1st Annual Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies Conference:
Shifting Gender Identities in the Face of War, Globalization, and
Natural Disaster
March 30-31, 2006
Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, MA

Call for Proposals

The 2006 GCWS conference is an event organized by graduate students for
graduate students working in the field of Women's and Gender Studies. It
is a 2-day event where students and faculty will gather to present and
discuss cutting-edge student work, workshop ideas, and network to share
skills and resources and build community. We are currently
inviting proposals
for three presentation formats: Individual Paper, Pre-Formed Panel, and
Poster Session.

Conference Abstract
   
Do we live in desperate times? As the rhetoric of an equal and free
society is used to justify the Iraq war, massive hurricanes in the
American south have exposed deep domestic disparities around class and
race. Natural disasters in Southeast Asia and Pakistan have revealed
just how deep the divide is between wealth and poverty on the global
scale. Human exploitation, envi-
ronmental degradation, and conflicts around racial, ethnic, and national
identities continue around the world. What does this mean for anyone
who stands outside or astride the boundaries of conventional
gender/sexual norms? Are we, as scholars and/or activists, prepared for
our advancing future?

Possible topics could include, but are not limited to:

    - All forms of labor and work, including traditionally unrecognized
forms such
    as care work and sex work

    - Social, economic, and political upheavals stemming from manmade
and natural
    disasters, military conflict, and other forms of violence

    - Human impact on the environment and vice versa

    - Emerging and/or changing forms of identity in a global future

    - The future of identity politics in a globalized world

    - Re-imagining the theory/practice divide; where and how do scholars
and activists
    fit into today's global cultural 'flows' moving people, goods,
information, and ideas?

   - Original research paradigms and methods

   - How do past frameworks for understanding gender, sexuality, and
global movement
    help or impede our efforts to describe current shifts?

    - The changing nature of war/conflict, and implications for the future

    - The function and dysfunction of various borders and borderlands
around nationality,
    ethnicity, sexuality, etc.
        
Submission Deadline: February 15, 2006

Submission guidelines can be found online at: http://web.mit.edu/gcws.
Proposals will be subject to an anonymous peer-review process.
Notification of
proposal status will occur no later than Monday, March 6, 2006.

We invite proposals for three presentation formats: Individual Paper,
Pre-Formed Panel, and Poster Session.

Individual paper presentation sessions provide an opportunity for three
authors to present an abbreviated version of a paper they
wrote or are in the process of writing. Papers will be grouped into
90-minute panels around common themes and will include a follow-
up discussion. Each presenter will be given 20 minutes.

A pre-formed panel presentation of 90 minutes will provide the
opportunity for a group of people (3-4) to present papers on a specific
issue
from a variety of perspectives. Panel participants may present
alternative or complementary interpretations or points of view on a topic.
Participating panelists are expected to select a point person who will
submit the proposal. The person will also be responsible for communicating
with the GCWS proposal review committee and for informing
his/her co-presenters about the progress of their proposal. Panelists
are encouraged
to assign a discussant who will prepare a commentary integrating or
summarizing the various positions addressed.

Poster sessions combine graphic display of materials with the
opportunity for individualized informal discussions on the work
throughout the session.
Presenters are encouraged to have copies or summaries of papers they
have written available for distribution. The posters will be displayed
on the
second day of the conference.

Selection Process

Proposals will be subject to an anonymous peer-review process.
Notification of proposal status will occur no later than Monday, March
6, 2006.

Proposals will be reviewed by a committee of students and faculty using
the following criteria:

- Overall Quality of proposal
- Grounded in research
- Clearly and coherently presented
- Development of ideas
- Relevance to gender studies and the overarching conference theme.
 
Please submit a 250-word abstract with title for proposals for
individual paper presentations and poster sessions to gcws_at_mit.edu
<mailto:gcws_at_mit.edu>.
Proposals for pre-formed panels of three to four presenters should
include short (no more than 100 words) abstracts of each paper
along with the panel proposal. Also include a short paragraph detailing
AV needs. Lastly, include a short biographical statement with
your institutional affiliation and current research interests.

In addition to the above, include the following information in your
submission:

Paper/Panel Title
Name (primary contact for presentation)
Institution(s)
Discipline(s)
Panel Moderator
Additional Panelists
Current Degree Program
Projected Date of Graduation
Home Phone
Cell Phone
Mailing Address
Email
Permanent Address

Proposals can also be submitted online at http://web.mit.edu/gcws or
emailed to gcws_at_mit.edu. Proposal guidelines are posted online at
http://web.mit.edu/gcws

For more information, contact:

The Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies
Building 16 Room 287, MIT
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
Phone: (617) 324-2085
Fax: (617) 324-2090
Email: gcws_at_mit.edu <mailto:gcws_at_mit.edu>

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Received on Sat Jan 14 2006 - 09:48:30 EST