The Southern Association for Women Historians seeks an institution as the host for the Tenth Southern Conference on Women’s History to be held in June 2015.

The triennial SAWH conferences typically draw 200 to 300 women and men from across the U.S. for two days of scholarship and fellowship.

One person at the institution will serve as conference coordinator, and she will in turn appoint a program chair who, with her committee, is responsible for the intellectual content of the conference.  The conference coordinator oversees the conference web site, registration (advance and on-site), the printed program, coordination of advertising and exhibits, and local logistics.

The SAWH has historically met on college campuses.  The space that is needed includes:

• seven or eight classrooms for concurrent sessions, typically held on Friday and Saturday;
• sites for three plenary sessions, typically held Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings;
• sites for two seated dinners and a central place to pick up box lunches;
• dormitory lodging for up to 100 people and a hotel not far away for those who choose not to stay on campus;
• a location for 25 6-foot tables for exhibits and coffee service;
• an area for registration;
• a site for a graduate student mixer, usually held late Thursday night.

While cash contributions from the host institution are most welcome, they are not essential.

Representatives of interested institutions should submit any queries and a letter of interest to Rebecca Sharpless (R.Sharpless@tcu.edu<mailto:R.Sharpless@tcu.edu>) by December 10, 2012.

Southern Conferences on Women’s History:

1988: Converse College, Spartanburg, South Carolina

1991: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

1994: Rice University, Houston, Texas

1997: College of Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina

2000: University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia

2003: University of Georgia, Athens

2006: University of Maryland, Baltimore

2009: University of South Carolina, Columbia

2012: Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas

SAVE the DATE and CFP:

Mediating Public Spheres:
Genealogies of Feminist Knowledge in the Digital Age

April 4-6, 2013

Locations include Amherst College, Hamsphire College, and Mount Holyoke College
Confirmed keynote speakers include Lisa Nakamura, Susan Squier, Alex Juhasz, Anna
Balsamo, and Jackie Stacey, among others.

Who constitutes public spheres in the digital age? How does academic research in the (re)emerging fields intersect with debates about access and applicability in public spaces? Who participates in the transmission of knowledge and cultural production?
To what end? What are the implications of delivering knowledge from one generation of the digital divide to the other? What are the effects of virtual means of transmission on the materiality of lives? What are the pivotal means to incorporate digital media in feminist scholarship and practice?

We welcome submissions that address these and related questions pertaining
to the focus of the symposium. We seek one-page abstracts describing your 20-minute presentation for participation on one of four panels. We can accommodate 12 presentations in total for the panels, but will also include networking
and work in progress sessions for all projects submitted.  Joint submissions are welcome.

Please submit your proposal no later than Dec. 15, 2012 to kremmler@mtholyoke.edu. We will provide a small honorarium to those presenting on the panels.

Ethnographies of higher education: researching and reflecting “at home”
CALL FOR PAPERS
22-24 May 2013, Prague, Czech Republic

Keynote speakers:

Wesley Shumar (Drexel University); Paul Trowler (Lancaster University);
Susan Wright (Aarhus University)

In recent years there has been a surge of interest in ethnographic studies
of higher education. Not only are anthropologists turning their attention
to the study of higher education but also higher education researchers
from various theoretical and methodological backgrounds are employing
ethnography as a valuable approach to studying multiple facets, sites, and
themes of higher education, be it the formation and enactment of
governance and policies, knowledge practices, learning and teaching,
identities, or academics’ and students’ lives. At the same time, the
conference recognizes significant changes in the field of higher education
today that are globally transforming not only the social, material and
technological conditions and institutional frameworks of knowledge
production, transmission and translation, but also affecting the very
modes of knowing. We believe ethnographic approaches are a key research
strategy for understanding these changes.
The conference aims to bring together researchers interested and actively
involved in qualitative, primarily ethnographic, research on higher
education institutions, policies and practices, and to provide space for
critical discussion and debate. We also aim to prepare a publication or
series of publications to bring these insights to the broader academic
public.
We propose three major foci – and welcome more.

1. Politics, positionality and engagement
“Reforms” of, and changes in, higher education may be discussed,
questioned, fought for and against, or they may take place in a more
invisible manner. What are the possible roles of higher education research
in that dynamic? How is ethnographic participation linked with policy and
politics, activism and engagement? How are the roles of researchers,
experts, and activists played out in different times and different
settings? And from the other end, how do the multiple positions higher
education researchers simultaneously occupy in the field (such as
students, teachers, administrators, parents etc.) influence the framing of
education research?

2. Diversity of the field and comparative practices
The field of higher education is diverse – in terms of disciplines,
qualities, institutional forms. As such it is subject to various types of
comparisons and rankings, made by agencies, ministries, media, students,
academics, higher education institutions, and ultimately by us, higher
education researchers. Since we are often critical of such comparisons and
rankings, we need to examine explicitly our own epistemic practices of
comparing in theoretical framing or field study designs. What role does
(Western) social theory play in studying higher education in different
parts of world? How do we deal with heterogeneity of the field during the
course of a study and in textual representations?

3. Ethnographic effects
In a special strand we propose to reflect on and debate ethnography as an
epistemic approach to the study of higher education: its possibilities
(and possible limits), politics and practices. This will have a format of
a special methodological workshop within the conference. We welcome short
contributions (2 to 10 minutes) on various topics related to fieldwork
(reflexivity, ethics, access, being/going native etc.). The aim of the
workshop is to share and discuss field experiences and explore potential
intersecting topics emerging in the course of the discussions.

