Symposium on race and gender in global economy takes place April 3-4

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. ? On Friday and Saturday, April 3 and 4, a symposium titled “Sexing Money/Racing Capitalism: A Conference on Race, Gender and the Global Economy” will take place at Middlebury College. The events, which include a keynote address and three panel discussions, are free and open to the public.

According to symposium organizers, the focus of the events will be the intersections of global capitalism with race and gender. “We hope it will illuminate some of the ways in which global capitalism constructs racial and gender categories, and also examine the impact of race and gender on the construction of economic models,” said Middlebury College Professor of Anthropology Ellen Oxfeld.

The keynote lecture will take place Friday, April 3, at 7:30 p.m., in Room 216 of Bicentennial Hall, located on Bicentennial Way off College Street (Route 125). David Harvey and Jane Collins will deliver the talk, titled “Does Capitalism Have a Race and a Gender?” Harvey is a professor of anthropology at the City University of New York (CUNY) and a leading theorist in the field of urban studies. He is the author of numerous books, most recently “The Limits to Capital” (2007) and “Spaces of Global Capitalism: Towards a Theory of Uneven Geographical Development” (2006). Collins is a professor of rural sociology and gender and women’s studies at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Her current research includes gender and labor relations in the global textile and apparel industries.

On Saturday, April 4, all of the panel discussions will take place in the conference room of the Robert A. Jones ‘59 House, located on Hillcrest Road off College Street (Route 125). The first panel, titled “The Sex of Money,” will begin at 9:30 a.m. Stephanie Seguino, a professor of economics at the University of Vermont, will discuss her topic, “Towards a Unified Field Theory of Stratification: How Racial and Gender Inequality Stimulate Capitalist Growth;” Kamala Kempadoo, a professor of sociology at York University, will discuss “Transactional Sex;” and Lisa Sun-Hee Park, a professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota, will discuss “Public Charge and the Logic of Late Capitalism: Pregnant Immigrant Women at the Border.”

The next panel, “The Cost of Money,” will begin at 1:30 p.m. and feature Middlebury College Associate Professor of Anthropology David Stoll discussing “Women in Trouble: Microcredit, Migration and Foreclosure in a Mayan Town in the Western Guatemalan Highlands;” Middlebury College Assistant Professor of Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies Laurie Essig discussing “American Plastic: A Cultural Economy of Cosmetic Surgery;” and Jose Garcia, a researcher at New York City’s Demos Institute, a public policy research and advocacy organization, discussing “Demystifying the Democratization of Credit: The Role of Gender, Race and Ethnicity.”

The third and final panel, titled “The Color of Money,” will begin at 4 p.m. Participants include Middlebury College Associate Professor of Economics Bob Prasch, who will discuss “Race, Sex, Class and the Preconceptions of Neoclassical Economics,” and Marcellus Andrews, a professor of economics at Barnard College and Columbia University, who will discuss “Capitalism and the Skin Game: An Economist’s Meditation on Math, Models and Racism.”

The symposium is sponsored by the Gensler Family Fund and the Carr Hall Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity. Other Middlebury College sponsoring organizations include the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at Chellis House, the Office for Institutional Planning and Diversity, and the Sociology and Anthropology Department.

For more information, contact Middlebury College Coordinator of Diversity Initiatives Jennifer Herrera at jherrera@middlebury.edu or 802-443-5937.

Following is a schedule of events:

“Sexing Money/Racing Capitalism:
A Conference on Race, Gender and the Global Economy”
April 3-4, 2009

David Harvey, Professor of Anthropology at the City University of New York (CUNY)
Jane Collins, Professor of Rural Sociology and Gender and Women’s Studies, University of Wisconsin in Madison
Room 216 of Bicentennial Hall, located on Bicentennial Way off College Street (Route 125)

Saturday, April 4
9:30 a.m.
Panel Discussion: “The Sex of Money”
Stephanie Seguino, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Vermont: “Towards a Unified Field Theory of Stratification: How Racial and Gender Inequality Stimulate Capitalist Growth”
Kamala Kempadoo, Professor of Anthropology, York University: “Transactional Sex”
Lisa Sun-Hee Park, Professor of Sociology, University of Minnesota: “Public Charge and the Logic of Late Capitalism: Pregnant Immigrant Women at the Border”
Robert A. Jones ‘59 House, located on Hillcrest Road off College Street (Route 125)

1:30 p.m.
Panel Discussion: “The Cost of Money”
David Stoll, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Middlebury College: “Women in Trouble: Microcredit, Migration and Foreclosure in a Mayan Town in the Western Guatemalan Highlands”
Laurie Essig, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies, Middlebury College: “American Plastic: A Cultural Economy of Cosmetic Surgery”
Jose Garcia, researcher, Demos Institute: “Demystifying the Democratization of Credit: The Role of Gender, Race and Ethnicity”
Robert A. Jones ‘59 House, located on Hillcrest Road off College Street (Route 125)

4 p.m.
Panel Discussion: “The Color of Money”
Bob Prasch, Associate Professor of Economics, Middlebury College: “Race, Sex, Class and the Preconceptions of Neoclassical Economics”
Marcellus Andrews, Professor of Economics, Barnard College and Columbia University: “Capitalism and the Skin Game: An Economist’s Meditation on Math, Models and Racism”
Robert A. Jones ‘59 House, located on Hillcrest Road off College Street (Route 125)

For more information, contact Middlebury College Coordinator of Diversity Initiatives Jennifer Herrera at jherrera@middlebury.edu or 802-443-5937.