Call For Papers: Special Issue on LGBT Studies and/or Queer Studies

book-stackRupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities
(www.rupkatha.com)

Special Issue on LGBT Studies and/or Queer Studies
(Volume VI, Number 1, 2014)

Submissions pertaining to any aspect of LGBT studies and/or Queer Studies are solicited from postgraduate students, academics and activists. We are particularly interested in contributions that explore the representation and social construction of queer/LGBT people through interdisciplinary focus (literary, visual, media, sociological and so on).

Topics of interest include:
1. Analysing LGBT: medical, philosophical, psychological perspectives
2. LGBT representation in media/literature/art
2. Political and Social narratives exploring queer identities
3. Regional Case studies
4. AIDS/HIV Narratives
5. New Media and queer identity
6. Activism

We are also interested in short case studies, research notes and book reviews of recent books which explore queer issues or use queer approaches of analysis.

Word-limit:
Papers should be between 3000-5000 words.
Case studies and notes can be between 1500-2500 words.
Book reviews should be between 1000-1200 words for single and/or double book reviews.

Style Sheet: APA

Please send your papers by: February 28, 2014 to editor@rupkatha.com and chiefeditor@rupkatha.com.

Art and Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon

book-and-mouseNew York City Wikipedia Meetup at Eyebeam

  • Date: Saturday, February 1, 2014 from noon to 6 p.m. Can’t be there the whole time? No problem. Join us for as little or as long as you like.
  • Venue: Eyebeam Art and Technology Center, 540 West 21st Street, NYC, 10011 (the event is the closing event for Eyebeam’s Annual Showcase 2014)
  • Cost: Free
  • Participants: The event is open to anyone who wishes to everyone. No Wikipedia editing experience necessary; as needed throughout the event, tutoring will be provided for Wikipedia newcomers. Female editors are particularly encouraged to attend.
  • What to Bring: Attendees should bring their own laptops and power cords. Light snacks and drinks will be provided.
  • Twitter Hashtag: #ArtAndFeminism

Wikipedia’s gender trouble is well documented: in a 2010 survey, Wikimedia found that less than 13% of its contributors are female. The reasons for the gender gap are up for debate: suggestions include leisure inequality, how gender socialization shapes public comportment, and the contentious nature of Wikipedia’s talk pages. The practical effect of this disparity, however, is not. Content is skewed by the lack of female participation, with more articles on notable women absent on Wikipedia in comparison to Encyclopaedia Britannica. This represents an alarming aporia in an increasingly important repository of shared knowledge.

We invite you to help address this absence at a Art+Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon on Saturday, February 1, 2014 from noon to 6 p.m. at Eyebeam Art and Technology Center, 540 West 21st Street, New York City. We will provide tutorials for the beginner Wikipedian, reference materials, and light refreshments. For the editing-averse, we urge you to stop by to show your support. A closing reception for Eyebeam Art and Technology Center Open Studios will follow the edit sprint.

We also encourage remote participation; you can share your thoughts on the editing process in real-time here or on our tumblr. Satellite events will take place at: the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC; the Paul D. Fleck Library and Archives at Banff Centre in Banff, Canada; Studio XX in Montreal, Canada; Luke Lindoe Library at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary, Canada; and more locations to be announced.

Organized by Siân Evans/Art Libraries Society of North America’s Women and Art Special Interest Group, Jacqueline Mabey/The office of failed projects, Michael Mandiberg, and Laurel Ptak/Eyebeam Fellow.

Eyebeam Art and Technology Center is an art and technology center that provides a fertile context and state-of-the-art tools for digital research and experimentation. It is a lively incubator of creativity and thought, where artists and technologists actively engage with culture, addressing the issues and concerns of our time. Eyebeam Art and Technology Center challenges convention, celebrates the hack, educates the next generation, encourages collaboration, freely offers its contributions to the community, and invites the public to share in a spirit of openness: open source, open content and open distribution.

See more at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/ArtAndFeminism

Boston Seminar on the History of Women and Gender

History of Women and Gender

Join us for an in-depth exploration of the latest scholarship.

book-stackThe Boston Seminar on the History of Women and Gender invites scholars and students to meet periodically and discuss new research. Sessions may consider any aspect of the history of women and gender without chronological limitations. A collaboration of the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America and the Massachusetts Historical Society, the seminar meets in turn at the facilities of the two sponsors.

Seminar meetings revolve around the discussion of a precirculated paper. Sessions open with remarks from the essayist and an assigned commentator, after which the discussion is opened to the floor. After each session, the Society serves a light buffet supper.

Be sure to RSVP for this program by emailing seminars@masshist.org or phoning 617-646-0568.

Authors will not read their essays but will offer brief remarks; please read the paper ahead of time and come prepared to join in the discussion. If you are not a subscriber to the series (subscribers receive online advance access to the papers) you may pick up a copy at the MHS front desk on the day of the program. Please phone 617-646-0568 with any questions.

