Spring 2025 Events

H.H. Honors College: Celebrating Women's History Month

A Conversation with Comic Creator Liana Kangas

3.18.2025 | 4:30-6:30 pm | McWherter Library Second Floor Commons
- Pizza 4:30; Event 5:00-6:30
Moderator: Prof. Tammy Jones

Honors Event Poster

Women's History Month Panel

Reproductive Autonomy: Where Are We Now?

3.20.2025 | 1:30-3:00 pm | UC Fountain View Room
Speakers: Dr. Sharon Stanley (Political Science), Jennifer Pepper and Dr. Nikia Grayson (Choices), Quinn Houlihan and Vicki LaVaeu (WGST Students)
Moderator: Dr. Sarah Potter (History)

Women's History Month Lecture: Dr. Kaila Adia Story

"Black Femme Fugitivity: Rebellion and Resistance in these Critical Times"

Watch Party: 3.27.2025 | 3:30-4:30 pm | UC Memphis Room
Register HERE!
Dr. Kaila Story is Associate Professor, Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, with a joint appointment in the Department of Pan-African Studies at the University of Louisville. She holds the Audre Lorde Chair in Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Dr. Story's research examines the intersections of race and sexuality, with special attention to Black feminism, Black lesbians, and Black queer identity. Her current research explores the intersections of race, class, and sexuality in identity performance, mass media, body politics, and the like. Dr. Story's other research interests include, but are not limited to, Gender Socialization, Transnational Sexualities, Black feminisms, and Transnational Feminisms.

University of Memphis Archaeology Speaker Series: Dr. Jenn Lupa

"Healthcare in the Capital: From Statistics to Storytelling with Washington DC's Archaeological Collections" + Masterclass: Community-engaged Archaeology, Collections-based Research, and Queer Archaeology

3.28.2025 | 3 pm | McCord Hall 324
Dr. Jenn Lupu is an Assistant Professor at Rhodes College. She received her PhD in Anthropology at Northwestern University in 2023. Dr. Lupu is a historical archaeologist researching medicine access, inequality, and queer history using artifacts excavated from 19th and 20th-century household trash in Washington, DC. She teaches courses on medicine and society, critical geography, and queer anthropology.
Abstract: From daily hygiene habits, such as brushing teeth, to the ingestion of pharmaceuticals, many forms of healthcare are commonly practiced in daily life, at home. The domestic sphere has been understudied in the history of medicine but, importantly, acts as a locus of individual, familial, and community care practices, revealing differing access to medical commodities and varied environmental factors impacting health outcomes. My research centers around the assertion that disease is not apolitical; rather, it flows along structures of inequality that are socially and historically situated. Using the case study of Washington, DC, between 1840 and 1920, I analyze artifacts in domestic trash deposits from over 40 historical households to examine how pharmaceutical and other bodily care commodities were marketed, accessed, and used. A focus on households and daily life complicates traditional progress narratives and allows for a rigorous analysis of the ways that large-scale social changes, such as racialized segregation and the professionalization of medicine, were experienced and mediated by urban residents.

Women's & Gender Studies Works In Progress Symposium

4.9.2025 | 1:00-2:30 pm | UC Fountain View Room
Featuring the work of Dr. Selina Makana (History), Dr. Erin Mellett (Anthropology), and Dr. Micah Trapp (Anthropology)
Awards: Women's and Gender Studies Undergraduate and Graduate Scholarships

World Languages, Italian Program: Film Showing

There is Still Tomorrow (2023), A film by Paola Cortellesi

4.17.2025 | 6:00 pm | Dixon Gallery
Film Information: This Italian film with English subtitles is about the condition of Italian women just after WW2 and before they were allowed to vote.