On Monday, November 22 from 12:40 to 1:30 p.m. Maria DeRose, graduate teaching assistant and doctoral candidate at Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, will give a presentation titled Gender, Racial and Political Ideologies in American Thanksgiving. The event sponsored by the Aquinas College Jane Hibbard Idema Women's Studies Center will be in the Loutit Room of Wege Student Center. It is free and open to the public.

In this presentation, DeRose will deconstruct commonly held beliefs about the "First Thanksgiving" as well as the romanticized and idealized cultural ideologies surrounding American Thanksgiving today. Using images of Thanksgiving from film and television, she will discuss gender and racial politics present, yet often overlooked, in mainstream media and discuss how these "harmless" portrayals of family values and patriotism have the potential to reinforce sexism and racism.

DeRose is a doctoral student in Bowling Green State University's American Culture Studies Department. Her primary areas of study include feminist science fiction and women in mainstream media. She has taught classes in American Culture Studies, Ethic Studies and Women's Studies including one on her dissertation topic, Feminism through Science Fiction. DeRose received her bachelor of arts degree from Calvin College and her master of arts from Bowling Green State University.