I can’t believe this is the last blog post of the semester! I loved watching everyone’s presentations. It’s been so wonderful to see how projects have grown from our initial brainstorming sessions. Making presentations and having discussions with classmates have really helped me in honing into essential questions for my project. And, I’ve read some really interesting articles per recommendations. I hope some of the following comments do the same for others!
Comment on Jemma’s Presentation –
Hi Jemma! Great presentation. Your use of images and mapping made it very engaging and allowed you draw conclusions on the women attending the conferences with support from readings. I found it very interesting that you noted recent scholar’s opinions on the All-Asian Women’s Conference and formed your own conclusion on its importance. You made a very strong and well thought out claim that ‘it was an important and significant challenge to western feminism and western dominated transnational organizations, especially through demonstrating women’s agency and how this affected western attitudes towards non-western women.’ Have you read ‘Suyatin Kartowiyono: A Nationalist Leader of the Indonesian Women’s Movement’ by Susan Blackburn? It analyzes the life of a leader of the women’s movement in Indonesia. It might raise some questions for you on the leaders of these women’s organizations and their intentions on contributing to and leading women’s movements. I skimmed the first few pages and if not helpful for your project, it may just be an interesting read! Here’s the link: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1qv1g3.8
I’ve loved seeing how your project has developed this semester!
Comment on George’s Presentation –
Hi George!
Your constructive criticism of your previous assignments is very inspiring! It’s really helpful to be able to reflect on if an assignment actually aligns with the ethos of the historiography. Although we are doing history, cultural anthropology can lend a helpful hand to understanding how different peoples respond to climate crisis and take political and social action. It might be interesting to consider how the environmental movements affected something like literature. Ecocriticism, though holding a longer history, boomed during the 70s to address environmental justice. You could look at texts like Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. Here are two readings that I find interesting:
Introduction: Ecocriticism and Environmental History
Hannes Bergthaller
https://www.jstor.org/stable/26569521
“No More Eternal than the Hills of the Poets”: On Rachel Carson, Environmentalism, and the Paradox of Nature
Hannes Bergthaller
https://www.jstor.org/stable/26569522
Ecocriticism could help you analyze the rhetorical power and strategies of these environmental movements and their actors. I can’t wait to see how it all turns out!