Each year the Gender Studies Undergraduate Board organizes one or more Hoffmann Colloquia, inviting artists, scholars, and other speakers of interest to focus on topics in Gender Studies. The Colloquia are made possible through the generous gift of Leslie A. Hoffmann, a Northwestern University alumna. Hoffmann is also a graduate of the William and Mary School of Law and is currently a practicing lawyer.
The Gender Studies Undergraduate Board is comprised of Gender Studies majors and minors who work closely with faculty and staff to plan the Hoffmann Colloquia. This year's events have included:
Transparent Screening and Jules Rosskam Discussion
November 2 and 7, 2006
For the Fall 2006 Hoffmann Colloquium, the Undergraduate Board arranged a screening of Jules Rosskam's film Transparent, which documents the lives of nineteen female-to-male transgender people who are also biological parents. The Board also brought Rosskam to campus for a presentation about this film and current works-in- progress.
Hoffmann Colloquia 2005-06
David Eng's Lecture "Expressive Desire in Stanley Kwan's Lan Yu"
May 4,2006
During Spring quarter 2006, the Undergraduate Board held a screening of Stanley Kwan's 2001 film, Lan Yu, and invited Rutgers University Professor David Eng to speak about transnationalism, modern China, and queer practices.
Nikki S. Lee's "Parts and Projects "
February 23, 2006
By Corey Robinson (WCAS 06)
For the culmination of the winter’s Leslie A. Hoffmann Colloquium theme “Cultural Studies Perspectives on Gender and Sexuality,” the Gender Studies Undergraduate Board invited Nikki S. Lee to campus. Lee, who describes herself as an “assimilartist,” is studied in courses across disciplines, including Gender Studies’ Amy Partridge’s “Politics of Style.” At this well-attended event in the Block Museum, Lee’s destabilization of identity and theories of the “self” captured the attention of students and faculty from all over the university.
"Radical Chicago: Jane, ACT UP, and the ongoing struggle for civil rights"
November 14, 2005
By Corey Robinson (WCAS 06)
The Gender Studies Undergraduate Liaison Committee's fall quarter theme was "The History of Radical Chicago." This theme was taken up in the Leslie Hoffmann Colloquium, "Radical Chicago: Jane, ACT UP, and the ongoing struggle for civil rights," which featured three speakers: Judith Arcana, a member of the underground abortion service known as "Jane," Jeffrey Edwards, a long-time member of ACT UP Chicago, and Doria Johnson, an Evanston-based civil rights activist.
Hoffmann Colloquia 2004-05
Pleasure, Power, and Porn: Multiple Positions on the Relevance of Pornography to Gender Studies
April 28, 2005
The 2005 Hoffmann Colloquium investigated the politics of pornography and its relationship to second and third wave feminism(s). In her paper, entitled "Porn Empowerment: Negotiating Sex Work and Third Wave Feminism," Nina Martin interrogated the contention often made in third wave feminist scholarship that sex work is a political act of sexual expression. Barbara DeGenevieve is a scholar and producer of queer pornography and her paper, "The Hot Bods of Queer Porn," focused on the transgressive potential of queer bodies as sites of resistance to heteronormative sexual scripts.
Panelists included: Barbara DeGenevieve (Chair, Photography, Art Institute of Chicago ); Nina Martin (Film Studies, Emory University )
Hoffmann Colloquia 2003-04
Negotiating Identities: Race, Sexuality, and Human Rights
April 20, 2004
Civil rights leader, Bayard Rustin, was the focus of the 2004 Hoffmann Colloquium. Rustin was the organizer of the famous 1963 March on Washington and was both a friend and advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. However, as an openly gay man, Rustin was marginalized within the movement and has been all but erased from historical accounts of the period. John D'Emilio, distinguished historian and pioneer in the field of gay and lesbian history, delivered a lecture entitled "Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin" in conjunction with the colloquium. The Liaison Committee also arranged a screening of Nancy Kates' and Bennett Singer's award-winning documentary about Rustin, Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin. The colloquium discussion focused on the intersections of race and sexuality that Rustin's life exemplified and the lessons his life teaches us about struggles for social justice.
