[Discussion] 4 calls for papers-women's studies

[sule tarakcioglu]

I. CFP: Feminism and Failure (3/15/04; MLA '04)
A proposed special section for the 2004 MLA convention in Philadelphia,
27-30 December.
Feminism and Failure

What does feminism have to teach us about the standards and forms of
appearance by which "success" and "failure" are recognized, affirmed,
reevaluated? Often complicit with a rhetoric of immediacy that
measures success in terms of "real world" effects (successful
interventions, successful translations of theory into practice,
successful future-historical outcomes, etc.), is feminist criticism, by
the terms of its own desire to succeed, set up to fail? When success
is defined as acting upon a world beyond language, do denegations of
failure only and always point to the acute non-arrival and ongoing
impossibility of success? Similarly, if success is calculated in terms
of worldly change, how is feminist theory bound to remain enthralled to
oppositions between power and powerlessness, action and irrelevance,
importance and insignificance?

In order to examine the terms by which feminist theory has designated
the values of success and failure, this panel invites papers that take
up questions such as: How have feminist affirmations of the "new"
(broadly defined as the possibility of change, whether revolutionary
or incremental), insofar as they have sought to critique and displace
prior and current modes of oppression, set out to delineate the marks
of successful scholarship and the standards of feminist intellectual
work? How does feminist criticism redefine the standards by which the
success and failure of a work (a literary text, the work of art, acts
of reading, activist interventions, scholarly prose, etc.) are
evaluated? What counts (and fails to be counted) as activism? Is
there a feminist theory of change? of a call for change and of an
account for change? Rather than simply reversing the terms such that
failure becomes the measure of success, the panel hopes to investigate
issues including:

--debates about critical opacity and the "values of difficulty" (per
Judith Butler's recent essay and Martha Nussbaum's criticism of the
failures of obscurantism)
--feminism and affirmative teleology
--feminism, globalization, and the wages of success (who claims
successful feminist work? at what price? according to what standards?)
--feminism and the ethics of "help" (help as alibi for coercion; the
language of beneficence; feminism and the discourses of development)
--the (gendered) pathos of failure; failure and mourning; failure and
melancholia; the languages of loss
--feminism and futurity (utopian, dystopian, etc.)
--narrative and inconclusiveness
--gender and performance, speech act theory, the measures of successful
and/or failed performatives
--the rhetoric of blame, exoneration, and indifference

Please email abstracts (within body of email; no attachments, please)
by 15 March to: lecia.rosenthal@tufts.edu=20
<https://charon.bcc.bilkent.edu.tr/basilix/basilix.php?RequestID=3DCMPSNE=
W&premail=3D-1&is_ssl=3D&cmps_to=3Dlecia.rosenthal@tufts.edu>=20




II. CALL FOR PAPERS
Panel Topic: Motherhood, Popular Culture, and the Arts
Women=92s Caucus in Affiliation with the Rocky Mountain MLA Convention
September 30 =96 October 2, 2004
Millennium Harvest House Hotel, Boulder, Colorado
Hosted by University of Colorado, Boulder
Submission Deadline: 1 March 2004

This panel will explore the topic of motherhood, popular culture and
the arts from a variety of perspectives and disciplines. We welcome
submissions from students, activists, scholars, artists and others who
research in this area. We also welcome creative reflections such as
poetry, short stories, and artwork on the subject.

Email 300-word proposals (as text within email message, please=97no
attachments) by 1 March 2004 to:

Dr. Cynthia Kuhn
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Metropolitan State College
Denver, CO
kuhnc@mscd.edu=20
<https://charon.bcc.bilkent.edu.tr/basilix/basilix.php?RequestID=3DCMPSNE=
W&premail=3D-1&is_js=3D1.4&is_ssl=3D1&cmps_to=3Dkuhnc@mscd.edu>=20


and

Dr. Erin Webster-Garrett
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Radford University
Radford, VA
ewebster2@radford.edu=20
<https://charon.bcc.bilkent.edu.tr/basilix/basilix.php?RequestID=3DCMPSNE=
W&premail=3D-1&is_js=3D1.4&is_ssl=3D1&cmps_to=3Dewebster2@radford.edu>=20


Please see the RMMLA Website for information regarding membership and
conference registration: http://rmmla.wsu.edu. <http://rmmla.wsu.edu.%3Cb=
r>



III. Call for Papers =96 Women and Evil
The Women=92s Studies Session of The South Atlantic Modern
Language Association (SAMLA) invites proposals for paper
presentations at the annual meeting of the South Atlantic Modern
Language Association (SAMLA) to be held November 12-14, 2004,
at the Hotel Roanoke and Convention Center in Roanoke, Virginia.

