OXFORD, Miss. – World-renowned lecturer Peggy McIntosh, associate director of the Wellesley Centers for Women, delivers the keynote address Thursday (Feb. 25) to open the 10th annual Student Gender Conference at the University of Mississippi.
McIntosh’s free, public presentation, “Coming to See Privilege Systems: The Surprising Journey,” is set for 7 p.m. in Bryant Hall, Room 209. Her co-presenter is Brian Wise, director of diversity at Charlotte Country Day School in Charlotte, N.C., who will reflect on his realization of his unacknowledged male privilege.
The conference, which runs through Saturday, is sponsored by the Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies. All sessions are free and open to the public. A complete schedule is available at http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/
“The Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies is proud to host Dr. McIntosh,” said Mary Carruth, Isom Center director. “She is eager to visit the Deep South and learn more about equality movements in Mississippi.”
McIntosh consults with higher education institutions throughout the United States and the world on creating multicultural and gender-fair curricula in K-12 schools. She is founder and co-director of the National Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity Project on Inclusive Curriculum. Her groundbreaking essay “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” was originally published in the Wellesley College working paper series in 1988.
The conference resumes Friday and Saturday, with eight panels of undergraduate and graduate students presenting their work in a variety of disciplines, including art, literature, sociology, music, gender studies, psychology and international studies. Among the paper titles are “Economic Power Within the Beauty Shop” and “The Feminauts and the Cosmonaut Queen: American and Soviet Women in the Space Race, 1958-1963.”
Friday’s sessions conclude with a presentation by the Mississippi Safe Schools Coalition, an advocacy group for lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender youth, and a workshop for activist students conducted by Peggy McIntosh.
The conference was planned and implemented by a faculty committee, chaired by Mary Hayes, assistant professor of English.
Conference co-sponsors are the University Lecture Series, Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, Multicultural Affairs, Student Programming Board, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, and the departments of English and sociology.
For more information or for assistance related to a disability, call the Isom Center at 662-915-5916.