Subject Guides
Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Guide Contents
About the List
This reading list recommends additional resources for Women's History Month 2023, highlighting women in the arts and sciences.
The Binghamton University Libraries provide resources, services and spaces that highlight women's perspectives. We offer books and materials to support the research, education and development of topics related to women's rights, feminism and allyship. Our spaces, services and staff actively work to elevate the stories of women and gender diverse individuals.
Biological & environmental sciences
- Affect, Ecofeminism, and Intersectional Struggles in Latin America byISBN: 9781433165559Publication Date: 2020-06-15Affect, Ecofeminism, and Intersectional Struggles in Latin America: A Tribute to Berta Cáceres examines the power of affect in structuring decolonizing modes of resistance performed by social movements such as COPINH (Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras). In homage to Berta, who was brutally assassinated for her activism in 2016, this book takes the reader on an affective journey departing from the violent affects experienced by the Lencas due to colonial disruption, contemporary industrialization, and criminalization, towards COPINH's political and social intervention fueled by outrage, resistance, transnational solidarity, care, mourning, and hope.
- Chrysalis byISBN: 9780547538099Publication Date: 2013-09-16Before Darwin, before Audubon, there was Maria Sibylla Merian. An artist turned naturalist known for her botanical illustrations, Merian was born just sixteen years after Galileo proclaimed that the earth orbited the sun. But at the age of fifty, she sailed from Europe to the New World on a solo scientific expedition to study insect metamorphosis--an unheard-of journey for any naturalist at that time, much less a woman. When she returned, she produced a book that secured her reputation, only to have it savaged in the nineteenth century by scientists who disdained the work of "amateurs." Exquisitely written and illustrated, Chrysalis takes us from golden-age Amsterdam to the Surinam tropics to modern laboratories where Merian's insights fuel a new branch of biology.
- Energy Democracy byISBN: 1610918525Publication Date: 2017-10-12Energy democracy is a way to frame the international struggle of working people, low income communities, and communities of color to take control of energy resources from the energy establishment and use those resources to empower their communities--literally providing energy, economically, and politically. Energy democracy is more important than ever as climate and social justice advocates confront a shocking political reality in the U.S. This volume brings together racial, cultural, and generational perspectives. This diversity is bound together by a common operating frame: that the global fight to save the planet--to conserve and restore our natural resources to be life-sustaining--must fully engage community residents and must change the larger economy to be sustainable, democratic, and just.
- Wild Ocean byISBN: 0792274717Publication Date: 1999-08-01This title explores America's 12 marine sanctuaries, from the relics of lost ships at Monitor Marine Sanctuary in North Carolina to the huge underwater cliffs in Monterey Bay, California.
Film
- LGBTQ Film Festivals: Curating Queerness byISBN: 9048543894Publication Date: 2020-04-06While scholars have theorized major film festivals, they have ignored smaller, ephemeral, events. In taking seriously minor European and North-American LGBT festivals which often only exist as traces within archival collections, this book revisits festival studies' methodological and theoretical apparatuses. As the first 'critique' of festival studies from within, LGBTQ Film Festivals argues that both festivals and queer film cultures are by definition ephemeral. The book is organized around two concepts: First, 'critical festival studies' examines the political project and disciplinary assumptions that structure festival research. Second, 'the festival as a method' pays attention to festivals' role as producers of knowledge: it argues that festivals are not mere objects of research but also actors already shaping academic, industrial, and popular cinematic knowledge. Drawing on my experience on the festival circuit, this book pays homage to the labour of queer organizers, critics, and scholars and opens up new avenues for festival research.
- The Routledge Companion to Cinema and Gender byISBN: 9781317408031Publication Date: 2016-11-10The essays included here address a variety of geographical contexts, from an analysis of cinema. Islam and women and television under Eastern European socialism, to female audience reception in Nigeria, to changing class and race norms in Bollywood dance sequences. A special focus is on women directors in a global context that includes films and filmmakers from Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, North and South America. The collection also offers a solid overview of feminist contributions to thinking on genre from the "chick flick" to the action or Western film, to film noir and the slasher. Readers will find contributions on a variety of approaches to spectatorship, reception studies and fandom, as well as transnational approaches to star studies and essays addressing the relationship between feminist film theory and new media.
