FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Nov. 11, 1999 CONTACT: Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119 ANTHROPOLOGIST OF WOMEN, CHINA TO SPEAK AT DRAKE Anthropology professor Lisa Rofel of the University of California-Santa Cruz, who concentrates her work on contemporary China, women and sexuality/gender, will give two lectures next week at Drake University. Both lectures, which are free and open to the public, will take place in the Honors Lounge of Medbury Hall, 1317 28th St. The first lecture, which will start at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 16, is titled "Global Desires: Young Chinese Women and the New Wave of Cosmopolitanism in China." The second lecture, which will start at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 17, will focus on "Qualities of Desire: Imagining Gay Identities in China." This lecture is based on a paper to be published in Gay & Lesbian Quarterly. Professor Rofel has written widely on women, popular culture and change in China. Her latest book, titled "Other Modernities: Gendered Yearnings in China after Socialism," (California 1998) draws on her fieldwork with three generations of silk workers in Hangzhou. She also is co-editor, with Christina Gilmartin, Gail Hershatter and Tyrene White, of the widely cited book titled "Engendering China: Women, Culture and the State" (Harvard 1994). Professor Rofel's visit to Drake is supported by funds from the Drake University Center for the Humanities, the Office of the Provost, the Ellsworth and Sylvia Woods Fund, the Women's Studies Program and the Cultural Studies Program. For more information, call (515) 271-2158.