Red River Women’s Studies Conference held at Minnesota State Moorhead
This years theme focused on exploring feminist thought and practice.
MOORHEAD, Minn. (KVRR) — This year’s annual Red River Women’s Studies Conference took place at Minnesota State Moorhead. The topics throughout the day focused on women’s struggles throughout history and its influence on today’s generation, and what work still needs to be done.
“It’s really just a culmination of ideas from scholars, community members, artists, activists, that are deeply rooted in women and gender studies. But also just women’s rights in general,” said Caitlin Johnson, Director of Women and Gender Studies and Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at MSUM.
This year’s theme is titled Unfinished Revolutions: Feminism, Art, and the Legacies of Resistance. Speakers from across the Red River Valley share their experiences in life, their studies, or work that has influenced them.
“This conference kind of reminds us of like all different people’s identities that can be affected by the same thing differently, just because of where they stand. So I think it’s really, I’m all about things looking at from different perspectives which is kind of why I’m an artist because I look at things at a funky perspective. And I just love learning,” said Lauren Starling, Muralist.
Starling is an alum of MSUM and is one of the many who came out to support the conference. Along with Starling, students from other colleges were also a part of the line-up of speakers.
“There is so much to learn about women’s rights, and just a lot of different things that we don’t really get to see a lot of the time. And it kind of shows up in many different aspects of life. And I really think that it’s important that we are taking the time to sit down and learn about these things,” said Kaylee Robinson, Concordia College Student.
While each of the sessions focused on separate subjects, Johnson hopes people are able to carry on the legacy of the work and recognize that there’s still more to be done.
The RRWSC is a traveling conference, rotating annually among regional institutions including UND, NDSU, MSUM, and Concordia College.
