“Women Inside Organized Racism”               

Thursday, September 10, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Phillips Auditorium, Room 120

In the opening event of this year-long series, join Dr. Kathleen M. Blee, Distinguished Professor and the Chair of the Sociology Department at the University of Pittsburgh, for a fascinating look at women and their involvement in various hate movements across America. Blee, who has been researching women’s involvement in “organized racism” for over a decade, has authored such pertinent scholarship as Inside Organized Racism: Women in the Hate Movement; Feminism and Anti-Racism: International Struggles for Justice, and Women of the Klan: Racism and Gender in the 1920s. Professor Blee will accompany her talk with the screening of the documentary Not in Our Town: The Original Story, an inspiring look at how residents of Billings, Montana responded when violent hate activities reached a tragic climax.

"Gazing in the Mirror:  When the Pursuit of Perfection Meets Reality"

Thursday, October 8, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Phillips Auditorium, Room 120

Join Dr. Ellen Granberg, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Clemson University, as she shares her research on women, obesity, weight loss, and self-improvement. Professor Granberg will address women’s physical imagery, and how women react when they are confronted with the gap between their expectations and aspirations versus their reality. She will further address how women can close that gap and move beyond the pursuit of perfection. Granberg will accompany her talk with the documentary Beauty Mark: Body Image and the Race for Perfection, an examination of our culture’s toxic fixation on physical perfection as seen through the eyes of a psychotherapist and former champion triathlete.

“Romance at HPU: Dating, Mating, or Hooking Up?”

Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 7:00 pm
University Center Cinema

Join writer and director Denice Ann Evans as she screens and discusses her award-winning documentary Spitting Game: The College Hook-Up Culture, a frank examination of the socially accepted culture of sexual promiscuity and its relationship to alcohol and drugs that exists on today’s college campuses. Spitting Game describes hooking up as a “drunken, no-strings attached sexual encounter,” behavior that completely eclipses traditional dating and romance. In this compelling documentary, students, parents, and experts discuss the realities, reasons, and risks students are takings as they engage in such behavior. 

“Empowering Black Women”

Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Phillips Auditorium, Room 120

Join Dr. Joanne Sandberg from the Department of Human Relations, Sociology, and Nonprofit Studies and Dr. Judy Isaksen from the Nido Qubein School of Communication as they screen and discuss the documentary NO! Confronting Sexual Assault in Our Communities, which explores the impact of sexual violence on Black females, unpacks the complex dynamics of sexual assault, and sheds light on the challenges and solutions to sexual assault in the African-American community. Created by Aishah Shahidah Simmons, an award-winning African-American feminist documentary filmmaker, NO! artfully combines socio-historical inquiry with messages from violence prevention advocates and first-person testimonials from survivors. This documentary is intended for both women and men, regardless of race, to help navigate the challenging terrain of sexuality—without violence.

“Join the Experiment of Global Creativity”

Thursday, April 8, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Phillips Auditorium, Room 120

In the final segment of the Women’s Documentary Film & Lecture Series, please join Dr. Judy Isaksen from the Nido Qubein School of Communication and Dr. Joanne Sandberg from the Department of Human Relations, Sociology, and Nonprofit Studies as they screen and discuss the poignant film 1000 Journals, about people whose lives are touched by these traveling journals. In 2000, an artist released into the world 1000 blank journals, which continue to connect tens of thousands of people worldwide. In 2003, one journal—filled with words and images—returned to the artist, and filmmaker Andrea Kreuzhage goes on a cinematic mission to tell the stories of what happened to the other 999 journals. The artist has continued this global “message in a bottle” by inviting others to start journals and send them out into world, and we will conclude this film and lecture series by joining the experiment of global creativity and launching journals from High Point University.