Congratulations to three WGSS undergraduate students Raven McAuliffe, River Robinson, and Abigail Alexander who presented a part of the 2024 Columbian College of Arts and Sciences' (CCAS) Research Showcase! The CCAS Research Showcase took place on April 16th and was an opportunity for all Graduate and Undergraduate students in CCAS programs to present their research and scholarship in a poster session.
Raven McAuliffe's presentation "Decolonizing Genderqueer History: Exploring Non-Binary Gender Identities in Pre-Modern South Asia" provided a glimpse into the rich histories of individuals and communities that embraced life beyond binary gender systems. In order to counteract the dominance of Euro-American accounts of genderqueer history, it centered attention on genderqueer communities in pre-modern South Asia.
River Robinson's presentation "Social Structures Fail Queer Youth: The Overrepresentation of Queer Youth in Sex Trafficking" explored the relationship between homelessness and an extended vulnerability to sex trafficking. It examined how power structures in the United States fail to address the issue of queer youth homelessness, thus ignoring the overrepresentation of queer youth in the population of American youths who fail victim to sex trafficking.
Abigail Alexander's presentation "The Marginalization of Unpaid Care Work: A case study on reproductive labor among Latina immigrant mothers" shed light on the negotiations of power between the state and heteropatriarchal social forces by investigating the experiences of immigrant mothers. It used secondary source interviews, feminist analyses, and demographic reports, and integrated postcolonial theory and queer theory into a cohesive discussion.
Special thanks to WGSS faculty who served as research mentors: Professors Cuellar, Barlow, and Krishnan!