Call for Papers: International Year for People of African Descent (African Women Australia, Inc.)

Deadline: 17 August 2011

Contributions are invited from participants who possess knowledge and practice/ life experience relevant to the conference program:

· Recognition, Social Inclusion and Capacity Building

· Contributions of people of African Descent to Australian society

· Stories of the people of African descent since the First Fleet and through the periods of the White Australian policy, Assimilation policy, integration and multicultural policy.

· The economic, social, cultural and political rights of people of African Descent in Australia

· Issues of identity, maintenance of identity and the impact of Diaspora on identity

· Exploration of Identity and community in a vastly diverse community in Diaspora.

· Creating spaces for advocacy.

Preparing an abstract

The abstract should outline the subject of the presentation in no more than 250 words.

Additionally, it should include a concise title and the full names and contact details of the authors. The lead author/presenter should be listed first as the key contact. Any additional authors should be listed in the space provided and be clearly identified if they will be co-presenting.

A brief personal biography (approximately 100 words) from the presenting author/s must also be included which can be used to introduce speakers at the conference.

Please do not include any acknowledgments, figures or references in the abstract. Please provide details if you have presented this paper previously (i.e. conference, conference location and date).

Please indicate on your abstract submission form if it should be considered for a 30-minute presentation (20 minutes presentation, 10 minutes questions). Timings are subject to change based on the final program and presenters will be notified of their allocated time.

The abstract will be published in the final conference program.

Submitting an abstract

Abstracts must be submitted electronically by 5.00 pm Wednesday, 17 August 2011 using the abstract submission form.

Completed abstract submission forms should be returned by email, to registration@africanwomenaustralia.org

The program advisory committee for the conference will consider all abstracts for potential inclusion in the conference program and authors will be notified of the outcome by 30 August 2011.

This is a community event, hence, all Authors of accepted papers are expected to register and attend the conference. All expenses associated with attendance are to be covered by the presenter.

CONFERENCE INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION

You are invited to the National Conference to mark the 2011 International Year for People of African Descent: “People of African Descent: Recognition, Social Inclusion and Capacity Building” to be held at the Sebel Hotel 350 Church Street Parramatta New South Wales on 30 September, 2011. The conference is collaboratively organised by African Women Australia Incorporated, in partnership with The Hills Holroyd Parramatta Migrant Resource Centre, Australian Human Rights Commission and several African and African Descent community groups around Australia. The conference will be open to all government agencies, service providers, academics and the general community.

An Official Reception will be held 29th September 2011, 6:00pm at Bankstown Arts Centre, 5 Olympic Parade, Bankstown. This will include official speeches, a play, and performances

For inquires, please contact Dativah on e-mail address (info@africanwomenaustralia.org).

To register please read, complete, sign and return the registration, Proof of payment and application (where applicable) forms to the AWAU Inc. by e-mail: registration@africanwomenaustralia.org Receipt of each delegate’s Registration, Proof of Payment and Application Forms will be acknowledged within 5 working days.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE 2011 INTERNATIONAL YEAR FOR PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT CONFERENCE

The year 2011 was declared by the United Nations a International Year for the People of African Descent to strengthen national actions and regional and international cooperation for the benefit of people of African descent in relation to their full enjoyment of economic, cultural, social, civil and political rights, their participation and integration in all political, economic, social and cultural aspects of society, and the promotion of a greater knowledge of and respect for their diverse heritage and culture.

Conference Objectives:

1. Celebrate and acknowledge the presence of people of African descent in Australia raise awareness of the challenges facing people of African descent. It is hoped that the conference will foster discussions that will generate proposals for solutions to tackle these challenges.

2. Explore the collective depths of the delegates’ expertise and skills in order to inspire strategies for change that can advance the recognition for the people of African Descent.

3. And showcase contributions, explore issues and canvass strategies for the way ahead.

Contact Information:

For inquiries: info@africanwomenaustralia.org

For submissions: registration@africanwomenaustralia.org

Website: http://www.africanwomenaustralia.org

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Call for Papers - Bodies that Matter: Representations of Motherhood in US Media

Deadline: 15 August 2011

In times of national crisis, focus often shifts to the figure of the mother, which has come to represent everything from savior to monster. Representations of maternal bodies make their way into popular films, television shows, news coverage, and other media, drawing our attention to the multiple meanings these bodies hold in the stories we tell about ourselves as Americans. As such, this panel will discuss compelling and telling representations of motherhood / the maternal in U.S. media, with a focus on how these maternal bodies relate to culture, politics, religion, and the construction of the nation. To be considered for the panel, please submit 300-word abstracts to the panel chair, Amanda Rossie (Ohio State University) by August 15, 2011 at amanda.rossie@gmail.com.

