Women in silent film era topic of April 4 lecture

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Dr. Jamie Barlowe will deliver the Women’s and Gender Studies Distinguished Lecture Thursday, April 4, at 5:30 p.m. in the Libbey Hall Dining Room.

She will discuss “‘Back to the Future’: Retro-Active Narrative and Women in the Silent Film Industry.”

“This presentation is part of a larger project on women working in the silent film industry, a legacy that was buried for decades,” Barlowe said. “Recovering the story of their extraordinary success has been ongoing since the late 1970s, including efforts to explain its continuing omission from conventional film histories.

“I expand and examine this legacy as it coincided with women’s political and economic activism in the public sphere that not only provoked unprecedented social change, but also silent films, which attempted to co-opt and contain that change,” Barlowe said.

Barlowe was a professor of English and women’s and gender studies from 1990 until her retirement in January. She served as interim vice provost, as well as dean of the College of Arts and Letters, formerly the College of Languages, Literature and Social Sciences. During her time at the University, she also served as an associate dean, department chair, and president of Faculty Senate.

Light refreshments will be served at the lecture, which is sponsored by the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies; School of Interdisciplinary Studies; and College of Arts and Letters.

For more information on the free, public event, call the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies at 419.530.2233.