- Women, Monstrosity and Horror Film byISBN: 9781134779260Publication Date: 2017-08-10This book offers an in-depth analysis of women in horror films through an exploration of 'gynaehorror': films concerned with all aspects of female reproductive horror, from reproductive and sexual organs, to virginity, pregnancy, birth, motherhood and finally to menopause. Some of the themes explored include: the intersection of horror, monstrosity and sexual difference; the relationships between normative female (hetero)sexuality and the twin figures of the chaste virgin and the voracious vagina dentata; embodiment and subjectivity in horror films about pregnancy and abortion; reproductive technologies, monstrosity and 'mad science'; the discursive construction and interrogation of monstrous motherhood; and the relationships between menopause, menstruation, hagsploitation and 'abject barren' bodies in horror. The book not only offers a feminist interrogation of gynaehorror, but also a counter-reading of the gynaehorrific, that both accounts for and opens up new spaces of productive, radical and subversive monstrosity within a mode of representation and expression that has often been accused of being misogynistic.
- Women Do Genre in Film and Television byISBN: 1315526085Publication Date: 2017-10-30Winner of first Prize in the BAFTSS Best Edited Collection competition, this volume examines how different generations of women work within the genericity of audio-visual storytelling not necessarily to 'undo' or 'subvert' popular formats, but also to draw on their generative force. Recent examples of filmmakers and creative practitioners within and outside Hollywood as well as women working in non-directing authorial roles remind us that women are in various ways authoring commercially and culturally impactful texts across a range of genres. Put simply, this volume asks: what do women who are creatively engaged with audio-visual industries do with genre and what does genre do with them? The contributors to the collection respond to this question from diverse perspectives and with different answers, spanning issues of direction, screenwriting, performance and audience address/reception.
Literature
- The Cambridge History of Latina/o American Literature byISBN: 9781107183087Publication Date: 2018-02-22The Cambridge History of Latina/o American Literature emphasizes the importance of understanding Latina/o literature not simply as a US ethnic phenomenon but more broadly as an important element of a trans-American literary imagination. Engaging with the dynamics of migration, linguistic and cultural translation, and the uneven distribution of resources across the Americas that characterize Latina/o literature, the essays in this History provide a critical overview of key texts, authors, themes, and contexts as discussed by leading scholars in the field. This book demonstrates the relevance of Latina/o literature for a world defined by the migration of people, commodities, and cultural expressions.
- A History of Twentieth-Century American Women's Poetry byISBN: 9781107137561Publication Date: 2016-06-20A History of Twentieth-Century American Women's Poetry explores the genealogy of modern American verse by women from the early twentieth century to the millennium. Beginning with an extensive introduction that charts important theoretical contributions to the field, this History includes wide-ranging essays that illuminate the legacy of American women poets. Organized thematically, these essays survey the multilayered verse of such diverse poets as Edna St Vincent Millay, Marianne Moore, Anne Sexton, Adrienne Rich, and Audre Lorde. Written by a host of leading scholars, this History also devotes special attention to the lasting significance of feminist literary criticism. This book is of pivotal importance to the development of women's poetry in America and will serve as an invaluable reference for specialists and students alike.
- The Lesbian Fantastic: A Critical Study of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal and Gothic Writings byISBN: 9780786458851Publication Date: 2011-02-23Science fiction has long been a haven for lesbian writers, allowing them to use the genre to discuss their marginalized status. This critical work examines how lesbian authors have used the structures and conventions of science fiction to embody characters, relationships and other themes that relate to their experience as the quintessential Other in the broader culture. Topics include lesbian gothic, fantasy, science fiction, mixed genre texts and historical background for the works discussed. A vital addition to the scholarship on homosexuality and culture.
- New Criticism and Pedagogical Directions for Contemporary Black Women Writers byISBN: 9781793606709Publication Date: 2022-03-03New Criticism and Pedagogical Directions for Contemporary Black Women Writers is a collection of critical and pedagogical essays that shed new light on the creative depths of Black women writers. On the one hand, some Black women writers have been heavily anthologized, they have more often than not been restricted by critical metanarratives. Some of their works have been lionized while others remain neglected. On the other hand, some Black women writers have been ignored and understudied. This collection corrects the gaps in our critical thinking about Black women writers by introducing them to a new generation of undergraduate and graduate students, and by presenting pedagogical essays to our colleagues currently working in the field.
