Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Genders and Sexualities

Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Big Berks!

28 June – 2 July 2023, Santa Clara University, California

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Land Acknowledgement

Native people have lived in what is today Santa Clara since time immemorial, a region that was known locally as Thámien. Beginning in the 1770s, the residents of Thámien were forced into the missions, along with many of their Ohlone neighbors and, later, Yokuts and Miwok families from the Central Valley. Today, Santa Clara and the surrounding region remains home to a thriving Native community, including Tamien Nation, several Ohlone groups associated with specific ancestral territories, as well as the surviving lineages from Missions Santa Clara, San Jose, and San Francisco who are today organized as the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. The Berkshire Conference remembers their connection to this region and gives thanks for the opportunity to meet, celebrate, and learn on their traditional homeland.

Conference Theme

Oceans, Islands, and Continents:
Reconceptualizing the Spatialization of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Histories

What does it mean to gather on the Ohlone peoples’ ancestral homeland, situated next to the San Francisco Bay, a gateway to the Pacific Ocean and Pacific Islands?
What does it mean to convene, craft, share, and celebrate feminist histories in the ongoing contexts of climate change-fueled hurricanes and storm surges, sea level rise and coastal flooding, fires, and marine life extinction?
What does it mean to celebrate fifty years of promoting and exploring histories of women, genders, and sexualities when immigrants, refugees, Indigenous and Black people, queer and trans communities are marginalized and subject to violence; political and individual freedoms are eroded; and growing autocratic and totalitarian regimes embolden racial nationalism?

Conference FAQ
Need info on how to get from the airport to the university? Where and how to check in if you’re staying in a dorm? How to register? How to get around campus? Please visit FAQ > for this info and more!

If you have questions about the conference, please contact Sandra Trudgen Dawson, execadmin@berksconference.org