2012 Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference
March 21-25, 2012
The Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers

Contact Information:

For inquiries: amanda.rossie@gmail.com

For submissions: amanda.rossie@gmail.com

Website: http://www.cmstudies.org/

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Call for Papers: Feminisms and Queer Sexualities (The Korean Association for Feminist Studies in English Literature Conference)

Deadline: 31 December 2011

This conference seeks to explore the complex historical, theoretical, and textual relationships between feminisms and queer sexualities, and to examine the (re)significations of this dynamic in literature and culture. Writers of color, community activists, or sexual minorities have forcefully argued that experiences of patriarchy are deeply inflected by differences in sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, class, age, and national (dis)privilege. It thus seems only natural today to refer to feminisms in their plurality, such as first/third world feminism, black feminism, lesbian feminism, liberal feminism, radical feminism, women of color feminism, transgendered feminism, and ¡°queer feminism.¡± There is, of course, often an analytic separation between gender and sexuality in actual practices of reading and critique. Queer sexual identifications in the most inclusive sense of gay/lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, and transvestite, and ¡°nonnormative¡± sexual practices such as prostitution, sex work, nonmonogamy, public sex, and sadomasochism have been politely relegated to a separate realm from feminism. Yet a serious engagement with gender would de facto entail the understanding of sexuality as not separate but additive; and thus ¡°queer¡± as not simply exclusive to ¡°queer-identified¡± texts, performances, productions, and authors.

The purpose of this conference is to probe the ways in which ¡°feminism¡± and ¡°queer¡± are intimately related in their continuous reckoning with reductive definitions of human identity and difference, and in their commitment to contest all oppressive conditions of fixity and containment. We hope to address questions such as ¡°What are the historical, material, and discursive dis/continuities between feminism and queer theory? What is queer feminism/feminist queering? What is a feminist text/critique and a queer text/critique? How do literary/cultural productions as representations engage in the overlapping of or disruptions between feminism and queer?

In lieu of symptomatic readings that concentrate on how ¡°feminist¡± or ¡°queer¡± texts signify feminist or queer ideologies, we hope to open up discussions of how issues of sexuality and gender are informing of all narratives, through their elision or othering, as well as in their textual prominence. We invite the voices of scholars in various disciplines including literature, film, theatre, media, performance, gender, sexuality, queer, sociology, anthropology, and translation. Papers can address a broad range of topics not restricted to those below:

• Queer feminism and feminist queering
• Feminism and transgender/transvestite
• Feminism, transnational sex tourism, and (queer) prostitution
• Feminist and queer literary/film/performance studies/critique
• Feminist and queer narratologies/stylistics
• Feminist and queer personal narratives/life writing/autobiographies
• Feminism, queer sexualities, and capitalism/colonialism/postcolonialism
• Queer and cultural studies

A 250-word abstract and one-page CV are requested by December 31, 2011, to the FSEL Organizing Committee at fselconf2012@gmail.com. Accepted papers will be announced by the end of February 2012.

Contact Information:

For inquiries: fselconf2012@gmail.com

For submissions: fselconf2012@gmail.com

Website: http://www.fsel.org/

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Call for Papers: Woman and Film in Africa Conference (University of Westminister, UK)

Deadline: 16 September 2011

Women and Film in Africa Conference: Overcoming Social Barriers, Conference organised by the Africa Media Centre, University of Westminster, Date: Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 November 2011, Venue: University of Westminster, Marylebone Campus 35 Marylebone Road, London, NW1 5LS

This is a 1st Call for Papers for a conference on the contemporary and historical role played by women in the film, television and video industries in Africa. From the Arab North Africa, West Africa, Central and East Africa, through to Southern Africa, women have emerged from the double oppression of patriarchy and colonialism to become the unsung heroines of the moving image as producers, directors,actresses, script writers, financiers, promoters, marketers and distributors of film, television and video in postcolonial Africa. Sadly, such immense contributions by women are underrepresented, both in industry debates and in academic research. There are now many cases in which African women in front of and behind the camera have overcome social barriers and yet this is sidelined. This conference invites students, practitioners, academics and researchers to debate how women have contributed to film, television and video markets in Africa from pre-colonial, colonial to postcolonial periods. Existing industry and academic work should also discuss the ways female audiences in Africa have engaged with film, television and video texts. The conference will include a session with leading female filmmakers. Papers may include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following themes:

* The Influence of Feminism on African filmmakers;* Women in front and behind the camera in African film;* Women in the African feature film industry;* Women in technical roles in film, video and television in Africa;* Women documentary makers in Africa;* Gender and Representation of Women in African film;* Audiences for films by African women/Female audiences in Africa;* Case histories of leading African women film makers;* Women scriptwriters;* African women acting in video, film and television;* Censorship and the portrayal of African women in film and television;* The role of NGOs in commissioning women filmmakers and issue-based films;* How African governments have helped or hindered filmmaking by African women

DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACTS

The deadline for submission of abstracts is Friday 16 September, 2011. Successful applicants will be notified by Friday 23 September, 2011. Abstracts should be 200 words long. They must include the title of the conference, presenter’s name, affiliation, email and postal address,together with the title of the paper. Please ensure when saving your abstract that your name is part of the file name. Please email your abstract to Helen Cohen, Events Administrator at: (journalism@westminster.ac.uk).