Conference fees
Conference fees include registration, welcome reception on Wednesday
evening, and lunch and snacks on Thursday and Friday.
Standard: EUR 100
Students and doctoral candidates: EUR 50
It is possible to waive the fee for participants from lower-income
countries and/or for participants in lower-paid positions without access
to other sources of funding. To request a waiver, please send a letter
(300-500 words) to the organizers explaining why you are not in a position
to cover the fee.

The conference programme board
Jana Baćević (Central European University)
Manja Klemenčič (Harvard University / University of Ljubljana)
Jan Nespor (Ohio State University)
Petr Pabian (University of Pardubice)
Tereza Stöckelová (Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic)

Practical information
Travel and accommodation: Prague airport serves direct flights from all
European capitals and many other European cities. Within Central Europe,
Prague is also easily reachable by train. As a popular tourist
destination, Prague offers a wealth of accommodation opportunities from
budget hostels starting below 20 € per night up to luxury hotels. More
information will be available on the conference website.

Conference venue: The conference will take place at the Academy of
Sciences of the Czech Republic and Charles University.
Programme framework: The conference will start with an evening public
lecture on Wednesday, May 22. Thursday and Friday programme will start
with a plenary keynote, followed by paper presentations. The Friday
afternoon will be dedicated to the methodological workshop.

See conference website http://www.ethe.cz for further information.
The conference is supported by the Czech Science Foundation within the
research project “Ethnography of University Departments: Mass Higher
Education in Institutional Settings” (http://www.csvs.cz/ETUDE).

The Women’s Studies Program at Texas Tech University presents the 29th Annual Conference on the Advancement of Women. This two-day conference will kick off with a pre-conference evening event on Thursday, April 4 and continue the following day on Friday, April 5 with simultaneous panel sessions conducted throughout the day on the upper level of the Student Union Building. This conference occurs each spring on the campus. This year’s theme is “Women and Global Change: Achieving Peace through Empowering Women – Part II”. Concurrent panel sessions for Friday will be held in the Student Union Building (upper level) in assigned rooms from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Guest speakers will be featured in the morning and lunch hour. For more details on the call for papers, schedule of events for both days, information on the conference program, conference registration fees, etc. please visit our web site.

Tricia Earl Texas Tech University Box 42099 DOAK RM 125 Lubbock, TX. 79409-2009 (806) 742-4335 Email: patricia.a.earl@ttu.edu Visit the website at http://www.depts.ttu.edu/wstudies/AWHE_2013.php

CFP: Women in Early Modern England panel for the 2013 Graduate History Conference at Louisiana State University

Seeking papers from graduate students to complete a panel on Women in Early Modern England at the 2013 Graduate History Conference at Louisiana State University, to be held March 22 and 23, 2013 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This panel is designed to be broad in scope, so feel free to submit proposals focusing on any aspect of women’s history in Early Modern England.

Please email proposals of 300 or fewer words to Katherine Sawyer Robinson at ksawye2@tigers.lsu.edu by December 20, 2012. Paper submissions should include a working title and brief description of the central argument, as well as a copy of the scholar’s curriculum vita. If selected, panelists will be asked to submit a final paper by February 1, 2013.

http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=199048

The Women’s Studies Program at Texas Tech University proudly announces a call for papers for the 29th Annual Conference on the Advancement of Women, which will take place on campus, April 4-5, 2013. We invite papers and panel proposals that explore the manifold meanings of movement and change as connected to, created by, and/or caught up in the presence of women’s, gender, and identity issues, in both contemporary and historical frameworks. Interdisciplinary proposals, as well as those from disciplines and specialty subject areas are also encouraged to submit. Send a 250-word abstract including the proposal title, name, affiliation and contact information for all author(s) to patricia.a.earl@ttu.edu before February 1, 2013. See complete guidelines on our web site.

Tricia Earl Texas Tech University Box 42009 DOAK RM 125 Lubbock, TX. 79409-2009 (806) 742-4335 Email: patricia.a.earl@ttu.edu Visit the website at http://www.depts.ttu.edu/wstudies/call_for_papers_and_panels_2013.php

Boston Seminar on the History of Women and Gender
presented by the Massachusetts Historical Society and the Schlesinger
Library at Radcliffe

Thursday, December 6, 2012 at 5:30 p.m. at the Massachusetts Historical
Society

Premilla Nadasen, Queens College
The Origins of the Domestic Worker Rights Movement
Comment: Ruth Milkman, City University of New York and Radcliffe Institute
for Advanced Study

This seminar paper is part of a book-length project. It follows four women
in particular, Geraldine Roberts, Mary McClendon, Geraldine Miller, and
Dorothy Bolden, to examine how and why they launched local campaigns for
the rights of domestic workers.

RSVP so we know how many will attend. To respond, email
seminars@masshist.org or call 617-646-0568. In case of inclement weather,
phone 617-536-1608 for information.

All seminars are free and open to the public. Each seminar consists of a
discussion of a pre-circulated paper provided to our subscribers. (Papers
will be available at the event for those who choose not to subscribe.)
Afterwards the organizers will provide a light buffet supper. For more
information, please visit www.masshist.org.

We look forward to seeing you at the seminar!