News

We would like to honor the life of bell hooks, and to mark our collective indebtedness to her brilliance. Ain’t I a Woman was the first feminist book that I ever read. I remember freshman year in college, bell hooks’s words forced me to think about the ways that racism and sexism were interconnected and, more than anything else, her hope inspired me to become an activist. In the decades since I first encountered her work, my understanding of her intervention has become much more profound, and she has… read more about The GSF community pays tribute to bell hooks »

Computer scientist Nicki Washington spends much of her time talking with white and Asian men about how their identities influence their work. Nicki Washington could be mistaken for a social scientist. Washington has long argued that computer scientists like her should better understand how their own identities affect their work. She joined Duke University in June 2020 and launched a groundbreaking course that analyzes how race, gender, and class influence the way technologies get developed.  Full article from MIT… read more about How Tackling Tech’s Diversity Challenges Can Spur Innovation »

  Gender & Science:  Feminist Studies of Science and Medicine  GSF 89S.03  SS, STS Ara Wilson  How does inequality affect scientific practice and knowledge? Do colonial, racist, or sexist contexts matter for the science produced? Does the identity of the scientist matter? This seminar provides an overview of research that puts scientists under the lens, studying medicine & science in relation to gender, sexuality, race,… read more about SPRING COURSES »

A new faculty-led Trinity College project, which examines the politics and histories of intercollegiate athletics and athletes, will include a Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies course this Spring. “Race and the Business of College Sports” (GSF 290) is part of the new “Black in Blue: The Sports and Race Project” – a project that includes classes, public events, workshops and podcasts as it critically studies race and sports at Duke, within its geographic placement, and… read more about Course on Race and College Sports Offered this Spring »

This article assembles an archive for the future of Marxist feminist theory consisting of three texts: Shulamith Firestone’s iconic manifesto from 1970 "The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution", Donna Haraway’s 1985 “Manifesto for Cyborgs,” and the Laboria Cuboniks collective’s 2015 manifesto, “Xenofeminism: A Politics for Alienation". The primary ambition of this curatorial exercise is to make one small contribution to a much larger project: the revival and reinvention of US… read more about Kathi Weeks published “Scaling-Up: A Marxist Feminist Archive” »

On October 14, 2021 a spirited audience assembled in the East Duke Parlors and online for the Annual Queer Theory Lecture in Honor of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick delivered by Jules Gill-Peterson (Johns Hopkins University, Department of History). Gill-Peterson’s talk “Queer Theory Killed Venus Xtravaganza: What’s Trans About Queer Studies Now?” previewed work toward her new book project A Brief History of Transfemininity. And, as Professor Gabriel Rosenberg noted in his introduction, it was the first in-person speaker… read more about Annual Queer Theory Lecture in Honor of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick »

Interviewed by GSF Major Katherine Gan What brings Sunhay You back to Duke? Sunhay You is the new Duke Postdoctoral Fellow in Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies. She recently finished her Ph.D. at the University of Michigan in the joint English and Women's and Gender Studies Ph.D. She was previously an undergraduate student at Duke and graduated in 2013 with degrees in English and Women's Studies. She comes to Duke because of the exciting work happening in regard to the… read more about GSF Postdoctoral Fellow and Alumni - Sunhay You, PhD »

The purveyors of “grass-fed” beef want you to believe that it solves meat’s environmental problem. But this is merely a branding exercise, not a climate solution. When foodies sink their teeth into a slab of cheese from one of the historic dairy farms in Point Reyes, California, their minds probably run to grass-fed cows ranging free on the lush green oceanside hills of Marin County. Over 5,000 dairy cows and beef cattle roam the Point Reyes National Seashore National Park in full view of visiting tourists. Unlike the many… read more about Gabriel Rosenberg's article, The Myth of Regenerative Ranching »

The Trinity College of Arts & Sciences has announced the winners of the 2021 awards for undergraduate teaching. Given each year, the awards honor exceptionally strong educators from across the college. Teaching award recipients are selected by the Arts & Sciences Council on the basis of student evaluations, teaching statements and colleague recommendations. “These four awards are bestowed by the Arts & Sciences faculty in recognition of especially outstanding teaching,” said Arts & Sciences Council Chair… read more about GSF Alumni Kelly Alexander Wins the Arts & Sciences Teaching Award »

