Feminist Views of Masculinities
Women’s & Gender Studies Caucus, NeMLA

With the scientific advances of the twenty-first century, gender and sexuality are perhaps more fluid and dynamic than ever before. No longer must one be born a woman to become one, and even the academic field of women’s studies has increasingly been expanded to “women’s and gender studies” or shortened to “gender studies” as a way of acknowledging the need to include and analyze masculinity and queer genders. After a half-century of literary canon revision and the inclusion of women’s voices in all disciplines, what do these changes mean to our teaching and scholarship?

Proposals for this panel discussion could pertain to topics related to the following questions:
• What role does masculinity play in women’s and gender studies?
• In a time when more women than men are attending and graduating from college, has the university become a place where men are marginalized?
• How do we develop a non-essentialist pedagogy that ensures the classroom is a safe space for all genders?
• From its origins as male feminism, how has the field of masculinity studies evolved?
• How does the shift toward gender studies reflect in our syllabi?
• How do feminist scholars and teachers respond to the New Male Studies in its focus on the “great male silence” and the “institutionalized hatred of men”?
• Who is the “male” in the New Male Studies? Is there room for women in this field?
• In a period that some still call third-wave feminism and some call post-feminism, what are the intersections of feminism and masculinity?
• How do we acknowledge masculinity studies without a “we/they” attitude?

Deadline: September 30, 2013

Dr. Lisa Day, Eastern Kentucky University
Lisa.day@eku.edu
Keith 121, 521 Lancaster Avenue, Richmond, KY 40475
859.622.2913
A/V requirements (if any; $10 handling fee with registration)

The 2014 NeMLA convention continues the Association’s tradition of sharing innovative scholarship in an engaging and generative location. This capitol city set on the Susquehanna River is known for its vibrant restaurant scene, historical sites, the National Civil War museum, and nearby Amish Country, antique shops and Hershey Park. NeMLA has arranged low hotel rates of $104–$124.

The 2014 event will include guest speakers, literary readings, professional events, and workshops. A reading by George Saunders will open the Convention. His 2013 collection of short fiction, The Tenth of December, has been acclaimed by the New York Times as “the best book you’ll read this year.” The Keynote speaker will be David Staller of Project Shaw.

Interested participants may submit abstracts to more than one NeMLA session; however, panelists can only present one paper (panel or seminar). Convention participants may present a paper at a panel and also present at a creative session or participate in a roundtable. http://www.nemla.org/convention/2014/cfp.html