Multi-Language Major Presents Paper at International Middle Eastern Studies Conference
Billie McClosky '24 presented her paper “Reclaiming the Image of the Arab Women: Feminism and Empowerment through Photography and Social Advocacy” at the Middle Eastern Studies Association Conference in Denver, Colorado, on December 1st.
Having been conducting research and writing since April of 2022, the paper aims to address the works of female-identifying artists, activists, and photographers who have brought to light some of the stigmatic practices and visualizations that stem from Orientalist art originally intended for the Western gaze. The discourse discusses that of the inherently feminine and masculine art forms and how these contemporary artists are working marry ideas of sexuality and blur the lines of what the distinctly gendered things and cultural norms represent and provocatively reclaim and revise stereotypes present in such art to represent the female identity sans extreme sexualization and misogyny. Billie has been able to continue her research thanks to her advisor’s continued support, Gisele El Khoury.
Billie is a Multi-Language Major and a French and Arabic Studies double minor, with the intention of continuing her focus on Middle Eastern Studies. She recently completed a research project (photo-journalistic) in Amman, Jordan over the summer while completing coursework in Arabic, as her hopes are to continue passionately learning the language, and increasing her knowledge through independently-guided research on gender studies in the Middle East. The current junior is a teaching assistant of French and Arabic languages, a Language Resource Center Intern, Treasurer of the Arabic Club, and is a substitute teacher for Canton Central School District. She intends to utilize her coursework and continued research in a culminating Honors project in the following year.