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Call 4 Papers:The 7th European Feminist Research Conference Gendered Cultures at the Crossroads of Imagination, Knowledge

Gendered Cultures at the Crossroads of Imagination, Knowledge and Politics 

 
European Feminist Research Conferences usually have more than 500 participants from both inside and outside of Europe. The Conference has a track record of presenting innovative feminist scholarly work with critical perspectives on contemporary Europe. 

 
The 7th edition of the European Feminist Research Conference will be interdisciplinary in several ways. Firstly, it will employ the Utrecht expertise of crossing the boundaries of the scholarly and the artistic through a focus on, and a review of, literary, visual and artistic representations. Secondly, it will work with a matrix of intersecting themes rather than with singular conference strands. Thus participating scholars, students and artists are asked to situate themselves in this crosscutting matrix.

 
Abstracts should have not more than 300 words and should be in English. Abstracts and can only be submitted (uploaded) once you have registered yourself at this page:
 
Paper proposals have to refer to two of the themes.
Paper abstracts sent to the general conference email address (7thfeminist@let.uu.nl) will not be taken into account .
Paper abstracts have to be submitted before September 19, 2008.
Panel proposals before July 15, 2008, for panel proposals contact: 7thfeminist@let.uu.nl
 
For more Information about the themes of the conference contact: 7thfeminist@let.uu.nl

 
 
Paper proposals have to refer to two of the themes
 
Key words: women artists, canon, global art history, cultural hybridity

 
 
This central issue of this theme is a questioning of the religious and the secular, and how such questions are posed in relation to women’s studies and feminism. Within the context of a geo-political hegemonic logic of a ‘clash of civilizations’ and antagonisms along cultural and religious lines, secular contracts are increasingly challenged within and across European nation-states. In spite of the decline in traditional religiosity in many countries throughout Europe, various kinds of ‘believing’ and ‘belonging’ are introduced and rearticulated. We invite papers investigating these recent and contemporary expressions of religious vitality and the challenges they pose to secular states and (secular) feminist legacies. We look forward to papers inquiring into the historical formations, and contemporary re-affirmations, of ‘the secular’ and the ways in which such formations are gendered and ethicized, as well as their sexual politics. We are also interested in documenting feminist complicities with neo-imperialist civilizational projects, as well as tracking the contours of feminisms that resist and unpack such politics.
 
 
C. Global Connections: Migration, Consumption & Politics
 
 
D. Sexuality, Public, Private & Beyond 
Key words: globalization, intersectionality, public and private, queer, masculinities 

 
 
E:  War & Violence   

Within the theme of war and violence we invite paper proposals and discussion panels that address the gendered (intersected with class, ethnic, racial and religious) implications of several issues ranging from intrastate violence to international conflicts and postcolonial identities. We welcome papers, which may (but are not required to) address the following questions: What are the dynamics, causes and consequences of international and intrastate violence and armed conflicts, the accompanying legitimizing rhetoric and their representations in different public arenas and media? What theoretical and political implications can be drawn from the ways of conflict prevention and peace building? What are the differences and similarities of memories of WWII and the legacy of fascism and Stalinist terror? Furthermore, we welcome papers on issues like the renegotiation of gender relations in times of military conflict, collaboration, resistance and agency. Interesting would be contributions on governmental violence and political rape: the fe/male (sexed) body as a site of demarcation lines and power struggles; transnational (global) networks of pacifism and the politics and ethics of feminist research and activism at the crossroads of moral universalism and cultural relativism; lastly, postcolonial identities and nationalism as imperial legacies as represented in different national historiographies. The theme and the issues described open up ample space for interdisciplinary approach from disciplines such as gender and conflict studies, history, anthropology, literature, cultural studies, and also a comparative framework, which we would like to encourage.
 
