(Un)Gendering Motherhood: Truman’s Eighteenth Annual WGST Conference

Jan 31
12-1:15 p.m.
Personal Testimony
Sherry Galloway Todd, “Justified of All Her Children: The unGendered Grand/mother”
Margaret Ann Bishop, “Transformation and the Feminine Soul within Motherhood”

1:30-2:45 p.m.
Historical Views
Mamie Cox, “Encouraging Motherhood: An Examination of Childbirth Wares in Renaissance Italy”
Shannan Cantu, “Discourse on the Female Body: Midwifery and Obstetrics in England from 1650-1850”
Huping Ling, “’Celestial Women’ and Motherhood, 1880s-1940s”
 
3-4:15 p.m.
Deconstructing Patriarchal Motherhood
Julia Judlin, “The Maternal Violation: Loss of Self in Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying and Absalom, Absalom!”
Jennifer Willis, “The Surveillance of Pregnant Women and the Female Body as Vessel in The Handmaid’s Tale”
Holly Fling, “Illusions of Motherhood Fail Mothers: Expectations and Reality in Brian Morton’s Breakable You”

4:30-5:45 p.m.
Constructing Families
Devin Heier, “Ted Mosby: How Masculine Identity Ignored Your Mother”
Carri Banholzer, “The Struggle of the Lesbian Mother in Mommy Blogs”
Conor Mohan, “’That’s so gay’: How One Turn of Phrase Is Harming Families”

Feb. 1
10:30-11:20 a.m.
Cross-cultural Views
Jacob Fling, “Frida Kahlo: Illustrations of Motherhood”
Larry Iles, “Global Commotion from Down Under: Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s Fight Against Sexism”       
              
11:30 a.m.-12:20 p.m.
Goddesses and Superheroes
David Giovagnoli, “The Mothers and Fathers of Telemachus: (Un)gendered Mothering in the Odyssey”
Erin Neuman, “Monstrous Maternity: The Consequences of Body Idealization in the Superhero Genre”
      
1:30-2:20 p.m.
Parenting and Religion
Sarah-Wonder Agbehia, “Mother, Father, Dada, Pastor: A Religious and Cross-Cultural Perspective on Gender-Reversed Mothering”
Anthony Baldwin, “Walking in Mary Griffith’s Shoes: Exploring a Christian Mother’s Development in Parenting a Gay Son”

2:30-3:20 p.m.
Readings of Motherhood
Carol Marshall, “Earth, Wind, Fire and Water with a Little Bleach: The Elements of Rebirth in Almodovar’s Volver”
Dana Smith, “Pure Love or Pure Pathetic?: Mothering and Meaning in Sarah Ruhl’s Dead Man’s Cell Phone”

3:30-4:20 p.m.
Motherhood on TV
McKinley Murphy, “Pulling Back the Mask: Mad Men and the Good Mother”
Malee Miller, “‘A mothers gotta do what a mothers gotta do!’: A Look into Rugrats’ Portrayal of Mothering Stereotypes”
Carrie Weber, “Motherhood Portrayed on Friday Night Lights: A Realistic Ideal”
         
4:30-5:50 p.m.
Keynote Lecture
Heather Cianciola “Motherhood, Epiphany”
Introduction by Holly Fling

Feb. 2
10:30-11:20 a.m.
Parenthood Panel
Panelists: James Cianciola, Jen Creer, Betsy Delmonico and Mary Shapiro

11:30 a.m.-12:20 p.m.
Parenting Problems
Jasmine Respress, “‘The Problem with Sexualization’: Mothers’ Perspectives on Their Girls Growing Up Too Fast”
Sarah Ehlman, “Moms Come in All Shapes and Sizes for Sick Children in Foster Care”

1:30-2:20 p.m.
Gay Families
David Charles Goyette, “‘Surrogates’ – A Musical Reading”
Alex Ewing, “The Politics of ‘Passing’ as Same-Sex Parents”

2:30-3:20 p.m.
Mothers in Prison
Melanie Kubayo, “Incarcerated Mothers: The Forgotten and Mistreated Mothers of America”
Aurelia Lowther, “Sherrybaby: Hollywood’s Interpretation of Incarceration”

3:30-4:20 p.m.
Queering Motherhood
Corinne Schwarz, “In a Maternal Time and Place: Postmodernism and Motherhood”
Maurine Pfuhl, “Of Mothers and Monsters: Representations of Motherhood in FX’s ‘American Horror Story’”

4:30-5:20 p.m.
Monstrous Mothers
Trevor Grizzell, “Memorializing Murder and Monstrous Motherly Intimacies in Toni Morrison’s Beloved”
Linda Seidel, “Stereotyping the Black Welfare Mother in Precious”

The WGST Conference is sponsored by the Office of Interdisciplinary Studies.