Participants/Panelists included: John D'Emilio (History/Director Gender and Women's Studies Program, UIC); Lane Fenrich (History/WCAS Assistant Dean, Northwestern University); Adam Green (American Studies/History, New York University); Nancy Kates (Director/Producer of Brother Outsider).
Gender, Violence, and the Law
November 7, 2003
The 2003 Hoffmann Colloquium focused on domestic/sexual abuse and the law. Using the Kobe Bryant case as a current high-profile example, Cynthia Bowman addressed the problems that women encounter when they try to prosecute their assailants including the difficulty of establishing non-consent. With the establishment of Rape Shield Statutes, feminists were able to prevent the strategy of "smearing the reputation" of the victim but Bowman also pointed to the loopholes in these laws exemplified in the Bryant case. Michelle Van Natta addressed the problem of sexual violence in prison and described the overwhelming difficulties female prisoners face in attempting to fight against this abuse.
Panelists included: Cynthia Bowman (Law/Gender Studies, Northwestern University); Michelle Van Natta (Doctoral Candidate, Sociology, Northwestern University)
Hoffmann Colloquia 2002-03
Dating is Dead: Myths and Misconceptions
February 7, 2003
The spring quarter Hoffman Colloquium featured student and staff presentations that focused on some aspect of dating at Northwestern including dealing with homophobia, confronting prejudice against interracial dating, and negotiating gendered sexual scripts.
Participants included: Brandy Jensen (Residence Life); Ha-Thanh Nguyen (WCAS '05); David Nyweide (WCAS '03); David Shor (Counseling Services); Judi Singleton (Ph.D. Candidate, Anthropology, Northwestern)
Hoffmann Colloquia 2001-02
Gender and Health
May 20, 2002
Andrea Dunaif, Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Molecular Medicine at Northwestern University 's Feinberg School of Medicine, delivered the keynote address on "Women's Susceptibility to Diabetes." Individual roundtable discussions followed including ones on "Domestic Violence" led by Cynthia Bowman, "Fetal Rights" led by Lynne Curry, "AIDS and the 'gay epidemic'" with Lane Fenrich, "Roles of Women in Science" with Neena Schwartz, and "Sex Differences and Disease" with Dunaif.
Participants included: Cynthia Bowman (Law/Gender Studies, Northwestern University); Lynne Curry (History, Northwestern University); Andrea Dunaif (Medicine/Chief, Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Molecular Medicine, Northwestern University); Lane Fenrich (History/WCAS Assistant Dean, Northwestern University); Neena Schwartz (Neurobiology/Physiology, Northwestern University)
Marriage-What is it Good For?
Spring 2002
Four speakers, two professors and two Gender Studies students, interrogated the ongoing debate over same-sex marriage and considered the function of the institution of marriage. Lane Fenrich offered an historical account of the emergence of same-sex marriage as a political objective in the late 1980s. Jane Rutherford addressed the benefits that the institutionalization of same-sex marriage might afford both gay and straight couples. Gender Studies students Matthew Barbour and LaTonya Starks both questioned the value of marriage as a political goal for queer and marginalized communities.
Panelists included: Lane Fenrich (History/WCAS Assistant Dean, Northwestern University); Jane Rutherford (Law, DePaul); Matthew Barbour (WCAS '04); LaTonya Starks (WCAS '05)
Hoffmann Colloquia 2000-01
Are We About Justice or Just Us?
Spring 2001
The Liaison Committee, the Bisexual, Gay, and Lesbian Alliance (BGALA), and African American Student Affairs co-sponsored the spring quarter Hoffman Colloquium. Mandy Carter, an African-American lesbian activist from North Carolina , was the featured speaker. Her talk, "Are We About Justice or Just Us?," explored how we can work beyond the limitations of race, gender, and sexuality.
