Cornell's Women's Studies Program and the Program on Gender and Global Change are sponsoring a four-day conference, "Genders and Nations: Reflections on Women in Revolution," April 2 to 5 on campus and in the community.

The conference will feature presentations, lectures and discussions, workshops, films, an art exhibition and a round-table discussion on issues of activism and academic engagement with respect to the position of women. Participants are scheduled to speak on perspectives from areas of the world such as Bangladesh, Ireland, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Poland and Senegal.

Conference activities will be in Willard Straight Theatre, the Biotechnology Building and the Johnson Museum of Art on the Cornell campus April 2, 3 and 5, and at the Women's Community Building, 100 E. State St., April 4.

"The talks -- especially on Saturday at the Women's Community Building -- are designed to be about the experiences of women's lives in various regions of the world," said Shirley Samuels, associate professor of English and chair of the Women's Studies Program.

A film series, which begins Thursday, April 2, at 7:15 p.m. in the Willard Straight Theatre and continues on Tuesdays in April, includes documentaries about women's lives in revolutionary contexts, especially violent revolution (Bosnia, Algeria, Zimbabwe), sexual revolutions (Brazil, India, Nigeria) and cultural revolutions (China).

Editors: Images for publication from the art exhibition at the Johnson Museum are available by calling Leslie Carrere at (607) 273-9648.

After registration Friday, April 3, at 8 a.m. and a welcoming address in the Biotechnology Building, conference lectures and discussions will take place all day under the topic heading "Representations of Revolution." Then at 5 p.m., there will be an art exhibition, lecture and discussion at the Johnson Museum titled "Artists Perspectives on Genders and Nations." The two artists, Chila Kumari Burman (London/India) and Shirin Neshat (New York/Iran), have "very dramatic representations of identities that are fractured by the traces of political and artistic revolutions," Samuels said. The museum catalog of the exhibition, available at the Johnson Museum show Friday, details how they each have worked with video, prints and performance to stage cultural crossings in the context of women's lives.

On Saturday, April 4, the conference moves to the Women's Community Building with a day of lectures and discussions under the heading "State, Ideology and Education." Meena Alexander, a poet, novelist and essayist, will read at the Bookery at 4 p.m.

The conference closes Sunday, April 5, with a round-table discussion beginning at noon in the Biotechnology Building.

The Genders and Nations conference is free and open to the public. For more information on the conference schedule, call the Women's Studies Program at (607) 255-6480 or visit the conference's web page athttp://www.arts.cornell.edu/womens/Conf.Prog.htm.