Music
- Beyoncé: At Work, on Screen, and Online byISBN: 9780253052865Publication Date: 2020-11-17Beyoncé: At Work, On Screen, and Online explores her work as a singer, activist, and artist by taking a deep dive into her songs, videos, and performances, as well as responses from her fans. Contributors look at Beyoncé's entire body of work to examine her status as a canonical figure in modern music and do not shy away from questioning scandals or weighing her social contributions against the evolution of feminism, critical race theory, authenticity, and more. Full of examples from throughout Beyoncé's career, this volume presents listening as a political undertaking that generates meaning and creates community.
- The Cambridge Companion to Women in Music Since 1900 byISBN: 9781108556491Publication Date: 2021-04-17This Companion explores women's work in music since 1900 across a broad range of musical genres and professions, including the classical tradition, popular music, and music technology. The crucial contribution of women to music education and the music industries features alongside their activity as composers and performers. The book considers the gendered nature of the musical profession, in areas including access to training, gendered criticism, sexualization, and notions of 'gender appropriate' roles or instruments. It covers a wide range of women musicians, such as Marin Alsop, Grace Williams, Billie Holiday, Joni Mitchell and Adele. Each thematic section concludes with a contribution from a practitioner in her own words, reflecting upon the impact of gender on her own career.
- The Motherlode byISBN: 1419742965Publication Date: 2021-02-02An illustrated highlight reel of more than 100 women in rap who have helped shape the genre and eschewed gender norms in the process. The Motherlode highlights more than 100 women who have shaped the power, scope, and reach of rap music, including pioneers like Roxanne Shanté, game changers like Lauryn Hill and Missy Elliott, and current reigning queens like Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, and Lizzo--as well as everyone who came before, after, and in between. They are characters, caricatures, lyricists, at times both feminine and explicit. This book profiles each of these women, their musical and career breakthroughs, and the ways in which they each helped change the culture of rap.
- Women Singer-Songwriters in Rock byISBN: 0810872692Publication Date: 2010-01-16In Women Singer-Songwriters in Rock: A Populist Rebellion in the 1990s, Ronald D. Lankford Jr. argues that women singer-songwriters formed a substantial movement within popular music during the 1990s, making a significant social and aesthetic contribution that pushed feminism into mainstream American culture. Lankford examines in depth the work of several artists, including Alanis Morissette, PJ Harvey, Liz Phair, Courtney Love, Tori Amos, Sarah McLachlan, and Sheryl Crow--offering thorough descriptions and analyses of their music, lyrics, and album art. Lankford introduces the singer-songwriter movement and the artists and genres that paved the way for these 1990s rockers, establishing the arch of the popular movement of women in rock as it mirrored the rise of third wave feminism and sketching the cultural and political landscape that served as a backdrop to the women's singer-songwriter movement during the 1990s.
Visual arts
- Asian Women Artists byISBN: 9781476689258Publication Date: 2022-10-18This book is a guide to identifying female creators and artistic movements from all parts of Asia, offering a broad spectrum of media and presentation representing a wide variety of milieus, regions, peoples and genres. Arranged chronologically by artist birth date, entries date as far back as Leizu's Chinese sericulture in 2700 BCE and continue all the way to the March 2021 mural exhibition by Malaysian painter Caryn Koh. Entries feature biographical information, cultural context and a survey of notable works. In an effort to relieve unfamiliarity with parts of the world poorly represented in art history, this book focuses on Asian women often passed over in global art surveys.
- Hearts of Our People byISBN: 9780295745794Publication Date: 2019-06-01Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists explores the artistic achievements of Native women and establishes their rightful place in the art world. This landmark book includes works of art from antiquity to the present, made in a variety of media from textiles and beadwork to video and digital arts. Beautifully illustrated and enriched by the personal reflections, historical research, and artistic insights of leading scholars and artists in the field, Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists pays tribute to the vital role and creative force of Native women artists, now and throughout time.
- Women Seeing Women: A Pictorial History of Women's Photography from Julia Margaret Cameron to Inez van Lamsweerde byISBN: 9781905791200Publication Date: 2007This compendium of camera work by and of women embraces a chronological survey of the medium as well as a journey through women's relationships caught on film. Well-known photographers sit side-by-side with lesser-known artists, leaving behind a record of the way they have viewed the world.
- Women Street Artists of Latin America byISBN: 1933149914Publication Date: 2015-11-17In this groundbreaking, in-depth look at a rarely explored perspective of street art, more than twenty female artists from seven nations in Latin America discuss themes of social justice, artist process, community, visibility, feminism, and more. A bilingual edition packed with full-color photographs and interviews, this revealing exploration of contemporary street art includes work from Colombia, Peru, Panama, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Mexico. Viva!