PROGRAMME AND REGISTRATION

This two day conference will take place on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 November, 2011. The fee for registration (which applies to all participants, including presenters) will be £135, with a concessionary rate of £55 for students, to cover all conference documentation, refreshments and administration costs. Registration will open in September 2011

Contact Information:

For inquiries: journalism@westminster.ac.uk

For submissions: journalism@westminster.ac.uk

Website: http://www.wmin.ac.uk/

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Call for Papers - Woman and Art: The 2nd Canadian Women Artists History Initiative Conference

Deadline: 1 October 2011

IMAGINING HISTORY: The 2nd Canadian Women Artists History Initiative Conference

Is it time for a new history of women and art in Canada? If so, what might such a history, or set of histories, look like? With four decades of scholarship to draw on, women’s art history is well established as a critical approach that has broadened the range of issues, objects and practitioners open to art historical consideration. In Canada, research into this expanded field has produced both narrative overviews and analytic case studies. What are the strengths of this scholarship, and what remains to be achieved? What challenges are raised by the task of integrating existing knowledge into a broader synthetic framework, and what solutions can we imagine? Which stories are still to be told? What gaps and omissions would frame such a history from its margins?

We invite proposals for 20 minute papers that address any aspect of a new history of women and art in Canada. These may range from historically geared analyses of the artworks and artists that such a history could include, to methodologically oriented discussions of its theoretical, organizational or technological horizons. Proposals from academics, curators, librarians, archivists and artists are all welcome.

Please email a 150-word abstract and 2-page c.v. to cwahi@alcor.concordia.ca by 1 OCTOBER 2011. Graduate students should also forward a letter of support from their supervisors.

Contact Information:

For inquiries: cwahi@alcor.concordia.ca

For submissions: cwahi@alcor.concordia.ca

Website: http://cwahi.concordia.ca/

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Call for Papers for GeekGirlCon (Seattle, WA)

Deadline: 27 June 2011

GeekGirlPower: Can't Stop the Signal

GeekGirlCon is a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness of and engaging in dialogue about the contributions of girls and women in the sciences, science fiction, comics, gaming, blogging, and related Geek culture. Their first annual convention will be held in Seattle on 8 and 9 October 2011 at the Seattle Center Northwest Rooms.

In keeping with the themes of the con, this panel will examine where we’ve been, how far we’ve come, and how much further we have yet to go in terms of feminist representation in Geek culture. The panel co-opts the Serenity catchphrase “can’t stop the signal” to represent the breadth of geek girl presence as well as the fact that we are no longer willing to let our voices go unheard.

Seeking accessible, critical pop-culture scholarship on feminist issues surrounding any of GeekGirlCon's special guests and/or their work:

• Bonnie Burton
• Marian Call
• Carrie and Katie Goldman
• Nancy and Bell Holder
• Chase Masterson
• Trina Robbins
• Greg Rucka
• Gail Simone
• Jen Van Meter
  

More information at http://www.geekgirlcon.com/con/guests/

Applications from any discipline as well as from independent scholars are welcome. Please submit an abstract of 300-500 words and a biography of 100-200 words to Karen Burrows, k.burrows@sussex.ac.uk, by 27 June 2011. Final papers should be maximum 15 minutes in length.

Contact Information:

For inquiries: k.burrows@sussex.ac.uk

For submissions: k.burrows@sussex.ac.uk

Website: http://www.geekgirlcon.com/

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Call for Papers: Imagining Magic and Witchcraft in Medieval and Modern Literature (MEMESAK Conference, Korea)

Deadline: 15 July 2011

The Medieval and Early Modern English Studies Association of Korea and the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Seoul National University will co-host an international conference under the title of “Imagining Magic and Witchcraft in Medieval and Early Modern Literature.” In medieval and early modern society, magic and witchcraft provided sources of popular and literary imagination and objects of both sheer fascination and collective anxiety, as well as pretexts for political and religious persecution. They also marked the frontier of scientific inquiry and human understanding. Imagining magic and witchcraft was an attempt to map the unmappable—the supernatural, the unknown, and the prohibited. It was also inseparable from imagining (and policing) alterity because stigmatizing the supernatural was in a nutshell concomitant with supernaturalizing the stigmatized.

The discourse of magic and witchcraft thus inevitably overlapped and colluded with ideological discourses on gender, sexuality, race, and religion. The conference will explore how medieval and early modern texts—either European or non-European—imagine/represent magic and witchcraft and how such imagining/representation interacts with the ideologies and mentalities of the periods. It will be a small yet lively forum accommodating a maximum of fifteen speakers. Travel grants (covering three-day hotel expenses) will be available on a limited basis. To apply for participation, email your title, abstract, and CV to the conference organizer by July 15, 2011. Graduate students are welcome to participate.