See more details on the seminar website: http://www.masshist.org/2012/calendar/seminars/women-and-gender

Call For Papers: Feral Feminisms Issue II

Feminist Un/Pleasure: Reflections on Perversity, BDSM, and Desire / Deadline 15 November 2013

Feral Feminisms is pleased to announce that their second Call for Papers, “Feminist Un/Pleasure: Reflections on Perversity, BDSM, and Desire,” guest edited by Toby Wiggins from York University in Toronto, is now open.

Click on http://feralfeminisms.com/?page_id=185 for more information.

http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=205853

Call For Papers: De-Naturalising Maternal Desire: Narratives of Abortion, Adoption and Surrogacy (NEMLA April 3-6, 2016)

Conference icon to use on blog postsThis panel will explore how the issues of adoption, surrogacy, and abortion probe and trouble the boundaries of reproduction and thereby reveal cultural anxieties surrounding motherhood and maternal identity. The goal is to examine the construction and deployment of the concept of ‘maternal desire’ (baby hunger, baby lust) and thereby invite reconsideration of the definitions/boundaries of motherhood. We seek papers that reflect on how bio-essentialized maternal desire is linked to new reproductive technologies such as commercial surrogacy and to the politics of abortion and adoption. The panel will also analyze the social and legal constructions of motherhood and maternal instinct.

Mary Thompson
English Dept./MSC 1801
James Madison University
Harrisonburg, VA 22807
Email: thompsmx@jmu.edu

Call for Papers – Lilith Journal

Lilith: A Feminist History Journal – Call for Papers

library imageThe Lilith: A Feminist History Journal is seeking submissions for our next
issue.

First published in 1984, Lilith is a peer-reviewed journal which publishes
articles and reviews in all areas of women’s, feminist and gender history
(not limited to Australia). It is a valuable forum for both new and
established scholars in the field. We particularly encourage submissions
from Australian and international postgraduate students and early career
researchers.

For details of our submission guidelines please see our website:

http://www.lilithjournal.org.au/

Submissions for the 2014 issue must be received by 1 September 2013.

The journal is produced by a collective of postgraduates and early career
researchers from across Australia, along with a distinguished editorial
advisory board of leading scholars in the field. New collective members
are always welcome. Please contact the Lilith collective if you are
interested in being part of our team: lilithjournal@gmail.com

Call For Chapter Proposals: Women in Asia: Images and Challenges

call-for-papersThe emergences of independent states in Asia in the Post-World War II era not only underlined the existence of a cultural infrastructure prior to the advent of multiculturalism, but also highlight the caste system in India and the declining importance of women in this region.

As a region, Asia has undergone enormous economic and social changes in the last few decades. Women as a collective have seen their lives transformed as a result of rapid development and economic growth. The book provides rich and provocative comparative studies of Asian Women. The collaborative work of Social Scientists conceptually and methodologically challenges the regional divides and proposes new dimensions within a wider context of intersecting groups. Violence against women is a violation of women’s human rights and a priority public health issue. It is endemic worldwide. While much has been written about it in industrialized societies, there has been relatively little attention given to such violence in Asian societies. This book addresses the structural and interpersonal violence’s to which women are subject, both under conditions of conflict and disruption, and where civil society is relatively ordered. It explores women activisms in Asia, and accounts for the so-called cultural’ practices in favor of nuanced challenges of equilibrium society of disparity’s as experienced in Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Bangladesh, and India.

Collectively, the authors propose new themes, new comparative frameworks, and new methodologies for considering vastly different degrees of social support and political activism, and the varied meanings of “Gender equality “in different societies in Asia. In exploring the progress made by Asian men and women, this book seeks to answer the following questions: (a) in what areas have women been able to achieve parity with men? (b) In what areas do women encounter specific disadvantages based on their gender? And (c) How have women’s concerns and problems been addressed by the governments in this region with the aim of encouraging gender equality? As the title of this book suggests, the chapters would provide an analysis of the broad trends – including changes and continuities – in the experiences, interests and concerns of Asian women. The chapters would examine the trends related to women in the following arenas: patriarchal society, political and economic participation, the gender gap, and religion. In some arenas, the trends reflect the disadvantages women face, which in turn have led to gender gaps; in other areas, women’s progress has been found to eclipse that of the men, although this tends to be the exception. This is an innovative work that provides coverage of a complex topic that has often been neglected. It gives more than just an analysis of Asian women, demonstrating the central importance of gender in the modernizing and globalizing of Asia.

In the treatment of a region like Asia, with its diverse ethnic groups and units, and the historical development of gender issues over the decades, there are bound to be gaps in information. What is attempted here is a broad survey of trends in the historical and contemporary panorama of the region, combining thematic and chronological approaches.
This Call for Chapters looks for scholarship that focuses on women’s roles in Asian Society, government and other aspects related to “Gender Equality and Development”. Questions for consideration may include, but are not limited to:

1. How do women in Asian countries perceive equality conflicts? What approaches do they use to handle equality in the context of varying economic, political, cultural and social/family situations?

2. How religion has been taken, changed and altered to suit the patriarchal ideology in Asian countries in regards to “Women’s role” in such an ideology?

3. The questions the relationship between women and economic development in this region. It challenges the prevailing role of Asian women as passive and uninterested in political and economic participation, and has there been an increase in women movements around this region affecting all facets of development?