 
Science, technology and media are crucial areas for feminist interventions as such discursive practices both produce and maintain representations, subjectivities - and material bodies. Donna Haraway suggested already 1991 the fleshier notion of “apparatuses of bodily production” to replace foucauldian "discourse" (Haraway 1991). In similar veins have feminists of “new materialism” challenged studies of culture where matter does not seem to matter. But scientific, physical and media-related issues of the body has without a doubt been part of the feminist project since the get-go. Such endeavours have also marked Cultural Studies, Media and Communication Studies as well as Science and Technology Studies with feminist contributions. In this cluster we would like to invite proposals for papers that grapple with various new or old formations of science and embodiment, media and technology, popular and visual cultures. Questions that could be addressed are: If communicative practices of meaning-making constitutes cultures – which makes media, technologies and media materialities decisively important for understanding contemporary culture – how is this played out in various visual and digital settings? What challenges to modern divisions between nature and culture, body and artifice, global and local can be found within emerging biotechnologies or the life sciences and how are they communicated, commercialized and popularized?
Key words:  science, technology, media, visual culture and bodies
 
 
G. Multi-Ethnic Europe: Identities, Boundaries & Communities
Key words: multiculturalism, transnationalism, European-ness, political subjectivities, in/exclusion, intersectionality 
 
 
Key words: feminist assessment of the powers of narrative, intersectionality, reliability of (hi)stories and memories, unspeakability, other modes of telling 
 
 

Key words: generations, new feminisms, histories of women's movements, EU-equal opportunities

 
 

Key words: knowledge, women/gender in science, epistemology, feminist theory, representations of gender and science

 
 

Key words: Labor market, geographies of care, environment, nomadism, old and new identities 

 
 

THEME COORDINATORS

 

Theme A Imagination: dr. Marta Zarzycka, prof.dr. Kirsi Saarikangas, Domitilla Olivieri

 
 

Theme C Global Connections: dr. Sandra Ponzanesi, dr. Gail Lewis, Sabrina Marchetti, Aleksandra Sojka

 

Theme D Sexuality: prof.dr. Gloria Wekker, Lena Eckert, Malena Gustavson

 
 
Theme F Media & Technology: dr. Cecilia Åsberg, prof.dr.hab. Elzbieta Oleksy,  Edyta Just, prof.dr. Nina Lykke
 
 
Theme H Stories to Tell: Doro Wiese, dr. Babs Boter, prof.dr. Adelina Sanchez

 
Theme I Women’s Movements: prof.dr. Berteke Waaldijk, Iris van der Tuin, Sandra Prlenda

Theme J Cultures of Knowledge:  prof.dr. Mineke Bosch, prof.dr. Kaat Wils, dr. Christine von Oertzen

 
Theme K Social Economic Europe: dr. Bettina van Hoven, prof. dr. Anastasia Lada

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The 7th European Feminist Research Conference "Gendered Cultures" focuses on Europe and European perspectives, combining the Humanities with (inter)disciplinary research from other scientific traditions. It actively seeks cutting-edge scholarship by working with papers organized around intersecting themes. Cutting-edge comes to mean "inclusive" rather than "new" research on gender, women, and feminism at the crossroads of different practices of imagination, knowledge and politics. Both young and established researchers are invited to present papers that accept this challenge for the future. European Women's Studies Associations are explicitly invited to have their annual meetings at the 7th European Feminist Research Conference. Contact the organization for more information at 7thfeminist@let.uu.nl. 

 
The conference is a triennial event organized by the Gender Studies Programme (Utrecht University), AOIFE and ATHENA. Previous European Feminist Research Conferences were held at the universities of: Aalborg (1991), Graz (1994), Coimbra (1997), Bologna (2000), Lund (2003) and Lódz (2006). 

 
The 7th European Feminist Research Conference focuses on a wide but well-defined range of themes:
Imagination: Art & Politics 
Feminism in Post-Secular Europe
Global Connections: Migration, Consumption & Politics
Sexuality: Public,  Private and Beyond
War & Violence 

Media and Technology: The Politics of Representation
Multi-Ethnic Europe: Identities, Boundaries & Communities
Stories to Tell: Fiction, History & Memory
Women’s Movements of Past, Present & Future: Generations in Feminism 
Cultures of Knowledge: the Sciences, Humanities & Gender
Social Economic Europe  
 
Aims: The conference will be a forum for gender researchers to facilitate networking between them; and to integrate doctoral students and young researchers into the field   

Participants: The conference invites experts, established scholars and young researchers, policy makers from all member states of the EU, candidate countries, associate countries and third countries.

 
Networking: The conference schedule provides time for planned and spontaneous networking. Time will be available for Women’s/Gender Studies network meetings, scientific journal meetings, research group meetings, roundtable discussions and other meetings. Additionally, policy experts in equality, education and research policy will be invited to the conference and will meet with participants from various networks as part of an effort to strengthen ties between policy makers and researchers in the field.
 
 
Submitted by nuria on Tue, 13/05/2008 - 01:36. | tags