Conference Organizer:

Hyonjin Kim
Associate Professor of English Literature
Seoul National University
Seoul 151-745, Republic of Korea
Email: hyonjin@snu.ac.kr
Phone: +82-2-880-6086
Fax.: +82-2-887-7850

Contact Information:

For inquiries: hyonjin@snu.ac.kr

For submissions: hyonjin@snu.ac.kr

Website: http://memesak.org

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Call for Papers: (Wo)Man and the Body (Contemporary Women's Writing Biennial)

Deadline: 1 September 2011

‘Bodies have all the explanatory power of minds. Indeed, for feminist purposes, the focus on bodies, bodies in their concrete specificities, has the added bonus of inevitably raising the question of sexual difference that mind does not’ – Elizabeth Grosz, Volatile Bodies: Towards a Corporeal Feminism (1994)

It is in order to raise the question of sexual difference that women must construct a textual space to allow their bodies to be heard. Textual representations of corporeal specificities and the various inscriptions on raced, classed, gendered and sexualised bodies have always been central to women’s writing. The study of bodily discourses and the affective responses of the body to physical environments and societal mandates are also central to feminist literary scholarship. In view of the significance of corporeality in women’s textual productions, the Contemporary Women’s Writing Association and Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures of National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan invite submissions of papers on the theme of ‘(Wo)Man and the Body’ for the fourth international conference on contemporary women’s writing, to be held in Taipei from 11th to 13th July 2012.

Papers and panels in English are sought on all genres of literary and popular writing since the 1970s, including fiction, poetry, plays, autobiography, travel writing, graphic novels etc. in any language. Papers and panels are also sought on the relation of this writing to theory, criticism and teaching. Please note that all presenters are required to be members of the Contemporary Women’s Writing Association (http://www.the-cwwa.org/). Possible topics might include: bodies and bio-politics; bodies and environment; bodies and identities; bodies and migration; bodies and sexualities; bodies and space; bodies and spirituality; bodies and textuality; bodies and work; the medicalisation of bodies; (post)human bodies.

SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS OR PANEL PROPOSALS

E-mail the conference contact person (below) with the following information

• Your full name as you would like it to appear in the conference booklet
• Contact information (e-mail and mailing address)
• A short biography including academic affiliation and area(s) of study
• A 250-word abstract in MS Word (doc or docx) format
• Any audiovisual equipment required

DEADLINES

Applications and abstracts: 1 September 2011
Notification of acceptance: 30 September 2011

CONTACT PERSON:

Dr. Pin-chia Feng
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
National Chiao Tung University
Hsin-chu, Taiwan
cww2012.taiwan@gmail.com

CONFERENCE VENUE:

International Conference Hall of Center
for Condensed Matter Sciences
National Taiwan University
Taipei, Taiwan

Contact Information:

For inquiries: cww2012.taiwan@gmail.com

For submissions: cww2012.taiwan@gmail.com

Website: http://www.the-cwwa.org/

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Call for Papers: The Representation of Violence Against Women in Literary Texts (NEMLA, NY)

Deadline: 30 September 2011

Whip Me, B3at Me: The Representation of Vi0lence Against Women

This panel invites papers that study the representation of vi0lence against women in literary texts. Papers may focus on: How are these acts represented in the text, as a tab0o or as a ‘normal act’? Are these acts decried by the characters or accepted as ‘normal’ behavior? Do these acts affect the passi0ns and s3xuality of the characters? Please send 200-300 word abstracts and brief biographical statements to Victoria Ketz.

Contact Information:

For inquiries: vketz@iona.edu

For submissions: vketz@iona.edu

Website: http://www.nemla.org/

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Call for Completed Papers - Picturing Childhood: A Symposium on Children's Literature and Psychoanalysis (University of Pennsylvania)

Deadline: 15 February 2012

This symposium will provide an opportunity for explorations of a variety of themes related to the interplay of words and pictures in childrens' literature and literature about childhood: memory, dreams, trauma, creativity, as well as the visual imagining of the child's body and family are potential topics for discussion. It will provide a forum for papers on David Small's work in particular and for both the theoretical and clinical aspects of psychoanalysis as they relate to the visual and literary worlds of childhood. Academics, psychoanalysts, graduate students and psychoanalytic candidates are encouraged to submit papers.

Submit completed papers only, 8-10pp. No abstracts or proposals. Names and identifying information on separate cover sheet only by February 15, 2012 to Elaine Zickler,PhD.

Featured Author and Illustrator: David Small

Contact Information:

For inquiries: mezickler@gmail.com

For submissions: mezickler@gmail.com

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Call for Papers: Forbidden Places and Prohibited Spaces in English Women’s Writing (NEMLA, New York)

Deadline: 30 September 2011

In early modern England, travel has the disruptive potential to alter the female traveler as well as to question, defy, and change the shape, rules, and parameters of her social space. Physical journeys open up opportunities for more impalpable travel, including but not limited to social, political, and internal journeys. As Rosi Braidotti has said, “some of the greatest trips can take place without physically moving from one’s habitat. It’s the subversion of set conventions that defines the nomadic state, not the literal act of traveling” (Nomadic Subjects, 5).

This panel seeks to draw a connection between the physical act of traveling itself and the variety of figurative journeys that ensue because of a woman’s movement in the world. We will discuss travel as including the more subtle movements through immaterial social and hierarchical boundaries. Early modern texts are full of narratives, both fictional and real, of these journeys into prohibited places and spaces.

This panel will explore the transformative effects of travel on women. In what ways does physical movement permit other immaterial types of movement and create a space for subversion? How does movement within society, across its social and hierarchical boundaries, challenge existing beliefs and practices? How do intangible journeys alter the landscape of power in which women operate?

