Call for Papers
ex aequo – Portuguese Journal of Women’s Studies
nr. 29 (2014)

Special Issue
Feminist Perspectives on Methodology and Epistemology: Debates, Challenges and Dilemmas

Editors: Maria do Mar Pereira (University of Leeds; Universidade Aberta) and Ana Cristina Santos (Centro de Estudos Sociais – Universidade de Coimbra)

Since its emergence, one of the key missions of feminist research has been to develop an interdisciplinary and critical analysis of the epistemological assumptions and methodological principles and procedures of ‘mainstream’ science. This project has had significant and influential effects: it has not only led to innovation in knowledge production, but also contributed, in many countries and disciplines, to the transformation of mainstream scholarly practice.

However, the feminist project of methodological and epistemological critique is neither linear nor uncontested, and despite its undeniable achievements, remains unfinished. There continues to be intense debate over, for example, the nature of the relation between feminism and methodology (is it possible and desirable to speak of “feminist methodologies”?), the complex methodological dilemmas that feminist researchers grapple with (particularly, in the negotiation of power in the research process), or the strategies we should adopt to expand and deepen the feminist challenge to mainstream scholarship, strengthening the impact of feminist research within and beyond the academy.

With the publication of this special issue, ex aequo – the Portuguese Journal of Women’s Studies hopes to create an international and interdisciplinary space for analysis of these debates, challenges and dilemmas. We welcome pieces that engage with these debates, challenges and dilemmas from a wide range of perspectives. The articles can be exclusively theoretical or offer theoretically-grounded analyses of concrete experiences of empirical work.

Possible themes include, but are not limited to:
– feminist theoretical debates about methodology and epistemology (including the role  of such debates in the development of women’s, gender, feminist and queer studies, and their contribution to the critique of mainstream knowledge production)
– the practice of feminist research: epistemological and methodological dilemmas and paradoxes
– innovation in feminist methodologies: developing new methodological strategies to analyse established or emerging objects and questions
– feminist epistemologies: new proposals, classical proposals revisited, and their impacts on scholarly practice
– the relation between epistemology, methodology and political action in feminist research
– citizen’s responsibility, public social science, and the impacts of feminist epistemology beyond the academy
– conceptualising and doing intersectional feminist research: articulations with queer, postcolonial, black, disability, migration and environmental scholarship

This is not intended to be an exhaustive list, and authors are encouraged to submit proposals on other topics which fit the theme of the special issue. ex aequo accepts submissions in Portuguese, English, Spanish and French.

Deadline and Guidelines:
The articles must be submitted by September 10th, 2013, to apem@netcabo.pt<mailto:apem@netcabo.pt>
All submissions must be formatted in accordance with the guidelines presented here: http://www.apem-estudos.org/novosite/?page_id=490
The articles which do not fulfill the guidelines listed above with regards to length, formatting and referencing will not be accepted.
All articles will undergo a peer review process.

Open Section:
As an inter and multidisciplinary journal, ex eaquo is always open to contributions from the disciplines and different tendencies, in an attempt to reflect the broad scope, the diversity and plurality of the theoretical and epistemological approaches that have characterized women, gender and feminist studies. It also aims to question and discuss the problems that affect social relations between women and men in Portugal.
This panel, composed by essays from several sources, aims at broadening the scientific exchange in the area of women and gender studies.
There is no closing date for the Open Section. Submissions must be sent to the Board of the Journal to apem@netcabo.pt<mailto:apem@netcabo.pt>