‘Pippi to Ripley’ Conference at Ithaca College

By David Maley, April 19, 2017

‘Pippi to Ripley’ Conference at Ithaca College

Sex and gender as portrayed in popular culture ranging from television shows such as “The Walking Dead” and “Westworld” to Grimm’s fairy tales to the “Legend of Zelda” video game series will be the focus of a conference at Ithaca College April 21–22.

“Pippi to Ripley 4: Sex and Gender in Fantasy, Science Fiction, Children’s Literature and Comics” will feature presentations devoted to fictional characters in all media, including comics, films, television and video games as well as in folklore, mythology and children’s and young adult literature.

The conference is named for Pippi Longstocking — the pigtailed schoolgirl from the series of children’s books — and Ellen Ripley, the heroine of the “Alien” film series.

All of the presentations are free and open to the public.

The keynote session, “Black & Geeky: A Conversation about Nerdcore, Race and Representation,” will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 12, in Textor 102. The panel discussion will feature hip-hop artists Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo (“Sammus”), Isaiah Horton (“Yvng Pluto”) and Dillon C. Randolph (“Magnetic the Shaman”), moderated by Ithaca College student Kyra Skye, a sound engineer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer.

Other sessions will explore such topics as fairy godmother invocation, ecofeminism, artificial intelligence, vampire worlds and dystopia.

The complete program schedule can be found here.

For more information contact Katharine Kittredge, professor of English, at kkittredge@ithaca.edu