The University of South Alabama Gender Studies Program is kicking off its spring semester lecture series on Tuesday, Feb. 4 with speaker Dr. Velma Scantlebury from the USA College of Medicine. The Gender Studies Lecture Series is now in its 5th year and features an assortment of speakers from both the USA and Mobile communities.
Scantlebury?s lecture, entitled 'Women in Surgery,My Personal Journey,'will describe what it is like to be a woman as well as an African-American in the medical field. Dr. Martha Jane Brazy, assistant professor of history at USA, anticipates the lecture to be a prime example of how gender intersects with other aspects of life.
?Our goal is to have a variety of speakers, and address issues of gender as well as the intersection of gender with other areas such as race and sexuality,? Brazy commented about the lecture series. She believes the series has grown over the years, and describes it as ?a vital part of the gender studies program.?
?It is important how we look at how gender functions in our own lives, and how the social construction of gender functions in society, as it has a direct impact on politics, economics and social policy,? Brazy said regarding the importance of the lecture topics.
This semester, six speakers will be featured who offer a variety of perspectives based on personal experiences and individual research. A historian, a sociologist and an artist are among those who will present lectures.
Two weeks after the first lecture, Clare Evangelista, from the Department of Art and Art History, will present ?Women and Creativity? as her lecture topic. In March, Feaunte Preyear from Mobile AIDS Support Services will speak about how the HIV/AIDS epidemic is affecting women. Also, Nigar Baimova will discuss gender in Azerbaijani society. The series continues in April with Dr. Nicole Flynn from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and her lecture on how everyone can benefit from feminist thinking, and lastly Dr. Mel McKiven?s lecture, ?Black Genocide? Making Sense of the Sterilization of the Relf Sisters.?
Dr. Linda Payne, the director of the USA Gender Studies Program, hopes that the lecture series will not only continue to bring attention to the gender studies minor, but will also give students an ?excellent opportunity to hear a diversity of ideas both within academic subjects and in community issues of gender relations.?
?We want to get the program involved with the community, and this is sort of a starting place for that, by being able to bring in speakers from the community and through their lectures and discussions,? Payne said.