NeMLA 2019-Intersecting Classes, Races, and Women in American Literature
In her groundbreaking book titled Women in the Nineteenth Century, Margaret Fuller suggests a remedy for the degradation of work for women stating, “Women are the best helpers of one another” (117). Fuller’s statement has reflections in many works written at the end of the nineteenth century such as Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, The Silent Partner (1871), Alcott’s Work (18739, and Blake’s Fettered for Life (1874) all of which focus on sisterhood, solidarity, and feminine bond among women across class, race, and nationality as a survival mechanism within capitalist economy. Witnessing the radical social, political, and economic changes forcing women to participate in the work force, women writers create solidarity as a safe space not only against the degradation of work but also gender discrimination, unequal social order, and patriarchy. By doing so, they suggest that only women can truly help each other while emphasizing the importance of a feminine community as well as cooperation and partnership of various women from different social background. Addressing the conference theme of “Transnational Spaces: Intersections of Cultures, Languages, and Peoples,” and bringing Feminist and Marxist theories into discussion, this panel aims to explore the theme of "sisterhood" in American women’s writing to provide a deeper understanding of how working women use networking to form bonds providing opportunities as well as protection and consolidation.
All submissions must be through nemla.org https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/17507. Deadline for abstracts is September 30.