Women in Conflict: Constructing Identity in the Twentieth Century During Dictatorship and War

Presentation given at the A Moveable Feast Lecture Series.

Drawing from distinct historical moments and settings, Comparative Literature Assistant Professor Hapsatou Wane and History Associate Professor Allison Scardino Belzer will explore how women writers respond to political and military conflict. Wane will evaluate how Afro-Brazilian women use stories of insurrection to represent the muddy entanglements of their identities. In particular, she will examine the role memories of slavery, colonialism and military dictatorship play in the construction of black selfhood. Belzer will analyze how women living at the Italian front responded to the violence they experienced during the First World War. She will emphasize how, as civilians and volunteer medical personnel, these women resisted military occupation and promoted Italian patriotism, all the while redefining what femininity could mean in the early 20th century. Wane holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Belzer has a Ph.D. from Emory University.