Deadline for abstract submission: 3/31/04

If one subject has fascinated human beings since the
beginning of time=97it is sex. But if there are two such topics, evil is
a close runner-up. How people, the very same capable of
experiencing love, loyalty, and beauty, can also rape, torture, and
murder their fellow human beings has intrigued and troubled both
the wise and na=EFve. Philosophers and theologians have debated
evil=97its definition and significance=97for millennia. And yet today,
even despite its prolific public appearance in political discourse
after September 11th, we are no closer to understanding this
grave topic. If evil exists, if it is timeless, if it is important, then
surely this conversation should not be left to right-wing ideologues
who might use it as a code word to inspire morally questionable
projects of their own. Nor is it likely in our interest to get rid of the
word altogether, relegating it to the discard pile of culturally-
constructed concepts=97would this not leave us morally afloat,
unable to make any significant pronouncements about our ethical
universe?
This panel is interested in the problem of evil from the
perspective of women and feminists: groups intimately affiliated
with evil=92s material image, but equally historically silent on the
topic. From Eve, Lilith, Medea, Medusa, and countless fictional
stepmothers, to Mata Hari, New England =93witches,=94 femme fatales,
the developing phenomena of female suicide bombers, and
Aileen Wuornos (a rare example of female serial killers), =93evil=94
women have fascinated the world. Women in general, and their
bodies in particular, have also been aligned with evil and sin (and
pollution, or in Kristeva=92s language, =93the abject=94).
Proposals should address one or more of the following
topics and questions: What is (or isn=92t) feminist evil? What
contributions can feminist theory bring to preexisting arguments
about evil (philosophical, theological, political, etc.)? Can
feminism explain why there isn=92t a female Hitler, for example? Or
is there? What is the relationship between feminist icons and
evilness? Why might feminists have an interest (discursive,
rhetorical, activist) in distinguishing evil from, say, wickedness or
weakness? By contrast, why might feminists want to dismantle/
deconstruct the idea of good versus evil, as they have done with
other binaries? Why should feminism care about evil at all? What
historical/materialist circumstances have precluded (or prompted)
evil from women? How are discourses of evil and woman taken
up in literature, film, popular media, politics, theology, and
philosophy? Can evil ever be good or politically radical or
constructive, and if so, should feminism try to reclaim evil for its
own revolutionary/productive aims?

Papers may (and are encouraged to) deal with specific texts
and/or the question of women and evil in general, but they should
also endeavor to offer a feminist definition of evil and/or
specifically challenge this category of inquiry.
Please email a 300-500 word abstract and a brief professional
biography by midnight, March 31, 2004, to:

Eugenie Brinkema, subject line =93SAMLA 2004=94, at:
brinkema@buffalo.edu=20
<https://charon.bcc.bilkent.edu.tr/basilix/basilix.php?RequestID=3DCMPSNE=
W&premail=3D-1&is_js=3D1.4&is_ssl=3D1&cmps_to=3Dbrinkema@buffalo.edu>;=20
please also cc: Erin Sells at
esells@emory.edu=20
<https://charon.bcc.bilkent.edu.tr/basilix/basilix.php?RequestID=3DCMPSNE=
W&premail=3D-1&is_js=3D1.4&is_ssl=3D1&cmps_to=3Desells@emory.edu>.=20



IV. 13th Multidisciplinary Graduate Feminist Colloquium / 1st Graduate
Women's Studies Symposium

Location: Ontario
Call for Papers Deadline: 2004-02-16

We invite abstracts from those whose activities reflect feminist
perspectives and who would like to share their critical and creative
endeavours at the 13th Multidisciplinary Graduate Feminist Colloquium
and the 1st Graduate Women's Studies (GWS) Symposium.

For 13 years, the Graduate Feminist Colloquium has provided a strong,
supportive and stimulating environment in which to engage feminist
issues as a vital and dynamic field of multidisciplinary activity,
interaction and study. We welcome a broad array of works and works in
progress related to feminism in the form of presentations, panel
sessions, round table discussions, and workshops. The Women's Studies
Symposium, a new and exciting initiative undertaken by the Graduate
Women's Studies Students Association, shares these goals, but will focus
particularly on examining/expanding the borders and boundaries within
women's studies. Creative works are welcome, including poetry, fiction,
performance art, spoken word, mixed media, etc.

These two events will be held at York University, April 22-24, 2004.
This is a wonderful opportunity for graduate students to gain conference
presentation experience, as well as for feminists in all areas to engage
with one another.

There is no registration fee for either of these events. The deadline
for abstracts is *Monday, February 16, 2004*. Please send abstracts,
including name, affiliation (if any) and preferred format (presentation,
panel session, round table discussion, workshop, etc.) by mail, email,
or fax. Please address all abstracts and queries to the email provided
in the contact information below.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Centre for Feminist Research
228 York Lanes
York University
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3
T: (416) 736-5915
F: (416) 736-5416

Email: cfr@yorku.ca <mailto:cfr@yorku.ca>