Call for Papers: NEW TRENDS IN #GENDER AND #DALIT #STUDIES November 30- December 2, 2023

 Call for Papers

Gender and caste have historically wielded immense influence as prevailing forms of social and cultural hierarchies in the Indian subcontinent. Consequently, they have taken center stage in discussions within the realms of social science, policy-making, and the pursuit of inclusive growth. A productive academic discourse has emerged, delving into various facets of Gender and Dalit studies in the broader context of Indian social science. Substantial transformations have transpired in the examination of marginalized groups and issues associated with social exclusion.

Over the past few decades, the primary thematic discourse has revolved around feminism, women's empowerment, and the predicaments of marginalized communities. Academia has also posed significant inquiries into how gender discrimination and power dynamics contribute to the perpetuation of social and cultural hierarchies and the subjugation of women and Dalits. Recently, novel perspectives and methodological practices have surfaced within the interdisciplinary social sciences. Therefore, it is imperative to thoroughly explore the diverse methodological and perspectival aspects of gender discrimination and social exclusion concerning women and marginalized groups such as Dalits.

Themes and Sub Themes

Theme 1: Gender Studies in Kerala

Sub-themes:

Historical Perspective:

Women's Status in Ancient-Medieval& Modern Kerala

Women's Movements in Modern Kerala

Gender and Politics:

Political Participation of Women in Kerala

Women in Leadership Roles: Case Studies

Cultural and Social Dynamics:

Impact of Literature and Arts on Gender Perceptions

Traditional Roles vs. Modern Aspirations

Contemporary Challenges:

Gender Disparities in Education and Employment

Economic Dimensions

Women's Health and Healthcare Access

Theme 2: Dalit Studies in Kerala

Sub-themes:

Historical Evolution:

Origin and Growth of Dalit Movements in Kerala

Dalit Icons and Leaders in Kerala

Dalit Writings and Politics

Economic Empowerment:

Dalit Entrepreneurship and Business Initiatives

Land Reforms and Dalit Communities

Educational Challenges:

Access to Quality Education for Dalit Communities

Role of Education in Dalit Empowerment

Social Issues and Discrimination:

Slavery & Humiliation in Kerala

Caste-based Discrimination: Realities and Challenges

Intersections of Gender and Caste Questions

Theme 3: Intersectionality and Marginalized Identities

Sub-themes:

Marginality- Every Day Experiences and Knowledge Production

Gender and Dalit Intersections:

Double Discrimination: Dalit Women’s Experiences

Dalit LGBTQ+ Experiences in Kerala

Legal Framework and Social Justice:

Legal Safeguards for Dalits and Women in Kerala

Challenges in Implementation: A Critical Analysis

Culture & Aesthetics

Gender and Dalit Issues in Literature -Art-Cinema- Performance and Theatre

Media Representation:

Portrayal of Dalits and Women in Kerala Media

Alternative Narratives and Media Activism

Theme 4: Empowerment Strategies and Interventions

Sub-themes:

Government Policies:

Effectiveness of Government Schemes for Women and Dalits

Policy Recommendations for Improvement

NGO Initiatives:

Role of NGOs in Empowering Dalits and Women

Best Practices and Lessons Learned

Education and Awareness Programs:

Impact of Awareness Campaigns on Gender and Dalit Issues

Integrating Gender and Dalit Studies in Education Curriculum

Social Justice and Affirmative Action

Education and Reservation Policies

NEP and Inclusive Education

Theme 5: Future Prospects and Challenges

Sub-themes:

Emerging Trends:

Digital Empowerment: Opportunities and Challenges

Changing Dynamics in Urban and Rural Spaces

Global Perspectives:

Comparative Analysis: Gender and Dalit Studies in International Context

Global Movements and their Influence on Kerala

Sustainable Development:

Sustainable Livelihoods for Dalit Communities

Gender-sensitive Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

We are pleased to invite research papers from teachers and research scholars related to the aforementioned themes and sub-themes. Kindly submit your abstracts by 31 October 2023 and your full papers by 10 November 2023. Please limit your typed paper to 10 pages with adequate referencing in the form of endnotes, using MS Word format (Times New Roman, 12 pt, double-spaced), and send it to hakeem@gasckkd.ac.in.

