Updated Schedule Due to Inclement Weather

Saturday

Registration: 8:30 – 12
Breakfast: 8:30 – 9:15
Rauch Common Space

Keynote Address: 9:30 – 11
Perella Auditorium (Rauch 184)

Dr. David E. Kirkland, NYU

Session 1: 11:15 – 12:30

POP CULTURE & IDENTITY
Rauch 151
Moderator: Shelby Carr, Lehigh University

• Elle King, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
  “Pop Culture Prostitution: How Fantasy and Ethics Conflict in Leading Depictions of Prostitution”
• Katlin Cardillo, West Chester University
  “Rise to Fame: Evaluating Kim Kardashian and her Role as a Feminist”
• Hayley Bruning, West Chester University
  “‘Cause we’re south-siders and we don’t sell out’: Portrayals of Identity and Gentrification in Shameless“

—

RESTORATIVE JUSTICE WORKSHOP
Rauch 101
Led by Sarah Heidebrink-Bruno, Lehigh University

This workshop offers a hands-on training that will introduce participants to restorative practices, as a means to strengthen “white allyship in [the] anti-racist struggle.” Restorative practices are an offshoot of restorative justice, an alternative to punitive justice that originated within the criminal justice system. In educational settings, restorative practices are often used to discuss the harm caused by an injustice, determine how they might repair the injury, restore the community, and imagine a more productive future together. They further encourage us to think about how our choices have affected others, so that we take greater accountability for our actions and learn how to respond more thoughtfully in the future. With this methodology in mind, this workshop will allow participants to create an intentional, dialogical space, in which to practice active listening, empathy, and healing work. Although our particular focus will be on allyship and creating community across differences, restorative practices are adaptable strategies that facilitators can learn how to use in a variety of spaces. My hope is that participants will not only build a learning community amongst themselves, but also leave with actionable steps that they can use in community-building work outside of the university setting, as well.

This workshop is limited to 20 participants. Please sign up at the registration table.

Lunch 12:30 – 1:30
Rauch Common Space

Session 2: 1:45-3:15

POSSIBILITIES FOR LIBERATION
Rauch 137
Moderator: Jimmy Hamill, Lehigh University

• Callie Metler, Trent University
  “The Arrival of Queer Sass: Narrating an Unspoken Fairytale in Isabel Greenberg’s The One Hundred Nights of Hero“
• James Chase, West Chester University
  “‘Freeman in Fact’: Frederick Douglass’s Africanized Christianity as a Gateway to Freedom”
• Melanie Hill, University of Pennsylvania
  “Left-Handed Sermons in a Right-Handed World: Triple-Consciousness, Black Women Preachers, and the Sermon as Literary Genre”

—

FEMINIST INTERVENTIONS
Rauch 141
Moderator: Joanna Grim, Lehigh University

• Victoria Aquilone, Cairn University
  “Ecological Landmarks in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God: An Ecofeminist Reading”
• Kelley Endres, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
  “The Importance of the Mundane: Unveiling the Unequivocal and Equivocal Contrast in Eileen Chang’s Novellas”
• Angela Christaldi, Villanova University
  “‘Ou libere? Are you free?’: The Legacy of Sexual Assault on the Work of Edwidge Danticat”

—

POSITIONALITY, COMPLICITY, & RESISTANCE
Rauch 151
Moderator: Adam Heidebrink-Bruno, Lehigh University

• Richard Branscomb, Carnegie Mellon University
  “‘Our People’s Water Authority’: Public Value(s), Privatization, and the Pittsburgh Water Crisis”
• Matthew Werkheiser, Lehigh University
  “Kingly Citizens: Crowds and the Inheritance of the Sovereign Body”
• Cait Turner, Independent Scholar
  “This Violent ‘I’: Neo-Futurism, Neo-Surrealism, and Queer Identity in the Age of Neo-Fascism”

Coffee Break: 3:15 – 3:45
Rauch Common Space

Session 3: 4 – 5:15

POWER & PERSPECTIVES
Rauch 137
Moderator: Sam Sorensen, Lehigh University

• Gillian Andrews, Lehigh University
  “Who’s Worrying About Georgina?: Black Womanhood, the Coagula, and the Importance of Intersectional Perspectives in Get Out “
• Anannya Mukherjee, University of California, Irvine
  “In Defense of Fidelity: Framing Problems of Racism and Appropriation in Cross-Cultural Adaptation”
• Cait Jones, Trent University
  “Citizens of Lemonade: Exploring Black Consciousness with Claudia Rankine and Beyoncé”
• Patricia Johnson Coxx, Independent Scholar
  “Intersectionality and the Impact of Historical Trauma on Artistic Works Produced by Artists of African Descent: Watching (Television and Film) While Black”

—

HISTORICAL NARRATIVES & AGENCY
Rauch 141
Moderator: Dana McClain, Lehigh University

• Lawrence Mullen, Arcadia University
  “White Retellings: How White Poets Removed Agency & History from the Narratives of Haitian Revolutionaries”
• Diana Forry, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
  “The Acknowledgment of Emotion in the Discourse of Holocaust Literature”
• Huntley Hughes, Bucknell University
  “How Red Was My Valley: The Importance of Reading Bad Books Well”

—

EDUCATION & JUSTICE
Rauch 151
Moderator: Claire Silva, Lehigh University

• Frangy Pozo, Lehigh University
  “Students of Color Experiences in Higher Education”
• Jacob Hale, University of Dayton
  “On Intersections and Dead Ends: Reading Street Lit and Incarcerated Juveniles”
• Teranda Donatto, Lehigh University
  “Addressing Educational Challenges for African American Vernacular English Speakers”

Wine Down: 5:30 – 6:30
Rauch Common Space