration, through periods of both scholars—Kavita Philip, Joan Roughgarden, criminalized and legal abortion, up until the Banu Subramaniam, and Londa Schiebinger present, race and class have structured the —whose work explores the intersections ways that politicians and public policy have among science, gender, and power. A defined who gets to be a legitimate mother lunchtime panel discussion on gender, in this country -- and who does not. science, and access will feature Rosina M. CSW update JANUARY 07 3 The Chronicles of Chicaba SUE HOUCHINS ON THE TRIALS OF AN AFRICAN NUN by Dennis Tyler SOR TERESA CHICABA—the African nun of Salamanca On November 15th, Houchins came to UCLA to discuss the who spent several years in a sequestered monastery after details of her project in an event sponsored by the Center her enslavement—represents the embodiment of the Black for the Study of Women and the Ralph J. Bunche Center for Diaspora. Born around 1676 presumably somewhere off the African-American Studies. coast of Mina in West Africa (the part that comprises pres- In her talk, “Between Hagiography and Slave Narrative: ent-day Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria), captured and Teresa Chicaba an African Nun in Eighteenth-Century enslaved at the age of nine, transported somehow to Spain, Spain,” Houchins examined the discursive construction and purchased by the Marchioness of Mancera (wife of the of African-ness, race, gender, and sexuality in eighteenth- Marquis), Chicaba’s story weaves together a series of nar- century Spain and discussed how Chicaba’s story belongs ratives—about the racial, religious, and national identities both to the genre of hagiography and to what is called an of Africans and Europeans in the eighteenth-century—that “as-told-to slave narrative.” According to Houchins, under- are difficult to unravel. standing the implications of genre is key to understanding Professor Sue Houchins, however, works diligently to almost everything that is significant about the construction disentangle these narratives. Working with her colleague of Chicaba’s life. Hagiography, for instance, refers literally Balthasar Fra-Molinero at Bates College, Houchins is to the writings on the subject of a holy person; it is a bio- publishing an annotated translation—along with a 150-page graphical account of a person who lives an exemplary life critical and historical introduction—of the eighteenth- and it is generally considered to be a prerequisite for saint- century Spanish hagiography of Chicaba (whose baptized hood. But unlike some slave or spiritual narratives, which name is Sor Teresa Juliana de Santa Domingo). Chicaba’s rely heavily on the first-person singular, the hagiography spiritual narrative is titled Compendio de la Vida Ejemplar must be written in the third person. “It is an unseemly act,” de la Venerable Madre Sor Teresa Juliana de Santo Domingo. continued on page 5 CSW update JANUARY 07 4 Chronicles of Chicaba, continued from page 4 such nineteenth-century African-American writing as the Houchins insists, “to write one’s own hagiography. You can political manifesto of David Walker (1829) and the spiritual write your autobiography, but someone else must write narratives of Maria W. Stewart (1835), Jarena Lee (1836), Zil- your hagiography.” The reason such an act would be un- pha Elaw (1846), and Julia A.J. Foote (1879). seemly is because no saint would ever have to write his/her One might also speculate about how to situate Chi- own biography. The miracles they perform would speak for caba in relation to a literary figure like Phyllis Wheatley.