Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia Institute for Women’s Studies in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences will present the fifth conference on Women and Girls in Georgia Oct. 19 in the Zell B. Miller Learning Center.
The theme of the 2013 conference is the arts, and presentation topics include art as a tool for women’s healing, women in the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, women in hip hop, gender in summer reading lists and art as discursive practices.
The Women and Girls in Georgia Conference was established in 2007 to highlight and encourage leading-edge research by, for and about women and girls in Georgia. The conference brings together leading researchers, teachers, activists and community members to share expertise, strengthen networks and form strategies for positive social change in Georgia and beyond.
This year’s conference will include a keynote lecture by Jillian Hernandez, an assistant professor of ethnic and critical gender studies at the University of California, San Diego and creator of the Women on the Rise! program at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Miami, Fla. Her scholarship, which synthesizes methods from anthropology, art history and cultural studies, draws from her experiences as a girl’s educator and curator of contemporary art.
Hernandez’s research investigates questions regarding processes of racialization, sexualities, embodiment, girlhood and the politics of cultural production ranging from underground and mainstream hip hop to visual and performance art. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed publications, and she serves on the editorial collective of Films for the Feminist Classroom, an electronic journal of film reviews hosted by Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society.
The conference will feature various musical and dance performances, a photography exhibit with an artist’s talk and walk-through and a plenary roundtable discussion on “Sustaining What Sustains Us” focused on feminist patronage and support of local and regional art organizations and businesses. Panelists will include women leaders of local and regional arts activities.
The conference is $45 for academics and professionals, $25 for staff and community members and $10 for students. For the conference program and registration information, see http://wagg.uga.edu or call 706-542-2846.