Please send 300 word abstracts to Andrea Fabrizio or Ruth Garcia at FabrizioGarciaabstracts@gmail.com by September 30, 2011.

Please include with your abstract:

• Name and Affiliation
• Email address
• Postal address
• Telephone number
• A/V requirements (if any; $10 handling fee with registration)
  

43rd Annual Convention
Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)
March 15-18, 2012
Rochester, New York – Hyatt Rochester
Host Institution: St. John Fisher College
Keynote speaker: Jennifer Egan, 2011 Pulitzer Prize winner

The 43rd annual convention will be held March 15-18th in Rochester, New York at the Hyatt Regency Hotel downtown, located minutes away from convenient air, bus, and train transportation options for attendees. St. John Fisher College will serve as the host college, and the diverse array of area institutions are coordinating with conference organizers to sponsor various activities, such as celebrated keynote speakers, local events, and fiction readings.

Interested participants may submit abstracts to more than one NeMLA session; however, panelists can only present one paper (panel or seminar).

Contact Information:

For inquiries: FabrizioGarciaabstracts@gmail.com

For submissions: FabrizioGarciaabstracts@gmail.com

Website: http://www.nemla.org

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Call for Papers: Capturing Witches: Histories, Stories, Images (Lancaster University, UK)

Deadline: 1 December 2011

In 2012, a year-long programme of events in Lancaster and the surrounding area will mark the 400th anniversary of the trial and execution of the first group of Lancashire Witches. A second trial occurred in 1634 and although pardoned, the accused were re-imprisoned in Lancaster Castle. The case of the Lancashire Witches and their supposed crimes interwove fact and fiction, local hostilities and more exotic ideas of witches’ sabbats that were usually associated with continental witchcraft. They became a cause célèbre, like the witches of Trier and Fulda (Germany), Torsåker (Sweden) and Salem (North America).

This interdisciplinary conference uses the Lancashire witches as a focal point to engage with wider questions about witchcraft: its definitions as maleficium (evil doing) or demonology in trials, the various traditions of witchcraft across centuries and continents, and the ways in which contemporary practice engages with these.

Capturing Witches: Histories, Stories, Images will focus particular attention on how witchcraft is theorised and represented in and through history and across cultures. We particularly encourage considerations of literary, musical, artistic and filmic representations of witchcraft.

We invite proposals for 20-minute papers and panels on witches and/or witchcraft which might address - but are not limited to - the following themes:

•  antiquity;
•  religion and belief;
•  Neo-Paganism;
•  the developing world;
•  human rights;
•  gender;
•  corporeality;
•  location;
•  ritual (ceremony, performance, magical practice);
•  childhood;
•  language;
•  law;
•  consumption ( dress, fashion, food);
•  the arts (literature, music, film, painting, dance, theatre, graphic novels);
•  the Gothic;
•  new media
  

Proposals for contributions which go beyond the conventional academic format are also welcome.

Proposals (paper: 250 words, panel/other format: 500 words) including a 50-word bio for each contributor should be sent to the conference team by 1 December 2011 to capturingwitches@lancaster.ac.uk. Decisions on submissions will be made by 31 January 2012.

Conference team: Charlotte Baker, Alison Findlay, Liz Oakley-Brown, Elena Semino, Catherine Spooner

Capturing Witches: Histories, Stories, Images
400 years after the Lancashire Witches
Lancaster University
17-19 August 2012

Confirmed Keynote speakers: Diane Purkiss (UWE); Robert Poole (Cumbria)

Contact Information:

For inquiries: capturingwitches@lancaster.ac.uk

For submissions: capturingwitches@lancaster.ac.uk

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Call for Papers: Imagining Gender in Nineteenth-Century American Women’s Poetry

Deadline: 1 June 2011

In accord with the SAMLA special focus, “The Power of Poetry in the Modern World,” proposals are invited addressing women poets of the nineteenth century. Specifically, the panel will explore how female writers of the era poetically imagined gender roles. By June 1, 2011, please submit a one-page CV and a proposal of 250 words to Mary Wearn, Macon State College, at mary.wearn@maconstate.edu.

2011 SAMLA Convention
Loews Hotel Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
November 4-6, 2011

Special Focus: The Power of Poetry in the Modern World

Contact Information:

For inquiries: mary.wearn@maconstate.edu

For submissions: mary.wearn@maconstate.edu

Website: http://samla.gsu.edu/

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Call for Papers: Mothering in Poetry (2011 Samla Convention, Georgia)

Deadline: 20 May 2011

2011 SAMLA Convention
Loews Hotel Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
November 4-6, 2011

Special Focus: The Power of Poetry in the Modern World

We are Currently accepting Session Proposals and Calls for Papers

Mothering in Poetry: GENDER STUDIES

This session seeks paper proposals that explore the various images of modern mothering and motherhood in poetry. Topics may include, but are not limited to, constructions or changes of mothering identities and motherhood in poetry; discussions of “good” or “bad” mothering in poetry; complexities of mothering and motherhood in poetry, especially as they intersect with race, discrimination, class, gender, economics, nation, family, community, education, technology, and language; new connections between mothering and motherhood and the modern world in poetry; and ideological and social debates of mothering and motherhood in poetry.