"Her efforts increased the presence of women in leadership positions and contributed to making Duke a trailblazer in Women’s Studies." Elizabeth A. Clark, 82, the John Carlisle Kilgo Professor Emerita of Religion and Professor of History at Duke University, passed away Sept 7, at Duke Hospital.  Liz was an eminent scholar of Late Antiquity and early Christian history. Her work has been crucial to transforming the field formerly known as “patristics” — the study of the church fathers — into “early Christian studies… read more about DUKE FLAGS LOWERED: ELIZABETH CLARK, TRAILBLAZER FOR WOMEN'S STUDIES AT DUKE, DIES AT AGE 82 »

Elizabeth A. Clark, 82, the John Carlisle Kilgo Professor Emerita of Religion and Professor of History at Duke University, passed away Sept 7, at Duke Hospital.  Liz was an eminent scholar of Late Antiquity and early Christian history. Her work has been crucial to transforming the field formerly known as “patristics” — the study of the church fathers — into “early Christian studies,” an approach that applies cultural, social and feminist theory to the study of early Christianity. Her scholarship and service to the… read more about Duke Flags Lowered: Elizabeth Clark, Taught Religion at Duke for Four Decades, Dies at Age 82 »

Four visiting humanities scholars from historically Black colleges and universities and liberal-arts institutions arrived at Duke this August to collaborate with Duke students, faculty and staff. Their projects will cover commemoration practices, early Christian manuscripts, a 17th century Mexican philosopher and the ephemeral nature of digital projects. The fellows are part of Humanities Unbounded, an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation-funded initiative designed to nurture collaboration and inventive expressions of the… read more about Duke Welcomes New Cohort of Visiting Humanities Scholars from HBCUs and Liberal-Arts Schools »

  Living a Feminist Life by Sara Ahmed Recommended by Professor Jennifer Nash “Ahmed insists that feminism is a life question—how do you make a feminist life? What kinds of friendships, collaborations, and acts of solidarity sustain that kind of life?  And how can we remind ourselves – again and again – that feminism can be life-changing and life-saving?”  In Living a Feminist Life … read more about GSF Faculty Summer Reading Recommendations »

First Year Seminar:  Asian American Feminisms  GSF 89S.03 / AMES 89S / AADS89S ALP, CCI, W Anna Storti  This seminar will investigate the theoretical and political interventions of Asian American feminist thought, activism, and culture. Through interdisciplinary examinations of imperialism and racial justice, the study of 20th and 21st century Asian America has gained new significance; in particular, feminist scholars offer context as we… read more about GSF FALL COURSES »

For much of US history, Juneteenth has been a date observed mostly by Black Americans commemorating the symbolic end of slavery. Since the reckoning reignited by the killing of George Floyd last year, though, the tide has changed enormously. All but one state, as well as the District of Columbia, recognize the milestone of Black liberation in some form or another. Numerous companies mark the occasion by giving their employees the day off. And on Thursday, President Joe Biden… read more about Activist Opal Lee and Juneteenth's path to becoming a federal holiday  »

When he was an undergraduate political science student, Kerry Haynie was never taught about the 1921 Tulsa massacre. Nor was there much discussion about the role of race in the founding political documents of this country or much examination of how race influenced public services such as sewer lines and zoning. In one sense, a lot has changed. In 2021, Duke’s faculty includes a strong lineup of leading scholars who examine how race is embedded in issues that cross all the schools of the university. This fall, many of… read more about University Course Raises Race as a Central Element of Undergraduate Education »

". . . became an important way to stay in touch with each other from afar.  The GSF Graduate Scholars Colloquium carried on through the turbulence of this pandemic year and, though we missed food and in-person fellowship, became an important way to stay in touch with each other from afar. Picking up on the final cancelled event from the 2019-2020 season, co-leader Maggie McDowell (Duke English) led our transition to virtual colloquia with her talk “F*cking Machines: Wish Fulfilment for the Unimaginative.”… read more about Graduate Scholars Colloquium »