Gender and Species: Ecofeminist Intersections (A Roundtable)
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Special Session
Organizer Name
Carolynn Van Dyke
Organizer Affiliation
Lafayette College
Presider Name
Lesley Kordecki
Presider Affiliation
DePaul Univ.
Paper Title 1
Does It Have to Be about Women? Feminism Goes to the Dogs
Presenter 1 Name
Carolynn Van Dyke
Paper Title 2
Compassion and Benignytee: A Reassessment of the Relationship between Canacee and the Falcon in Chaucer's Squire's Tale
Presenter 2 Name
Melissa Ridley Elmes
Presenter 2 Affiliation
Lindenwood Univ.
Paper Title 3
La Femme Bisclavret: Gender, Species, and Language
Presenter 3 Name
Alison Langdon
Presenter 3 Affiliation
Western Kentucky Univ.
Paper Title 4
The Owl and the Nightingale: Belligerent Mothers and the Power of Feminine Speech
Presenter 4 Name
Wendy A. Matlock
Presenter 4 Affiliation
Kansas State Univ.
Paper Title 5
Flying, Hunting, Reading: Feminism and Falconry
Presenter 5 Name
Sara Petrosillo
Presenter 5 Affiliation
Univ. of California-Davis
Paper Title 6
Questioning Gynocentric Utopia: Nature as Addict in "Farewell to Cookeham"
Presenter 6 Name
Liberty S. Stanavage
Presenter 6 Affiliation
SUNY-Potsdam
Start Date
11-5-2017 1:30 PM
Session Location
Schneider 1280
Description
At a 2016 Kalamazoo roundtable, “New Feminist Approaches to Chaucer,” several participants pointed out that few recent presentations and publications in medieval studies are explicitly “feminist.” Of course, as others observed, feminist work may be proceeding under various other labels, including ecocriticism and the new materialism. The approaches converge in some strong recent publications, but we believe that there is room for additional attention to the convergences themselves. In this roundtable participants explore the intersection of critical animal studies and feminism in medieval texts and medieval studies. For instance, how does the gendering of nonhuman creatures in bestiaries, fables, and romance reflect or challenge patriarchal norms? How do those gendered representations reflect the actual behavior of dimorphic animals? How are human-animal interactions in medieval texts gendered? We hope to stimulate discussion also of a broader question: does the growing interest in nonhuman agency advance, complicate, or inhibit our understanding of feminist concerns?
Carolynn Van Dyke
Gender and Species: Ecofeminist Intersections (A Roundtable)
Schneider 1280
At a 2016 Kalamazoo roundtable, “New Feminist Approaches to Chaucer,” several participants pointed out that few recent presentations and publications in medieval studies are explicitly “feminist.” Of course, as others observed, feminist work may be proceeding under various other labels, including ecocriticism and the new materialism. The approaches converge in some strong recent publications, but we believe that there is room for additional attention to the convergences themselves. In this roundtable participants explore the intersection of critical animal studies and feminism in medieval texts and medieval studies. For instance, how does the gendering of nonhuman creatures in bestiaries, fables, and romance reflect or challenge patriarchal norms? How do those gendered representations reflect the actual behavior of dimorphic animals? How are human-animal interactions in medieval texts gendered? We hope to stimulate discussion also of a broader question: does the growing interest in nonhuman agency advance, complicate, or inhibit our understanding of feminist concerns?
Carolynn Van Dyke