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Little Berks

Virtual Conference, 2020Corner of a keyboard with Internet on the enter key

Saturday, October 24, 2020

12:oo noon – 5:00pm EDT
9:ooam – 2:00pm PDT

The Berkshire Conference of Women Historians held its annual business meeting, better known as the Little Berks, online this year. We welcomed all members of the Berks to attend this virtual conference.

Theme: “Recovery as Resistance”

12:00 – 12:05 pm EDT
Welcome and Reading of Land Acknowledgement
Deirdre Cooper Owens

12:10 – 1:10 pm
Roundtable Discussion on What Recovery Means in Indian Country
Margaret Huetl (Univ. of NE-Lincoln),  Margaret Jacobs (Univ. of NE-Lincoln) and Farina King (Northeastern State)

1:10 – 2:10 pm
Workshop on Carving Feminist Environments: Female Professional Networks between the “Waves”
Pop-up session sponsored by the Big Berks 2020
Einav Rabinovitch-Fox (Case Western Reserve), J. E. Smyth (University of Warwick UK), Landon Storrs (University of Iowa), and Emily Westkaemper (James Madison University). Einav will pre-circulate the papers.

Workshop Abstract

While recent scholarship has challenged perceptions that feminist organizing and activism declined in the years between the first and second “waves,” it has rarely given attention to women working in creative industries. This panel explores how the formation of feminist spaces in the advertising, fashion, and film industries shaped not only those professions, but the entire landscape of work. Highlighting these alternative—and often overlooked—environments where women continued to fight for gender equality, we ask to generate a conversation on the multidirectional influences of the economy, women’s professionalization, and feminist perspectives in women’s struggles for gender equality and visibility both in the past and today.

As new opportunities became available in work and education after 1920, women sought to redefine their surroundings by claiming new roles, spaces, and identities. Often marginalized or excluded from positions of power in sectors characterized by occupational segregation, professional career women nonetheless created spaces that enabled them to navigate their gender, class, and racial positions. Through the creation of professional networks, clubs, and organizations, these women fought against sexual biases and agitated for better working conditions, equal pay, and professional training, advancing this way feminist issues and causes. Women’s efforts to reshape their professional environments also affected general cultural discourse about gender and work.

Exploring how Hollywood screenwriters, advertising women’s clubs, and black and white fashion designers’ organizations navigated the tensions between opportunities and limitations in the workplace, the panel provides new understandings of the multiple arenas in which women engaged with feminism and redefined its meanings.

2:20 –3:05 pm
Keynote Presentation by Farina King
w/Q&A

3:10 – 4:00 pm
Roundtable Discussion on Reproductive Justice, ICE, and Immigrant Women
Virginia Espino (UCLA) and Renee Tajima-Peña (UCLA), producers of No Más Bebés (2015)
Moderator: Deirdre Cooper Owens

4:00 – 5:00 pm
Business Meeting

Little Berks, 2020 Speaker Bios >

Little Berks, 2020 Registration >

2020 Berks Conference info banner

Virtual Conference

Welcome to the Big Berks 2020: A Virtual Sampling ~ While we could not be together at Johns Hopkins University in May, the spirit of the Big Berks 2020 persists. To nurture our remarkable community until we can gather together again, we are happy to share a small taste of the program. Join us when you can! Some events are … Read More >>

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Suzanne Lacey, Between the Door and the Street, 2013. (Source: Wikimedia Commons) Forms part of: The Brooklyn Museum (Brooklyn Museum)

Become a Member The Berkshire Conference of Women Historians is a vital network of scholars that welcomes all women in the historical profession. We offer two kinds of events: our triennial … Read More »

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2020 Little Berks

Corner of a keyboard with Internet on the enter key

Virtual Conference, 2020 Saturday, October 24, 2020 12:oo noon - 5:00pm EDT 9:ooam - 2:00pm PDT The Berkshire Conference of Women Historians held its annual business meeting, better known as the Little Berks, online this year. We welcomed all members of the Berks to attend this virtual … Read More »

Prizes

Two Women Fencing,. ca. 1885

The Berkshire Conference of Women Historians awards two annual book and article prizes in the following categories: A first book that deals substantially with the history of women, gender, and/or sexuality. A first book in any field of history that does not focus on the history of women, gender, and/or … Read More »

Contact Us

The Berkshire Conference is a member-driven organization, which means that we are eager to hear from you. Have ideas about how the website would work better for you? Let us know! Our Executive Director will get back to you within two weeks, even just to let you know how we plan to … Read More >>

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