 

CFP: Young Researchers’ Conference on Trauma and Memory Studies: Responses from the Global South 19-21st January 2024 Department of English Jamia Millia Islamia

Memory and Trauma Studies have emerged as a key paradigm in the field of humanities, socialand cultural studies, especially towards the end of the 20th century. The intersections and interactions between these two fields have been employed by contemporary scholars to study human histories of war, atrocities, genocides, partition, displacement and discrimination. Building upon this enriched understanding of the intricate relationship between memory and trauma, scholars have extended their inquiries to explore the mechanisms through which societies and individuals navigate the aftermath of traumatic experiences. The exploration of coping strategies, memorialization practices, and the transmission of memory across generations has deepened our comprehension of how trauma reverberates through time and space. Central to this discourse is the recognition that memory and trauma are not static entities, but rather dynamic and evolving constructs. The ways in which societies remember, commemorate, and come to terms with their traumatic pasts are subject to a complex interplay of political, cultural, and social factors. The interdisciplinary nature of Memory and Trauma Studies allows for the examination of this process from multiple angles, such as artistic expressions, oral histories, or digital media.

In the Global South, where the legacies of colonialism, dictatorship, armed conflicts, and systemic injustices persist, Memory and Trauma Studies have provided a crucial framework for understanding the complexities of post-colonial and post-conflict societies. However, situated amidst such a diverse array of historical and political contexts, the theoretical frameworks emanating from Western scholarship often fall short in adequately encapsulating the intricate historical narratives pertaining to the realms of trauma and memory within the Global South. Western trauma theory often positions the Western, white subject as the universal subject of traumatic experience. This is exemplified by Steve Creps' critique of Cathy Caruth's analysis of the film ‘Hiroshima, mon Amour’. Creps argues that Western critics employ neo-colonially exported Western psychiatric concepts to postcolonial regions without considering their suitability. This entanglement between the post-colonial scholarship and trauma theory calls for a ‘decolonization’ of the theory itself. Michael Rothberg in his essay ‘Decolonizing Trauma Studies: A Response’, questions the pertinence of the Euro-centric conceptualization of trauma theory to study the ‘legacies of violence in the colonial/postcolonial world’. He calls for a reformation or an expansion of the contemporary conceptualizations within the literary trauma theory which remains stuck within EuroAmerican historical frameworks. Theorists like Jay Rajiva are also working on decolonising  the field by tackling the eurocentric, monocultural bias of Trauma theory. In his work “Postcolonial Parabola”, Jay Rajiva focuses on the need to represent decolonization as a traumatic event, along with identifying the challenges of situating the heterogeneity of postcolonial experience while developing new ways of representing it. As compared to the traditional trauma theory which is focused on isolated, individual and exceptional events, postcolonial trauma is not exceptional (or unusual) as it is woven into the political structure of a nation and expressed as a daily reality. It is characterized as the trauma of the everyday. Jay Rajiva thus focuses on the cross-cultural ethical engagement with postcolonial trauma. The thrust of works on Memory and Trauma Studies have been largely on national/international cataclysmic events such as Partition (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) and Holocaust to name a few. Some examples of creative works that have emerged from these cataclysmic events which have this inherent focus on the individual traumas and memories of central characters involved are Attia Hossain’s Sunlight on a Broken Column (1961) or Nayanika Mookherjee’s The Spectral Wound: Sexual Violence, Public Memories, and the Bangladesh War of 1971. The partition also laid bare gendered vulnerabilities. When one looks at autobiographies, memoirs and other forms of nonfiction that emerge from areas such as Kashmir, the North East, Punjab and Bengal, they narrativize individual instances of memory and trauma. The latest example of this is a book by Farah Bashir titled Rumours of Spring (2021). To contest the Eurocentric exclusivity which stands culpable for shadowing the universal application of trauma studies, it is incumbent that we cater to more accounts from the Global South- be it the complex history of violence, slavery, racism or marginalization in the Caribbean, the issues of internal displacement, Civil War and natural disaster in Sri Lanka, or the historical and transgenerational repercussions faced by the Africans. 

The works of Sri Lankan Tamil Poet Cheran are marked by the shrieks of resistance, anger,

and grief that lend a unique perspective on the suffering faced by Sri Lankan Tamils during the extensive civil war. The Anthologies- Two Times Removed Volumes I and II (2021-22) by Tiara Jade Chutkhan is another important recent work which highlights the nuances of Indo-Caribbean identity, intergenerational memory and trauma. Works like Traumatic Storytelling and Memory in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Performing Signs of Injury (2019) by Christopher J. Colvin and Trauma, Memory, and Narrative in the Contemporary South African Novel (2012) edited by Ewald Mengel and Michela Borzaga also focus on the complex relation between trauma, memory and narrative. These works see trauma as a consequence of an historical condition – in the case of South Africa, that of colonialism, and, more specifically, of apartheid.