Women in Asia: Images and Challenges: is under contract with University of Indianapolis Press. I am now accepting abstracts of chapters. A 500 word proposal should be sent to the editor, Dr. Himanshi Raizada: hraizada27@gmail.com. Please include a CV or brief biography with your proposal. The deadline for proposals is July 31, 2013. Contributors will be notified by August 31, 2013. Final drafts (5,000-7,000 words) will be due to the book editor by November 15, 2013.

Dr. Himanshi Raizada
Professor
Lamar University, TX
(409) 880-8110
Email: himanshi2@hotmail.com

Call For Papers: Trans-(media): A graduate research conference

Deadline extended to February 15

Trans-(media): A graduate research conference June 6-7, 2013

The Cinema and Media Graduate Student Association of the Department of
Media Culture at The College of Staten Island (CUNY) invites proposals
to its inaugural Graduate Student Conference. The conference will
consist of two days of panels on June 6th and 7th, with a keynote
address on Thursday, June 6th.

About the Conference Theme:

Transmedia storytelling, as an object of analysis, has become
increasingly relevant due to the increasing use of cross-platform
storytelling. While originally defined as looking at the spread of
narrative across a variety of media outlets (television, print,
graphic novels, video games, internet venues, etc), trans-(media) as
we envision it can encompass much more. In addition to exploring the
traditional definition of transmedia, we wish to explore it more in
the sense of media crossing boundaries. In this way, media can cross
boundaries of genre, physical and geographical boundaries, and what
one may term the boundaries of gender. Our theme of trans-(media) then
includes the following: trans-(national), trans-(itional),
trans-(gender), trans-(gressive), trans-(formative), and trans-(ient).

Some points of entry could be:

How do media companies choose to distribute and produce their stories
globally and locally, and how do they decide which story parts get
disseminated across which access points?

How do diverse media users translate (and transcribe) narratives and
transition between consumption and production?

How have new media technologies fundamentally changed our methods of
story construction and modes of reception?

Because of the unique nature of transmedia as an integrated media
experience, it easily lends itself to interdisciplinary study, and one
could argue that the tradition of transmedia, or at least storytelling
in video games, could have been born out of the tradition of
epistolary literature. Proposals from those working in cinema, media,
communications, and literature are all expected, and we would be happy
to welcome an even more interdisciplinary approach. We welcome
proposals from graduate scholars at all levels, and those who have
completed their program in the past two years.

Interested participants should submit a CV and an abstract of 250-500
words for a fifteen-minute paper electronically as attachments to
CSICinemaMediaGSA@gmail.com by Friday, February 15, 2013.

Notification will be via e-mail on March 15, 2013.

The conference will provide meals and snacks. A nominal registration
fee of $50 is required by April 15, 2013.

Website at: http://blog.csimediaculture.com Tweet Us: @CinMedGSACSI
(https://twitter.com/CinMedGSACSI)

Call For Papers: Dangerous Women and Women in Danger

Dangerous Women and Women in Danger
Queen’s University Belfast
8TH-9TH March 2013
Plenary Speaker: Prof. Carol Berkin, Baruch College, New York

Throughout history women have often found themselves in precarious situations or exposed to danger from others. At the same time, women could also pose a threat to others or to themselves. Individual women might also be perceived by society as ‘dangerous’. The image of the ‘dangerous woman’ is a powerful one in many societies in the past. The 2013 First Mondays Women’s History Conference, in celebration of International Women’s Day, will focus on the related theme of dangerous women and women facing peril. We welcome papers from a range of disciplines which explore these themes either through biographical studies or in a more thematic manner.

Abstracts, 200-300 words for a 20 minute paper, should be submitted by 8th February 2013 along with the proposed title, a short biography (100 words max.) and contact details to Ruth Cahir- rcahir01@qub.ac.uk.

Conference Organisers: Ruth Cahir, Sara Irvine, Lisa Lavery and Lynsey Stewart.

Call For Papers: The Imperial Court in China, Japan, and Korea: Women, Servants, and the Emperor’s Household

The University of San Francisco Center for the Pacific Rim is pleased to announce the call for papers for “The Imperial Court in China, Japan, and Korea: Women, Servants, and the Emperor’s Household (1600 – early 1900s)” a symposium to be held at the University of San Francisco on Thursday and Friday, April 18-19, 2013.

The symposium will provide a forum for the examination and comparison of the imperial courts/houses and court life of China, Japan, and Korea through the lens of women, servants, and those who managed the Emperor and Empress’ households from the 1600s through early 1900s. Proposed themes include but are not limited to: imperial women, servants, and household managers with a particular focus on aspects of court life, relations of power, issues of gender, cultural identity, modernity, education, literature, and household economics and management. Papers which address border crossing themes or comparisons of the above mentioned imperial courts or those that explore relations between the different groups are particularly encouraged.

The deadline for proposals is Monday, January 7, 2013. Please e-mail your 250 word (maximum) abstract and Curriculum Vitae to mdale3@usfca.edu subject line “Imperial Court Proposal.”

The Center for the Pacific Rim will provide grants to assist presenters with travel (as per USF travel policies).