Calls for Papers


POLULAR NINETEENTH-CENTURY WOMEN WRITERS AND THE LITERARY MARKETPLACE

Seeking papers on any aspect of popular nineteenth-century women writers and the literary marketplace for a round-table discussion for the Society for the Study of American Women Writers third conference to be held in Philadelphia from November 8–11, 2006. Of particular interest, though, is how the marketplace influenced women writers' creations (writer/editor relationship, author/ audience, author/other writers). Please send 200 word abstracts to Earl Yarington (eyaringt@bcc.edu) within an email message by Jan. 15, 2006. For more information, call (856) 222–9311, ext. 7679.

SEXY FEMINISMS? TRANS-FORMATINOS IN FEMINIST SEXUALITY STUDIES

Atlantis: A Women's Studies Journal is seeking submissions for a special issue on feminist sexuality. In 1984, Signs held a forum on "female sexualities" that described two presumably opposing camps of feminist responses to sexuality debates: radical and libertarian. Contributors to this 1984 forum pointed out that both sides claim the other overlooks important aspects of female sexuality and pleasure. They concluded that these "opposing positions do not exhaust the possible feminist perspectives on sexual pleasure, sexual freedom, and danger" (107). In the two decades since that important critical moment, feminist sexuality studies has moved well beyond the limiting poles of danger versus pleasure or prudes versus progressives. Indeed, feminist sexuality studies since has faced new challenges in the form of queer theory, transgender and transnational scholarship, as well as critical race, whiteness, and disability studies.

Given these transformations, this special issue of Atlantis seeks to survey the current status of feminist sexuality studies in the wake of the above theoretical and political influences. We invite submissions that contribute to an inquiry into the current relationship between "feminist" and "sexuality." We suggest that such inquiry circulates around two central questions: How have the above mentioned theoretical and political movements transformed how we do and understand feminist sexuality studies today? What kinds of changes can we observe in the longstanding conversation that feminist theory has about the status of sexuality? Accordingly, some of the questions that this issue seeks to address (but is not limited to) include: How do contemporary sexual-ity studies (the scholarship produced under this rubric and programs of study created or planned as critical sexuality, queer, and lesbian/gay studies) engage and draw upon feminist theories and knowledges? Which feminist paradigms continue to inform contemporary approaches to sexuality studies; which ones have been rejected? What role does sexuality studies play within contemporary feminist research and theories, in women's studies programs and courses? How has queer theory transformed feminist sexuality studies? How do transgender, transnational, and transdisciplinary scholarship, and/or work in areas such as critical race, whiteness, and disability studies transform what we imagine when we imagine "feminist sexuality studies"?

All contributions should be accessible to an audience from many different backgrounds interested in participating in the creation and sharing of feminist knowledge. Atlantis articles are peer reviewed. They contribute to a publication that strives to meet the most significant academic and feminist expectations of our colleagues. Please send submissions addressed to Atlantis: A Women's Studies Journal / Revue d'Etudes sur les femmes, Institute for the Study of Women, Mount Saint Vincent University,Halifax NS B3M 2J6, by Feb. 1, 2006.

Conferences to Attend

GENDER, ECTASTY AND IDENTITY: CREATION, DISRUPTION, TRANSFORMATION

The Gender and Medieval Studies Conference 2006, to be held Jan. 6–8, 2006, at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, seeks to explore the relationship between Gender, Ecstasy, and Identity within the medieval context. We would like to invite proposals for papers of twenty minutes that approach how feelings of ecstasy create, disrupt, or transform notions of medieval gender and identity.We encourage a broad interpretation of the term "ecstasy" as any experience—religious, sexual, artistic, hysterical, etc.—that temporarily suspends the subject's self-possession within his/her physical or social body.

We welcome abstracts of 250 words that demonstrate both a critical engagement with current gender debates in medieval studies and an examination of any aspect of the intersection between gender, ecstasy, and identity. Some suggested questions that papers might address are: What effect does ecstasy have on the individual or collective body and its corresponding identity? Where can the line be drawn between physical and spiritual ecstasy in medieval representations of ecstatic experience: visual, aural, oral, or literary? Does ecstasy blur the boundaries between gender and status identities within medieval society? How are text and textuality important to the construction of gender, identity, and ecstasy? How can gender and sexual identities be read as text, subtext, and intertext within an ecstatic framework? How did symbolic structures of ecstasy, gender, and identity affect the lives of ordinary medieval people? How did ecstasy and gender affect local and regional identities? How did ecstasy affect personal and communal understandings of faith, gender, and identity? See http://www.medievalgender.org.uk for more information.

I AM YOUR SISTER II (IAYSII) CONFERENCE

IAYSII is a women's collective from New Orleans, Los Angeles, Boston, and Atlanta that will present a conference Oct. 7–9, 2005, in New Orleans, La., honoring and celebrating the artistic and community-building work of the late Audre Lorde, the internationally celebrated author of fifteen books of poetry and prose. The conference will honor the grassroots activism inspired by Lorde's body of work and serve as a catalyst to inspire attendees to organize and mobilize their community toward increased human rights—principally addressing women's rights and issues. Participants in the IAYSII Conference will be gathering to celebrate, share, and connect with women in the name of Audre Lorde and her work of addressing racial,social, gender, and sexual orientation injustices. For more information contact Lou Anne White at 310–849–7040 or echolaw@aol.com.