This Call for Papers invites scholars and researchers to probe into the ongoing negotiations

between dominant historical narratives and marginalized voices, with a focus on the Global

South. This conference strives to look into how memory and trauma actualizes in the

psychological, social, cultural, historical, philosophical, religious, economic, political and

other aspects. A regional focus will help us unveil the disparities and imbalances in terms of

the representation of suffering in the Global South- South Asian, Caribbean, African and the

Arab world. In a world shaped by diverse historical narratives, the Global South stands as a

repository of unique experiences, memories and struggles. Therefore, there exists a pressing

need to unearth a novel analytical framework that can comprehensively emphasize on the years of violence and identity politics unique to the Global South.

Topics could include but may not be limited to:

•  Regional Representation: Conflict and Protest Literature in the Global South

• War and Post-war Atrocities in the Global South
• Decolonizing Trauma theory
• Re/Presentations of Trauma and Memory in Popular Culture in the Global South
• Digitizing Trauma and Memory in the Global South
• Reading the Global North from the Global South
• Theorizing the Other: Experiences of the marginalized communities in the Global South
• Contextualizing the disenfranchised in the Global South: Women and Children
• Trauma, Memory and Multilingualism in the Global South
• Bearing Witness: Perpetrators, Survivors and Bystanders in the Global South
• Institutionalizing Memory and Trauma in the Global South
• Memory Activism in the Global South
• Narratives and Representations in the Global South: Retellings, Censorships and
Contestations
• Resilience, Neuro-plasticity and Coping Mechanism in the Global South
• Indigenous ways of Healing: the Global South perspective
• Memory traces and Memory entanglements in the Global South
• Trans-cultural/ Trans-national/ Trans-generational perspectives and Migrant trauma
• Post-Pandemic Trauma and Trauma of the everyday in the context of the Global South

Important Dates:
Submission of Abstracts: 30th November, 2023
Intimation of Accepted Abstracts: 5th December, 2023
Submission of Full-Length papers: 5th January, 2024

Guidelines for Abstract and Paper Submission:
We invite abstracts of about 300 words along with a short bio-note of 100 words to be sent via email to yrcjmi2023jmi@gmail.com on or before 30th November, 2023. Full-length papers of accepted abstracts, of 4500-6000 words, in citation style MLA 9th Edition, should reach the same on or before 5th January, 2024.
Selected papers will be published in a collection of conference proceedings with a leading
international publisher.

 For further queries and submissions, kindly write to us at yrcjmi2023@gmail.com 

 

Call for Publications: Special Issue on #Indian #Aesthetics

 

The Aesthetix Journal of Indian Studies (http://www.indianstudies.net) is seeking scholarly articles for its themed issue on Indian Aesthetics. The themed issue aims to discuss Indian Aesthetics from different perspectives. Authors from any discipline can submit papers. We will publish papers that are interdisciplinary in nature engaging in discussion relevant to humanities and social sciences.

The issue will cover the following suggestive but not exclusive areas:

• History of Indian Aesthetics
• Aestheticism in Indian Art and Architecture
• Indian Aesthetics and Cosmic Reality
• Religion and Aestheticism in India
• Impact of Indian Aesthetics on the West
• Comparative study between the Indian Aestheticism and Non-Indian Aestheticism
• The unknown aesthetes of India
• Study of Indian art: from the past to the present
• Indian Aesthetics of the Ugly
• Body and Soul in Indian Aesthetics
• Rasa in Indian Aesthetics
• Aesthetics of Indian Narratology
• Colonialism and Indian Aestheticism
• Aesthetics of the Marginalized Indians
• The mathematics of Indian aesthetics
• Indian Aesthetics and Orality
• Indian Aesthetics and Literature
• Science and Technology and Indian Aestheticism

Time Line

CFP opens: October 20, 2023
Submission closes: December 31, 2023

The publication will start in January 2024 in Continuous Mode.

