2023 Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Genders and Sexualities
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Welcome to the Berkshire Conference
Judy Tzu-Chun Wu, University of California, Irvine
Co-president of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians
Thank you for joining us to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Big Berks. We meet after a six-year hiatus, with our 2020 Berks conference significantly marked by the lockdowns of COVID-19.
What does it mean for us to gather again? And, what does it mean for us to meet on the Ohlone peoples’ ancestral homeland, situated next to the San Francisco Bay, a gateway to the Pacific Ocean and Pacific Islands?
These topics will be explored by two of our plenaries during the Berks. On Friday evening, Maile Arvin (Native Hawaiian, University of Utah, and Berks program committee co-chair) will be moderating a session entitled “Planting Good Relations: New Directions in Indigenous Feminist Scholarship,” featuring the insights of Caitlin Keliiaa (Yerington Paiute Tribe, University of California, Santa Cruz), Fuifuilupe Niumeitolu (Tongan, Oceania, UC Davis), and Lindsey Schneider (Turtle Mountain Chippewa, Colorado State University).
And on Saturday, I will be moderating a plenary on the conference theme. The location of the Berks inspired our theme for the conference: “Oceans, Islands, and Continents: Reconceptualizing the Spatialization of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Histories.” So much of history is bounded by masculine narratives of national borders and land. We hope that our collective feminist exploration of research, creative work, and activism will help us respatialize history to center water and grapple with the scale of the seemingly small and isolated to the vastness of geographic land masses. How might we gender the study of history to take into account the archipelagic, the inter-relatedness of oceans, islands, and continents?
These topics will be explored by our plenary speakers Rachel Jean-Baptiste (UC Davis), Theresa Delgadillo (University of Wisconsin, Madison), Vernadette Vicuña Gonzalez (University of Hawai‘i), and Laura Harjo (Muscogee (Creek), University of Oklahoma)
We look forward to learning from your scholarship and insights as we gather on the edge of the Pacific for our 50th anniversary convening.
Barbara Molony, Santa Clara University
Co-President, Berkshire Conference of Women Historians
The Berkshire Conference of Women Historians welcomes colleagues from North and South America, East and South Asia, Australia/New Zealand, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe to gather in mutual support and scholarly sharing. The first time in six years that we have been able to meet in person at the “Big Berks” is a joyous moment. But it is also joyous because it marks 50 years since this large triennial gathering of scholars of women, genders, and sexualities has come together. In addition to an exciting program of panels, roundtables, workshops, and plenaries, we are holding a celebratory 50th anniversary plenary Friday evening starring our founding mothers and others whose work has been inspired by them. Our newest generation of scholars is also joining us. Graduate students are meeting to form the Graduate Student Committee to promote their contributions, and both undergraduate and graduate students at six universities, sponsored by the Berkshire Conference, the American Historical Association, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, whom we have named as “Berks Fellows,” are joining us in a Roundtable on Thursday and Lightning Rounds on Friday and Saturday. The Berkshire Conference, meeting on the unceded land of the Muwekma Ohlone, is represented this year by artwork created by Alfonso E. Salazar to honor the Muwekma Ohlone and their chairwoman, Charlene Nijmeh, whose image is on this program and the tote bags.
These are difficult times for the historical profession, besieged by cutbacks, declining enrollments, and, worst of all, attacks by authorities in various governmental jurisdictions on the critical thinking and truths we attempt to impart to our students at all levels of education. Meetings like this one are necessary to keep us progressing in friendship, scholarship, and solidarity.
Sandra Trudgen Dawson
Executive Administrator, Berkshire Conference of Women Historians
Welcome to Northern California and the beautiful Santa Clara University campus! I am thrilled to be meeting in person once again after six long years. I hope your conference experience is enjoyable, intellectually stimulating, and inspiring. Thank you to everyone who has made this conference possible: the officers and trustees of the Berkshire Conference, the program chairs and committee members, the conference services coordinator, Mahal Flores, Santa Clara’s IT department, the kitchen staff, the custodians, and the gardeners. And thank you ALL for supporting the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians and sharing your work and expertise over the course of the conference!
