Dr. Lauren Janette will speak about how French pacifist women in the post-WWI period sought to give themselves (and their counterparts in other countries) agency in post-war peace, despite not gaining the right to vote. She will broadly address themes of feminized icons of grief, motherhood as a transnational experience, and mobilizing motherhood to fight fascism.

In response to The Gund’s presentation of Nancy Spero’s Maypole: Take No Prisoners exhibition and the artist’s lifelong commitment to feminist and anti-war art and activism, we are hosting a semester-long program series exploring the gendered dynamics of war and militarism. Engage with scholars, writers, and artists specializing in fields focused on the intersection and interdependence of gender and war. Topics may include symbols and victims of war, gender as a lived experience in war, and the symbolic expression of gender in war. These programs create opportunities for dialogue on the deeply gendered social and political influences shaping war and allow us, as an academic community, to explore a better understanding of the realities of war in the contemporary moment.