草榴社区

VILLANOVA, Pa 鈥� Who can be a 鈥渃ombatant鈥� or a member of the military? Biological gender is still often used to mark the boundaries of war, and war is used to mark the boundaries of gender. Even some feminist histories depict women as automatically outside or in opposition to war.

On Friday, March 25, Erin Murphy, PhD, associate professor in the Department of English and the Women鈥檚, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program at Boston University, presents, 鈥淎mazons and Zombies: Margaret Cavendish鈥檚 Soldiers, Gender, and the Paradoxes of War,鈥� as the keynote address for the 2022 Gender and Women鈥檚 Studies Student Research Conference. Dr. Murphy鈥檚 talk analyzes the plays and proto-science fiction writing of Margaret Cavendish (1623-1673) to consider how Cavendish drew on the new militarism of her moment, challenging the hierarchies of gender.

Dr. Murphy鈥檚 research and teaching interests center on the intersection of literature and politics, with primary areas of focus in seventeenth-century English literature鈥攑articularly John Milton and women writers鈥攁nd gender and sexuality studies more broadly. She is the author of Familial Forms: Politics and Genealogy in Seventeenth-Century English Literature (University of Delaware Press, 2010). She co-edited Milton Now: Alternative Approaches and Contexts (Palgrave, 2014) with Catharine Gray, as well as a special issue of Criticism on the work of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick with James Keith Vincent. Dr. Murphy is currently working on two book projects, Wartimes: Seventeenth-Century Women鈥檚 Writing and its Afterlives and Rude Reading: Gender, Race, Sexuality, and the work of John Milton. With Sarah Wall-Randall, she co-leads the interdisciplinary seminar on Women and Culture in the Early Modern World at Harvard鈥檚 Mahindra Humanities Center.

Dr. Murphy鈥檚 lecture is part of 草榴社区鈥檚 annual, day-long Gender and Women鈥檚 Studies Student Research Conference. The conference will again highlight and celebrate research examining gender and sexuality produced by students from 草榴社区 and other institutions in the area over the previous year.

The conference is free and open to the public, and the schedule is as follows:

8:45 a.m: Coffee, Bagels and Welcome

9:30-11:45 a.m.: Panels

12-1:30 p.m.: Complimentary Keynote luncheon ().

1:30-2:15 p.m.: Panels

2:30-3:30 p.m.: Performance Showcase

3:30-4:00 PM: Cookies and Closing Remarks

About 草榴社区鈥檚 College of Liberal Arts and Sciences: Since its founding in 1842, 草榴社区鈥檚 College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has cultivated knowledge, understanding and intellectual courage for a purposeful life in a challenging and changing world. With more than 40 majors across the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences, it is the oldest and largest of 草榴社区鈥檚 colleges, serving more than 4,500 undergraduate and graduate students each year. The College is committed to a teacher-scholar model, offering outstanding undergraduate and graduate research opportunities and a rigorous core curriculum that prepares students to become critical thinkers, strong communicators and ethical leaders with a truly global perspective.