Beth Johnson
Leeds University
The MeCCSA Women’s Network contributed funding to two excellent events last month.
‘The Cultural Politics of Meghan Markle Symposium’ took place on 15th November at Conway Hall, London. The symposium set out to exchange ideas and develop ideas for the authors taking part in two special issues on the cultural politics of Meghan Markle edited by Dr Hannah Yelin and Dr Laura Clancy: ‘Disciplining the M/Other: examining contemporary mediated motherhood through the case of Meghan Markle’, for Women’s Studies in Communication and ‘Race, Royalty and the Cultural Politics of Meghan Markle: Elites, Inequalities and a Woman in the Public Eye’ for Women’s Studies International Forum. The day acted as a space to share ‘works in progress’, both with each other and with other attendees, in order to develop papers for publication. Some authors also presented their work remotely, giving the day scope beyond the room itself.
Alongside the organisers, papers were contributed from a range of scholars including Mary McGill (University of Ireland, Galway), Dr Rebecca Feasey (Bath Spa University), Prof. Shani Orgad (London School of Economics), Prof Kathryn Baldwin (Tulane University), Tessa Nunn’s (Duke University), Dr Rachael McLennan (University of East Anglia), Prof Fiona Handyside (Exeter University), Dr Helene Connor (University of Auckland), Dr Nicole Wilson (University of Central Lancashire) and Dr Jonathan Ward (Kings College London).
For more information about the symposium, you can visit the hashtag for the day #MMCulturalPolitics.
The second event sponsored by the MeCCSA Women’s Network was a public screening of the 2019 documentary film ‘Shusenjo: The Main Battleground of the Comfort Women Issue’, plus a Q&A with the writer/director, Miki Dezaki. Hosted across interdisciplinary departments at the University of Leeds on the 13th of November, the screening and Q&A offered a space for students, staff, academics from other institutions and the public to view a documentary on a deeply contested and divisive issue in Japan, Korea and China. The film, unlike other films on the comfort women issue, focused on the rise of the Far Right in Japan, thus offering an alternative understanding of the importance of the ‘comfort women’ issue.
We look forward to receiving new proposals from members wishing to host an event at their institution with the support of the Women’s Network. If you’re interested, please contact the Network Chair, Beth Johnson on: b.l.johnson@leeds.ac.uk