CFP: Resentment In/Of Women's Studies (due 12/31/06; held 2/23/07)

King Richard's opening remark "Now is the winter of our discontent"
(Shakespeare, 1597) resonates with the discourse of our postmodern age
of uncertainty. The historical reiterations of resentment as a zeitgeist
suggest something about its very nature, of its ironically competing
pulls towards morbidity and hopeful calls for faith and love.
Nietzsche, in his autobiography, considers that "nothing on earth
consumes a man more quickly than the passion of resentment," alluding to
its erotic and masochistic power, and its paradoxical potential to
destroy and generate. Resentment fuels wars, infects relationships,
splits people internally but may also act as a catalyst for positive
expression and productive action.

This conference seeks to gain purchase on and work through this elusive,
multivalent concept by exploring how economies of resentment are
configured in multiple disciplines and varied mediums.

Suggested paper topics, here loosely grouped, include (but are not
limited to):

*Knowledge production; feminist aesthetics*

    - Authorship and/or publication as outlet for or expression of
    resentment
    - Discontent with modernity, post-modernity, or globalization
    - Resentment between/within women's studies, men's studies, and queer
    studies, within/out of the academy
    - Inter- and intra-department politicking, subversion, backstabbing

*Psychology, philosophy, religion*

    - Resentment as paralyzing ("resentment is like taking poison and
    waiting for the other person to die")
    - or, as spur to action (as the saying goes, "to have a grievance
    is to have a purpose in life") or revenge
    - Envy as sin, or penance; self-flagellation and other forms of
    self-control through self-hatred; mastering resentment via
self-control
    - The erotics of bitterness; the pleasures of holding a grudge
    - Narcissistic resentment ("sucks to be me") vs. * schadenfreude*
    - Freudian *u nbehagen* (discontent with civilization), and Marxist
    intersections
    - Illness or humiliation as cure of resentment

*Cultural studies*

    - The feminine subject position of non-agent resentment vs.
    "masculine" proactivity
    - Male resentment of feminism; backlash
    - Spaces of resentment; "safe" spaces for the expression of
    resentment; resentment-free spaces
    - Labeling as deviant; slurs, and gossip as expressions of resentment
    - Heterosexual resentment of perceived homosexual elasticity, and
vice versa

*Socio-legal-political** *

    - Second-citizenship; National resentment, and/or the resentment of
    citizen-subjects against their nation or another (allegedly
imperialist or colonizing) nation
    - Humiliation or trauma creating or fueling resentment, e.g., in
    conflict
    - The deployment of discontent; resentful anger as inspiration to, or
    the basis of, organizing

    - The burden on the body of being owed a wrong
    - "Justifiable" and "improper" forms of animus
    - Reciprocal resentments between lower, middle, and upper class women

*ABSTRACTS DUE: ** 12/31/06** *

Abstracts for individual papers should be no more than 300 words.

Panels of 3-4 speakers are welcome to submit a joint abstract of no
more than 500 words. Please clearly indicate if your proposal is a panel
submission.

Please e-mail your submission, along with a brief (3- to 4-sentence)
bio, to resentmentconference_at_gmail.com as an attachment. Selected
speakers will be notified promptly.

*Steering Committee: Keridiana Chez, Randy Cota, and Kelley C. Kawano*

*Co-Sponsored by the Women's Studies Certificate Program, CUNY Graduate
Center *

Keridiana ("Kery") Chez
kerychez_at_gmail.com

Ph.D. Student, English Dept., The CUNY Graduate Center
Chair of the Feminist Studies Group, The CUNY Graduate Center
Adjunct Lecturer, English Dept., Queens College

Keridiana ("Kery") Chez
kerychez_at_gmail.com

Ph.D. Student, English Dept., The CUNY Graduate Center
Chair of the Feminist Studies Group, The CUNY Graduate Center
Adjunct Lecturer, English Dept., Queens College

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Received on Fri Oct 06 2006 - 15:58:27 EDT