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This year's Great Lakes History Conference addresses issues connected to #MeToo
September 16, 2019
Posted on September 16, 2019
The annual Great Lakes History Conference will explore and debate gender and trauma studies, issues that an organizer said are timely in today's climate.
The #MeToo movement has made the issues of sexual violence and related topics particularly cogent in both academia and society, said Jason Crouthamel, professor of history. That is why one of the goals of the conference, building bridges between academia and the public, takes on even more significance this year, he said.
"History is moving toward groups that were previously marginalized to find their voices in terms of power and violence and see what their perspective is on history," Crouthamel said.
This year's event, "Gender and Trauma: Material, Methods, Media," is being held Sept. 20-21 at the Eberhard Center. It will gather specialists in trauma studies and gender studies to help open up new areas of research.
Both days of the conference run from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. It is free and open to the public.
One of the keynote speakers is Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, who is research chair for historical trauma and transformation at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. Gobodo-Madikizela studies how dehumanizing experiences of oppression and violent abuse affect the next generation. Her book, "A Human Being Died that Night: A South African Story of Forgiveness," earned critical acclaim in both South Africa and the United States.
The other keynote speaker is Dagmar Herzog, a distinguished professor of history at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Herzog's scholarship includes the history of the Holocaust and its aftermath, the histories of religion and Jewish-Christian relations and the histories of gender and sexuality. Her most recent book is "Unlearning Eugenics: Sexuality, Reproduction and Disability in Post-Nazi Europe."
Crouthamel noted the conference's international tone extends to the co-organizers: Julia B. Köhne (Humboldt University in Berlin), Peter Leese (University of Copenhagen) and Ville Kivimäki (Tampere University, Finland).
The other important tone at the conference is its interdisciplinary focus, Crouthamel said, adding that the field of history is increasingly headed in that direction.
"We want to give a model to students from different disciplines in which they can see that process in action, and see how we can dialogue across disciplines," Crouthamel said.
For more information, visit gvsu.edu/glhc.
For More Information Contact: Peg West in University Communications - (616) 331-2222