By May 20, 2010, please send a one- to two-page abstract and a short C.V. (including complete contact information) to Dorsía Smith Silva, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, at djsmithsilva@yahoo.com.

More information here.

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Call for Papers - Tights and Tiaras: Female Superheroes and Media Culture (venue: Melbourne)

Deadline: 11 April 2011

TIGHTS AND TIARAS: FEMALE SUPERHEROES AND MEDIA CULTURES

12-13 August 2011

Monash University, Melbourne

Sponsored by: The Centre for the Book, Monash University

In 2010, the 600th issue of Wonder Woman celebrated the Amazonian superhero’s longevity in print media. To mark the occasion, the issue reinvented the superhero’s iconic costume to make it less revealing, introducing dark trousers and a blue, starred jacket. This shift to more practical, less sexualised wear arguably reflects changing attitudes about gender and the growing female presence in the comics industry. Nonetheless, the change prompted some controversy online amongst fan communities, again highlighting the problematic history of the representation of women as powerful figures.

‘Tights and Tiaras: Female Superheroes and Media Cultures’ is a one and a half day interrogation of the construct of the ‘superhero’ as female and more generally of the representation of powerful female figures in fantasy and science fiction. Looking at a range of print and visual media, papers will explore the range of female characters in superhero narratives, the material history of the female superhero, and how visual and textual constructs of female heroes - and anti-heroes - have been re-imagined, re-invented and re-packaged over time.

Possible topics include:

* The representation of female superheroes in print and visual media – in comics, comix, graphic novels, novels, short stories, fan fiction, film, television, and other media forms
* Distribution of narratives and images of female superheroes across multiple genres and media platforms
* The female hero quest
* Deconstructing the superhero trope – studies in feminism, patriotism, politics, race, satire, comedy, and so on
* Constructs of the female supervillain
* Superhero fashions, including costumes, cosplay and sartorial signifiers
* Female collaboration in comics
* Female comics artists: historical and contemporary
* Female comics audiences and fan communities
* Analysis of the institutional, commercial and licensing histories of
* female superhero properties
* The construction of powerful women in fantasy and science fiction genres

Please submit abstracts of no more than 250 words, accompanied by a brief bio, by emailed attachment to Dr Rebecca-Anne Do Rozario (Rebecca.DoRozario@monash.edu). The deadline for abstracts is 11 April, 2011.

More information here.

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Call for Papers: Fat Studies (National Women's Studies Association 2011 Conference, Georgia)

Deadline: 13 February 2011

This year the NWSA Fat Studies Interest Group is having an OPEN call for papers for the 2011 NWSA conference to be held Nov. 10-13 in Atlanta, GA. Papers on any topic at the intersection of women's studies/feminism/gender/sexuality and fat studies will be considered.

At minimum, your submission should fall under one of the following themes for NWSA 2011:

* The Politics of Crisis
* Subverting the “Master’s” Tools?
* Deploying Feminisms
* Women’s Studies without Walls
* Creative Interventions

For more information on the themes, visit: http://www.nwsa.org/conference/cfp.php

While this is an open call, topic suggestions from last year's meeting include: Fat Chicana Studies, Fat & Aging, Intersections of Fat & Disability, Transnational Fat Studies, New Scholarship on the Body: Regulation of Appearance, Fatness in Media Culture, Fat Feminist Activisms, Fat Studies and Pedagogy, Fat Studies Professionalization, Fatness and the Internet, and Fat Studies and Eating Disorders.

If you are interested in being a part of the 2011 Fat Studies panels at NWSA, please send the following info by February 13, 2011 to NWSA Fat Studies Interest Group Co-Chairs Joelle Ruby Ryan and Michaela Null: (Joelle.Ryan@unh.edu) AND (mnull@purdue.edu):

Name, Institutional Affiliation, Snail Mail, Email, Phone, Theme your paper fits under, Title for your talk, a one-page, double-spaced abstract in which you lay out your topic and its relevance to this session. Each person will speak for around 15 minutes, and we will leave time for Q&A.

As a side note, at the request of the Fat Studies Interest Group, NWSA has added 'fat feminisms' as a key word for the program. This means that if you submit a fat studies/fat feminism related paper or panel, you can tag it with the keyword 'fat feminisms,' and likewise search the 2011 program for 'fat feminisms' to find relevant panels. If you submit a paper or panel on your own, we encourage you to use this keyword if your paper or panel fits the bill. We thank NWSA for adding a keyword that helps conference attendees locate fat studies panels.

More information here.

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Call for Proposals: Lesbian-Feminist Issues and Religion

Deadline: 1 March 2011

Call for Proposals

This Group invites papers and complete panels that treat theoretical, methodological, and/or practical dimensions of the following themes:

* On the history of, problematic within, or reclaiming of the concept of “woman-identified woman”

* Borderlands — theorizing Lesbian feminism in and/or as borderlands in relation to Gloria Anzaldua’s work on borderlands

* Queer eclipses — has “queer” eclipsed the relevance of gendered sexual identities (i.e., lesbian and gay)? Of feminism? How is the category of “queer” itself subject to eclipse?

