Call for Papers
“Gendering the Carceral State: African American Women, History, and Criminal Justice”
The Journal of African American History (JAAH) is planning a Special Issue on the historical experiences of black women in the criminal justice system. Over the last few decades, the U. S. prison system has witnessed unprecedented expansion, with the number of state prisoners moving from 200,000 in the late 20th century to just over two million in the early 21.st African Americans have been disproportionately represented in the prison population, accounting for roughly 40 percent of the total prison and jail population. A growing body of work has begun to examine mass incarceration, currently and historically. However, the focus is often on the experiences of African American men.
This Special Issue of the Journal of African American History, with guest editors Kali N. Gross and Cheryl D. Hicks, seeks scholarly essays documenting the historical experiences of African American women in the carceral state. Essays focusing on a broad cross-section of issues such as crime, violence, policing, poverty, shifting laws, and penal reform in relation to African American women are welcome.
Among the topics to be considered in this Special Issue of the JAAH are: 1) disproportionate arrests and incarceration rates; 2) juvenile justice; 3) gendered and/or sexual violence; 4) regulation of black female sexuality; 5) the impact of poverty, racism, and stereotypes on the policing and incarceration of black women’s bodies; 6) the impact of legislation, especially drug laws, on African American women and their families; and 7) international comparisons of the impact of carceral practices on women in various locations in the African Diaspora and Africa.
Essays should be no more than 35 typed, double-spaced pages (12 pt. font), including endnotes. The JAAH uses the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition (Chicago, IL, 2010) for citations. Guidelines for manuscript submissions are available in The Journal of African American History and on the JAAH website: http://www.jaah.org/. Submitted essays will be peer reviewed. Your cover letter should include the title of your essay, name, postal address, e-mail address, phone number, and fax number. Your essay should begin with the title of the essay and should NOT include your name.
Please send four (4) hard copies of your manuscript to:
Profs. Kali Gross and Cheryl D. Hicks, Guest Editors c/o V. P.
Franklin, Editor
The Journal of African American History
University of California, Riverside
GSOE -1207 Sproul Hall
900 University Avenue
Riverside, CA 92521
Email: vpf1019@aol.com; or jaah@jaah.org
Submission Deadline: 15 January 2014