Call for Papers
Women as Wives and Workers: Marking Fifty Years of The Feminine Mystique
Saturday 30th November 2013 at Royal Holloway University of London

2013 marks the fiftieth anniversary of The Feminine Mystique’s publication.  From the outset, Betty Friedan’s text had an enormous influence on academic and popular audiences, selling millions and shaping
feminist discourse about the housewife throughout the Western world.  Yet at the same time, full-time housewifery was becoming both a less common experience and a cultural battlefield.  Since the 1950s, levels of employment amongst married women (notably white women) have risen enormously.  Women have increasingly been confronted with the ‘superwoman’ paradox, which Friedan herself encapsulated: writing about ‘the zombie housewife’ and ‘the problem that has no name’ whilst being a working wife and mother.  Many other women likewise negotiated domesticity and paid work, but their experiences were by no means uniform and were shaped by various other factors including race, age, sexuality and socio-economic status.

This conference aims to draw these themes together by offering an opportunity to explore The Feminine Mystique alongside discussions of women and employment.  Areas of consideration may include but are not limited to:

*Women’s paid employment
*The Feminine Mystique, its impact and critiques, for example with regards to race
*The international impact of The Feminine Mystique
*Domesticity and the figure of the housewife: experiences, rights, cultural portrayals
*Discourses of motherhood and fatherhood
*Evolving notions of family
*Gender and education
*Notions of ‘having it all’ and being ‘Superwoman’
*The National Organization for Women: its impact, legacy and critics
*The development of women’s organisations and networks since the 1960s

We invite papers that address these topics either broadly or specifically.
While papers with a particular emphasis on mid-twentieth century America
may be given priority, we also encourage scholars to present work with a
comparative perspective (across time and/or space) or looking at other
geographical areas. Panel submissions are also welcome.  A special issue
of History of Women in the Americas based on the conference papers is
planned, subject to the usual peer review procedure.

‘Women as Wives and Workers: Marking Fifty Years of The Feminine Mystique’
is the sixth annual conference of the Society for the History of Women in
the Americas (SHAW) and is being co-organized with The Bedford Centre for
the History of Women at Royal Holloway University of London.  The
conference organisers are Helen Glew (University of Westminster), Jane
Hamlett (RHUL), Sinead McEneaney (St. Mary’s University College) and
Rachel Ritchie (Brunel University).

A 250-word abstract and a short biography should be emailed to
thefemininemystiqueat50@gmail.com by Monday 14th October 2013.  Please use
the same email address for any other enquiries about the event.

ABC-CLIO is seeking scholars to write entries for a new four-volume Woman in American History: An Encyclopedia. Entries will range between 750 and 1500 words and may include a related primary document. Compensation will vary according to article length. The more than 700 entries vary from Abigail Adams to the Ziegfeld Follies, inclusive of social reform movements, popular culture, art, science, law and more. Interested parties should reach the co-editors via email: Dr. Rosanne Welch (rmwelch@csupomona.edu) and Dr. Peg Lamphier (plamphier@csupomona.edu)–for a list of available entries and further information. To your email please attach a brief résumé, C. V. or biography.

Call for Papers

Poetics of Resistance: Women between Aesthetics and Politics

45th Annual Convention, Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)
April 3-6, 2014
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Host: Susquehanna University

Increasing confrontations with totalitarian regimes in the Middle East and Africa have prompted women to find new ways to cope with political and national disenchantment. The dynamics in these movements are complex and sometimes paradoxical. While revolutionary rhetoric celebrates women’s agency, post-revolutionary discourses often instrumentalize them as the bearers of national identity. On the one hand, women find new ways of becoming the subjects of their own history, on the other hand they are summoned to fulfill specific roles in the nation, such as reproduction and the protection of traditional (national) values. This panel proposes to reflect primarily on Arab and African women’s aesthetic and artistic forms of resistance, and to expand our understanding of the contemporary means of protest they deploy to subvert social constructions and barriers. The symposium also proposes to discuss the gender/feminist artistic and aesthetic strategies that advocate for new relational possibilities between genders, between citizens and the state, and across ethnic, classes, space and national divides.
We invite the submission of proposals that express the diverse and complex nature of women’s relationship to art and aesthetics in the midst of political and national turmoil.
Specific topics may include, but are not limited to:
Aesthetic Articulation of Protest
Art and Feminism
Politics and Gender
Women’s Rights: Universalism and Cultural Relativism
Western Ethnocentrism and Arab Women/ Third Worldism
Renegotiating Female ‘Public/Private’ Space
The Secular and the Religious Visual Protests: Photography & Documentaries
Transnational/transversal Feminist Networks

Please send a 150-word abstract in French or English to Névine El Nossery : elnossery@ wisc.edu

Deadline: September 30, 2013
Please include with your abstract:
Name and Affiliation
Email address
Postal address
Telephone number
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

Nupur Chaudhuri First Article Award 2013
The Coordinating Council for Women in History

Nupur Chaudhuri First Article Award is an annual $1000 prize that recognizes the best first article published in the field of history by a CCWH member. Named to honor long-time CCWH board member and former executive director and co-president from 1995-1998 Nupur Chaudhuri, the winning article for 2013 must be published in a refereed journal in either 2011 or 2012. An article may only be submitted once. All fields of history will be considered, and articles must be submitted with full scholarly apparatus. The deadline for the award is 15 September 2013. Please go to www.theccwh.org for membership and application details.

45th Annual Convention, Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) April 3-6, 2014
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Host: Susquehanna University

This roundtable explores the pluralism of feminisms emerging from new generations of female writers and artists, whose political message shifts from theory to practice, from gender opposition to diversity, from dualistic approach to multiplicity, and from indoctrinations to new forms of spirituality. Topics can include the relationship between community and identity, women’s experiences and creativity, as well as explorations of religion, hospitality and eco-criticism, among others. Send 200/300w abstracts in English or French to Anna Rocca arocca@salemstate.edu
Anna Rocca
Salem State University
Dpt World Languages and Cultures
352 Lafayette St
Salem, MA 01970-5353
USA
Email: arocca@salemstate.edu
Visit the website at http://nemla.org/convention/2014/cfp.html

http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=204689

45th Annual Convention, Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) April 3-6, 2014
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Host: Susquehanna University

This panel will explore the relationships between space and place and the ways French heritage women rethink place as a potential for personal and social creation, for transformation and connection. Some themes to consider: how is the virtual site of the page a place where narrator and reader connect? How do old memories and new geographical place interact and connect? How do urban environment, nature, gender, sexuality or class affect the reconfiguring of place? Send 200/300w abstracts in English or French to Carole Salmon Carole_Salmon@uml.edu and Anna Rocca arocca@salemstate.edu

Deadline: September 30, 2013
Please include with your abstract:
Name and Affiliation
Email address
Postal address
Telephone number
A/V requirements (if any; $10 handling fee with registration)

http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=204690