Submission Guidelines, Terms and Conditions, and Publication Policies

Contact Information

 Mail ID: editor@indianstudies.net

For any query, please text us to our WhatsApp No: +91- 7047598085

Contact Email : editor@indianstudies.net

URL  http://www.indianstudies.net/call-for-papers/

Call for Publications: #Ecocriticism, #Sustainability and the #Literature

In today's world, we bear witness to epidemics and pandemics, the global climate change caused by human actions, as well as ecological collapse marked by floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes. These events underscore the risks and challenges of a human-centered way of life. At the same time, they remind us of the need to reconsider our binary and hierarchical divisions between humans and the Earth, humans and animals, mind and body, nature and culture.

In the 1970s, William Rueckert's groundbreaking work 'Literature and Ecology: An Experiment in Ecocriticism' (1978) delved into the relationships between humans and non-humans, the deep history of our planet, environmental transformations, and the changing micro and macro climates, all within the context of literature. Since then, these ideas have found a systematic place in the fields of cultural and literary studies and literary criticism.

Today, in the Anthropocene, we actively engage with post-human theories, ecofeminism, feminist new materialism, affect theory, actor-network theory, speculative realism, and sustainability.

'Nesir: Journal of Literary Studies' will center its 6th issue on the theme of 'Ecocriticism, Sustainability, and Literature,' set for April 2024. The issue welcomes essays that explore literary works, both fictional and non-fictional, from the early Ottoman period to contemporary Turkey. within an ecological perspectives, offering a comparative global literary outlook.

 

Possible topics:

• Environmental History
• Memory Studies
• Gender Studies, Feminism, and Sustainability
• Literary Theories
• Genre Studies
• Film Studies
• Video Games
• Graphic Novels
• Environmental Disasters, Epidemics, and Famine
• Post-humanism
• Critical Animal Studies
• Turkish and Ottoman Literature
• World Literature(s)
• Folklore / Fairy Tales
• Migration and Colonialism, Postcolonialism
• Travel Writing
• Translation

Contact Information

editor@nesirdergisi.com

Contact Email : editor@nesirdergisi.com

URL  http://nesirdergisi.com

#CFP: #Feminism and the Study of the European #Witch-Trials -Journal (Winter 2024).

Throughout most of Europe and its colonies, through the better part of three centuries, accusations of and executions for the crime of witchcraft primarily targeted women – a fact not lost on even the earliest feminist histories (e.g. Matilda Joslyn Gage, Women, Church, and State, 1893). But most early histories of witchcraft tended to downplay issues of gender (see Jan Machielsen, The War on Witchcraft, 2021), while the flowering of witchcraft historiography in the 1970s and 1980s was marred by condescending polemics against ahistorical martyrologies of second-wave feminism such as those of Andrea Dworkin and Starhawk. This changed in the 1990s and early 2000s, when a wave of archivally grounded, theoretically sophisticated, unabashedly feminist scholarship on the witch-trials appeared. Elizabeth Reiss explicated the policing of Damned Women in Puritan New England (1997); Sigrid Brauner depicted witches as the inverse of Protestant Fearless Wives (1995); Deborah Willis (Malevolent Nurture, 1995) and Lyndal Roper (Oedipus and the Devil, 1994) deployed psychoanalytic models to explain misogynist depictions of older women as witches.

Although some degree of gender analysis is now, rightly, standard in any treatment of early modern beliefs and practices related to witchcraft or witch trials, and although that gender analysis is foregrounded in many excellent recent monographs (Valerie Kivelson, Desperate Magic, 2013; Erika Gasser, Vexed with Devils, 2017; Laura Kounine, Imagining the Witch, 2018), explicitly feminist analysis has faded from the scholarly study of witchcraft. Popular feminist sensibility informs many mass-market books on witchcraft (Kristen J. Sollee, Witches, Sluts, Feminists, 2017; Sarah Lyons, Revolutionary Witchcraft, 2019), and a feminist ethos remains central to Pagan Witchcraft and to scholarship about it (Laurel Zwissler, Religious, Feminist, Activist, 2018); but feminist engagement seems largely lacking from recent scholarly treatments of historical witchcraft trials or persecutions. Feminist scholars outside the narrow circle of witchcraft history have turned for insight to the writings of feminist scholars who have filled the vacuum thus created with ahistorical narratives that repeat long-debunked tropes and poorly serve the need for a serious feminist engagement with the witch trials (Silvia Federici, Calaban and the Witch, 2004, and Witches, Women-Hunting, and Women, 2018; Mona Chollett, In Defense of Witches, 2023). Let us Discuss!

The journal Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft invites submissions for a Discussion Forum aimed at reinvigorating the feminist historical study of witchcraft and witch trials, in Europe and by European colonizers, in the period of roughly 1400-1800. Contributions from junior scholars, and from scholars writing from and/or about historically marginalized communities, are especially welcome.

