This symposium will explore how vehicles of mobility such as trains, planes, and automobiles contributed to modern expressions of gender and sexuality. Enabling diverse forms of physical travel, vehicles of transportation had differing effects on the mind and body and shaped how travelers of the early twentieth century conceptualized their identities and their relations with others. Intertwined with concepts of race and class, they were often seen as vehicles of social mobility yet associated with transgressive gender and sexual practices.

Four speakers from different public universities will come together for this half-day event to examine aspects of the topic. Each scholar works at the intersection of gender and sexuality studies, mobility studies, literary studies, and cultural studies but utilizes diverse archives and methods. Faculty and students whose research interests overlap with the speakers are invited to participate in a roundtable discussion following the speakers’ presentations. 

Open to the public, the event will be of particular interest to students and faculty in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, English, History, African American Studies, Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures, Psychology, Anthropology, Urban Studies and Planning, the Honors College, and the Humanities Center.
 

Speakers:

Kristin Mahoney, Michigan State University

Miriam Thaggert, University of Buffalo

Andrea Zemgulys, University of Michigan

Elizabeth Evans, Wayne State University

Schedule:

9:30am-10:00am        Arrival, coffee, and conversation

10:00am-11:15am      Panel of research talks

11:20am-12:30pm      Roundtable discussion of shared interests and larger questions