* Lesbian feminist theorizing of terrorism and responses to terrorism

* Ethics, grammar, discourses, models, and/or experiences of lesbian-feminist sexualities in non-Christian religion

* Engagements with queering disabilities studies (for a possible cosponsored session with the Religion and Disability Studies Group)

Mission

For over fifteen years, this Group has been exploring the multiple dimensions of lesbian interaction with religion. The development and/or confrontation of lesbian/feminist mythologies and histories in diverse religious and spiritual movements are theorized and debated, as are the identity and visibility of women’s sexuality in religious and other cultural arenas. Contemporary concerns, including the interplay of religious and political rhetoric in determining the social inclusion or marginalization of lesbians and all queers, are also addressed in our sessions. Issues pertaining to social categories of race, class, and gender are central to our analyses. In these ways, we serve as a critical forum for expanding debate on how religious and lesbian categories conceptualize and influence one another. We maintain a listserv for discussion among all interested members; to join please send an e-mail to elizabeth.say@csun.edu.

Anonymity of Review Process

Proposals are anonymous to Chairs and Steering Committee Members until after final acceptance or rejection.

Questions?

Marie Cartier
Claremont Graduate University
ezmerelda@earthlink.net

Yvonne Zimmerman
Methodist Theological School, Ohio
yzimmerman@mtso.edu

Submit here.

More information here.

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Call for Papers: Women and New Media in the Mediterranean Region

Deadline: 1 March 2011

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: WOMEN & NEW MEDIA IN THE MEDITERRANEAN REGION, ISIS CENTER FOR WOMEN & DEVELOPMENT

June 24, 25, 26, 2011 – Fez, Morocco – Palais des Congres

With the growing dominance of the Internet, blog, chat and mobile telephony, the great “big bang” of the new media has begun. Communication is rapidly changing and becoming mobile, interactive, personalized and multi-channel. This extraordinary revolution is affecting the basic structure of Mediterranean societies, especially those in the south, and is raising various discussions and debates that profoundly impact women: the rapid transformation of the boundaries between the public and the private spaces, the relationship between new technology, orality and women’s literature, changes in the relationship between written and oral languages, the increasing use of mother tongues (mainly oral) in the field of education, and the challenges of new transmissions of women’s knowledges.

These issues are the five main axes of the International Congress Forum on “Women and New Media in the Mediterranean Region”, to be held on June 24, 25 and 26, 2011 at the Palais des Congrès, Fez , Morocco :

1. The transformation of the relationship “gender and public space / private space” in the era of new media
2. New media, orality and literature Women
3.Femmes, written languages and mother tongues
4. The new media and education
5. The challenge of new transmissions of women’s knowledge

Papers may be in Arabic, French or English and will last 15-20 minutes.

The deadline for receiving abstracts is March 1, 2011.

The successful participants will be notified by March 31, 2011, and the completed papers need to be emailed send before June 1, 2011.

Participants are responsible for their trip and lodging expenses.

More information here.

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Call for Papers: The Role of Women in Promoting Peace and Development in the Horn of Africa

Deadline: 30 March 2011

Conference

The Horn of African conferences have since its inception focused on issues related to peace, security and development. So far, none of the conferences has yet had an explicit focus on the linkages between gender, peace and development. This time the focus of the conference is set on these linkages. We know that the violence has had disproportionate effects on the lives of women. Often as targets of extreme forms of violence, women in the Horn of Africa experience the full impact of violent conflict in the region as civilians and combatants, but are generally excluded from the decision-making processes that ignite wars or put an end to hostilities.

In a joint effort between United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and Club de Madrid to promote women’s leadership for peace and security in the Greater Horn of Africa, they described the situation for women in the region:

“Priority is rarely given to developing women’s individual and collective capacity to address these conflicts and to build stable, peaceful and democratic institutions in the Horn of Africa. Women generally remain absent from policy dialogue with government on critical issues for peace and security that have fundamental gender dimensions and implications for sustainable stability. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325) was adopted in 2000 for the empowerment of women as peace builders in conflict and post conflict settings, yet most of its commitments have not been implemented.”

Women are important agents for creating stability in the lives of their families and to promote reconciliation and peace even under very difficult and traumatic situations. However, women's peace building potential have had no significant impact on policies and decision relating to conflicts because of their absence from the decision making processes and bodies in the region.

The conference aims at raising awareness about the importance of implementation of these resolutions in the Horn of Africa, especially in countries emerging from conflict. The rational behind the conference is to give attention to the situation for women and their concern over peace and development, and to strengthen their role in the promotion of peace and development in the Horn of Africa.