If interested, please send an abstract of about 100-150 words to MRW co-editor Michael Ostling by December 31, 2023, at michael.ostling@asu.edu . Or contact with questions.

Full drafts of those contributions accepted for inclusion in the Discussion Forum will be due April 30 2024. Anticipated publication in Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft volume 19.3 (Winter 2024).

Discussion Forum pieces tend to be short (2000-4000 words) and conversational. While they may be theoretically sophisticated and grounded in detailed scholarship, they should also be accessible to audiences across a wide range of disciplines and positionalities. Please write accordingly.

Contact Information

Michael Ostling

Contact Email

michael.ostling@asu.edu

#CallForPublications: #Academics, #Activists, and "#Superstition" -February 28, 2024.

 

“Superstition.” Historians, folklorists, anthropologists, scholars of religion have long critiqued the term, and taught our students to do so as well. Always unavoidably ascriptive, it functions to divide: true religion from primitive magic, right reason from blind faith, “us” from “other.” Whether deployed by Stoic philosophers against the silly practices of the plebians, by medieval urban Catholics against rural “pagans,” by early modern Protestants against Catholics, by Victorian scholars against colonized and Indigenous peoples, or (across millennia) by men against the beliefs and practices of “old wives” and women more generally, the category of “superstition” is a weapon of domination and marginalization.

“Superstition.” Human rights activists, disability activists, advocates for the elderly or for children languishing in “witch camps” have recently deployed the term to great pragmatic effect. Organizations such as the #Maharashtra Blind Faith Eradication Committee in India and Advocacy for Alleged Witches in Nigeria shame the accusers of alleged witches as “superstitious.” By doing so, they forge alliances with international humanist movements, align themselves with the language of human rights organizations forged in the Enlightenment tradition, and effect policy changes to the benefit of the demonized. In a historical twist, the category of “superstition” can be a weapon of the marginalized against domination, violence, and dehumanization.

Contributions from junior scholars, and from scholars writing from and/or about historically marginalized communities, are especially welcome.

If interested, please send an abstract of about 100-150 words to MRW co-editor Michael Ostling by February 28, 2024, at michael.ostling@asu.edu, or contact us with questions.

Full drafts of those contributions accepted for inclusion in the Discussion Forum will be due June 30, 2024. Anticipated publication in Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft volume 20.1 (Spring 2025).

Discussion Forum pieces tend to be short (2000-4000 words) and conversational. While they may be theoretically sophisticated and grounded in detailed scholarship, they should also be accessible to audiences across a wide range of disciplines and positionalities: historians and sociologists, philosophers and activists, policy actors and ethnographers. Please write accordingly.

Contact Information

Michael Ostling

Contact Email

michael.ostling@asu.edu

Call for Papers: #Gender #Studies Area of the #Popular #Culture #Association-March 27-30, 2024-#Chicago, #Illinois.

 The Gender Studies area of the Popular Culture Association explores a broad range of intersections between gender and popular culture, whether within popular culture texts or practices.

The Gender Studies area is now considering proposals for papers, panels, and/or roundtables for the 2024 annual conference. Deadline for proposals is November 30, 2023. Visit https://pcaaca.org/page/submissionguidelines for submission instructions. The conference will be March 27-30, 2024, in Chicago, Illinois.

Topics could include, but are not limited to, the representation of gender identity and gender expression within popular culture; advertising appeals that go beyond the gender binary; the potential  of popular culture to educate audiences about diversity, equity, and inclusion; the role of gender in athletics; and popular culture responses to recently passed or proposed legislation related to reproductive rights, drag performances, and teaching about gender identity. Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods are welcome from disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches.

Proposals for paper presentations require a 150-200 word abstract.

For a proposed panel (4 papers on a common theme or topic), individual presenters should submit an abstract of 150-200 words for their own paper, and the panel chair should contact Dr. O’Reilly to assemble the papers into a panel.

For a proposed roundtable (assembled conversation around a topic without formal, prepared presentations), please contact Dr. O’Reilly with your proposed topic.

Individuals must be current, paid members to submit to the conference.  

Contact Information

Julie D. O’Reilly

Heidelberg University

310 E. Market St.

Tiffin, OH 44883

419.448.2094

 

Contact Email

joreilly@heidelberg.edu

URL https://pcaaca.org/page/submissionguidelines