Call for Papers for the Women and Gender Studies Conference 2016

The Women and Gender Studies Conference 2016: Theory in Action will take place Jan. 28-30 at Truman.

This year’s conference will focus on the translation of theory and thought into specific actions, as well as re-theorizing actions to live in a more socially conscious way. Abstracts can be submitted to Amy Sallwasser and Hayden Wilsey at wgstconference@truman.edu. Submission should include the presentation title and the dates and times the author will be available and unavailable to present. The deadline to submit an abstract is Nov. 30.

Sample topics of papers and projects:
-How might teachers empower their students to recognize inequality and work to overcome it?
-A specialized study into the ways in which gender inequality is held in place by traditional practices (e.g. requirements of dress or body image)
-Using Jack Halberstram’s “In a Queer Time and Place,” theorize the ways in which news-reporting groups privilege heteronormative bodies in relation to transgender individuals.
-Analyze the effectiveness of protests or movements that seek to promote counter-cultural ideas such as the Slut Walk or Pride Fest and how these movements call to mind further theorizing about action.
-Historical analysis of social rights movements in America and their implications for current social rights struggles (e.g. a comparison of the rhetoric of the LGBT Rights Movements to the rhetoric used in the Americans with Disabilities Act.)
-A sociological study into depictions of sexualized bodies on network television and shifting normate values.
-Analysis of cultural artifacts (books, movies, art, etc.) that either undermine or support an underlying assumption of normalcy in our society (i.e. a discussion of patriarchy, racism, homophobia, or fat-shaming in “Mrs. Dalloway,” etc.).
-Theorize imagined borders using cognitive science to argue the ways in which prejudice is learned within the family’s cognitive structure through rhetoric and action.
-Discuss the issues with privatized prison systems in the United States linked to inequality at the social level and compare them to prison systems within other countries in order to propose an alternative.
-A presentation from a company’s HR department, which addresses the theoretical underpinnings of their anti-discrimination clauses within employee contracts.
-Creative project addressing social norms and pervasive practices, which are detrimental to ideologies of equality.