The objective of the conference is to:

• Raise awareness of women’s needs and situation in the Horn of Africa.
• Raise awareness of Horn of African governments' social service expenditures.
• Raise awareness of UNSCR 1325 and 1820 in a Horn of African context.
• Promote the inclusion of Horn of African women in the decision-making positions in their respective governments, as well as in regional and international organizations.
• Promote women's memberships in governmental decision-making institutions.
• Promote the participation of Horn of African women in conflict prevention and resolution processes.
• Promote networking between Horn of African women peace organizations, and other stakeholders.
• Promote maintenance and protection of due process of law and constitutionalism in Horn of African countries

There are special invitations to political scientists, sociologists, historians, economists, practitioners, lawyers, civics, institutions, and policy-makers to conference as presenters. Your inputs and perspectives bring vital insights into peaceful solutions to women’s issues in the Horn of Africa.
Papers:

The conference calls for inter-disciplinary papers within the following areas:

Below follows proposed topics:

- Women’s experience of armed conflict in the Horn of Africa, e.g. separation, loss of relatives, physical and economic insecurity, an increased risk of sexual violence, wounding, detention, deprivation and even death.
- Women’s needs in the Horn of Africa (be they combatants, persons deprived of their freedom, refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), mothers and/or members of the civilian population).
- Women’s needs for safety and security in the Horn of Africa.
- Women’s vulnerabilities and coping mechanisms in the Horn of Africa (vulnerability facing pregnant women, nursing mothers, mothers of small children, female heads-of-household and young girls). It is important to consider when assessing vulnerability facing women is whether their community is urban or rural. Sensitivity to local context and culture is crucial to understanding and responding to the effects of conflict.
- Natural resources and gender imbalances.
- Female members of the regular armed forces, armed groups or their support services in the Horn of Africa.
- Female politicians, leaders of NGOs and active campaigners for peace.
- The status and review of the progress or lack thereof of the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 in the Horn of Africa.
- Negotiation and Post-conflict reconstruction: Increasing women’s participation
- The status of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1820 in the Horn of Africa.
- The Gendered Impact of Prolific Small Arms.
- Women as peacemakers, peacekeepers and peace builders.
- Women’s participation in governance and the process of decentralization and democratization in the Horn of Africa.
- Women’s contribution to reconciliation and long-term conflict prevention.
- Legislation and gender.
- Women’s participation in the political processes and democratization.

You are invited to send a one page abstract which should include a working title, the author’s discipline and field, address, institutional affiliation and e-mail address to either of the conference coordinators written below before 30th March 2011. Deadline for the complete paper is 30th June 2011. Papers are expected to be of high quality and follow the time limitations. All guest speakers are requested to take an inter-sectional approach to their papers. We look forward to receiving your abstract.

For more information please contact:

Abdillahi Jama, Conference Coordinator
Somalia International Rehabilitation Centre (SIRC)
BOX 974,
220 09 Lund, Sweden,
Tel/fax: +46 46-2114502,
Mobil: +4673-989 75 33,
sirc@zeta.telenordia.se, http://www.sirclund.se

Former Ambassador to UN, Count Pietersen,
Conference Co-Coordinator
Somalia International Rehabilitation Centre (SIRC)
BOX 974
220 09 Lund, Sweden
Tel: +46 46-2115269
E-mail: count.pietersen@home.se
sirc@zeta.telenordia.se
www.sirclund.se

More information here.

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Call for Submissions: Feminism is for Every(Body) - The Feminist Action Project (venue: Texas)

Deadline: 1 February 2011

The Feminist Action Project, a two-day conference to be held at the University of Texas at Austin on April 1st and 2nd, 2011, is seeking panel and workshop submissions.

This year’s theme is Feminism is for Every(body). We intend this theme to encompass both accessibility to feminism and matters of lived and physical bodies. Our goals for the conference include: emphasizing “art as resistance”, including in equal measure the experiences and perspectives of academic and community members, making space for discussion about what feminism means (addressing stereotypes, myths, and stigma), and helping broaden the feminist community by framing its issues in relation to other activist movements. In addition to the larger global perspective of the conference, we hope for one programming track to focus on issues specific or pertinent to Texas.

Submissions should be consistent with the theme and goals. We welcome academically- oriented proposals as well as practical and activist ones, but we prefer interactive and conversational models. We are particularly interested in proposals dealing with:

marked bodies

• ‘race’ and racism
• queerness and gendered bodies
• fat and body activism
• disability
• ageism

governed bodies/body justice

• sex work
• reproductive justice
• human trafficking
• immigration

self-care

• self-esteem and self-care
• self-care in protest situations
• self-care in difficult economic times
• class and economic issues

accessing feminism

• feminist issues on campus
• barriers to adopting the label ‘feminist’
• movement intersectionality and organizing
• global feminisms

In accordance with these themes, we are honored to announce this year’s keynote speaker: Loretta Ross, a highly accomplished women’s human rights, race, and reproductive justice activist. Marianne Kirby, a fat activist and blogger, will also be joining us for panels.

Please include in your submission:

• Title of panel, workshop, or presentation
• Brief description, no more than 300 words
• Description of AV and space requirements
• Your name and contact information (cell phone and e-mail preferred)

The deadline for submissions is February 1, 2011. Please submit all documents via email to feministactionproject@gmail.com, with “Attn: Programming Committee” in the subject line. You can send the submission as a Microsoft Word file, .pdf, or text file. If postal mail works better for you, please send it to: Feminist Action Project, Attn: Programming Committee, 1 University Station, A6220, SOC #529, Austin, TX, 78712.

We are very excited about this year’s conference and we look forward to hearing from you!

More information here.

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