Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century British Women Writers Conference

BWWC 2025

TRANSFORMATIONS

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

May 15–17, 2025

Hosted by South Dakota State University and The University of South Dakota

Deadline for submission of proposals: December 15, 2024

For more information about the conference, please visit the BWWC 2025 website (https://bwwc2025.wixsite.com/bwwc2025). Questions about the conference may be directed to bwwc2025@gmail.com.

Keynote Speakers

• Dr. Lisa Hager, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee at Waukesha
• Dr. Megan Peiser, Oakland University
• Dr. Kerry Sinanan, University of Winnipeg

Call for Proposals

On behalf of the Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century British Women Writers Association (BWWA), the organizers of the thirty-third annual Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century British Women Writer’s Conference (BWWC 2025) invite proposals for both individual presentations and complete panels focusing on the theme “Transformations” as it relates to texts produced by women, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming writers within global and transatlantic contexts during the long eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The organizers wish to consider how these texts represent, reflect, and embody transformation, as well as how they have proved and continue to prove transformative. How might the study of these texts generate transformation within the classroom, academic programs and disciplines, educational institutions, and academia at large? How might this work contribute to social, political, and ecological transformation? What transformations must occur to ensure that the conditions of academic work are just, humane, ethical, and equitable?

Proposals might engage with the theme of transformation as it relates to the following topics:

The Literary: representation, writing, reading, genre, form, criticism

The Textual: adaptation, digitization, orality, printing and binding, editing and publishing

Identities: gender, including transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming identities, sexuality, race, nation, class, ethnicity, religion

Minds and Bodies: disability, creativity, autonomy, mobility, wellness and wellbeing, mental health, reproduction, maternity, disease, age and aging, sex, violence, trauma, death, dreams, enlightenment, disillusionment

The Social: tastes, fashions, manners, leisure, family, courtship, friendship

The Political: representation, recognition, human rights, civil rights, reproductive rights, land rights, land back, animal rights, resistance, revolution, liberation, abolition, emancipation, agency

The Global: economies, war, travel, immigration, colonization, enslavement, climate

Nature: plants, animals, insects, gardens, landscapes, weather

The Supernatural: spiritualism, ghosts, monsters, the Gothic

The Material: objects, textiles, crafts, architecture, art

Academia and Academic Life: pedagogy, institutions, institutional support, labor, labor conditions, balance of work roles and work/life, care work, the profession, research, scholarship, academic societies, academic conferences

Proposals on other topics related to transformation, as well as topics that fall outside of the scope of the conference theme, are also welcome.

Proposals for Undergraduate Research Panels

BWWC 2025 organizers invite proposals for a limited number of preformed panels featuring undergraduate research that fits within the parameters of the conference. Proposals for these preformed panels must be submitted by a faculty sponsor who will serve as panel moderator and mentor for the undergraduate students attending the conference. Organizers are particularly interested in undergraduate research panels that showcase innovative pedagogical strategies. Undergraduate research panels must include at least three but no more than five undergraduate presenters. A panel with five presenters should engage a roundtable format with brief presentations that will leave sufficient time for discussion. Faculty members who travel with undergraduate students to the conference must take full responsibility for their institutions’ requirements regarding undergraduate travel to off-campus events.

Submission Guidelines

To submit a proposal for BWWC 2025, use the link to the submission form on the BWWC 2025 website (https://bwwc2025.wixsite.com/bwwc2025). Proposals must be uploaded as .doc, .docx, or .pdf files. Please follow the guidelines below when preparing your document for submission.

Proposals for Individual Papers

Please include:

• Name.
• Affiliation.
• Email address.
• Presentation title
• Abstract of no more than 300 words.

Proposals for Standard Panels

Elect one presenter on your panel to submit the panel proposal. Panel must include at least three but no more than four presenters.

Please include:

• Title of panel.
• Optional: Name, affiliation, and email address of moderator (the panel moderator may be a presenter on your panel; however, if you prefer, the BWWC organizers can also assign an outside moderator to your panel for you).
• For each presenter: name, affiliation, email address, presentation title, and an abstract of no more than 300 words.

Proposals for Undergraduate Research Panels

The faculty sponsor must submit the panel proposal and serve as the panel moderator. Panel must include at least three but more than five presenters. Panels with five presenters must engage a “roundtable” format with brief presentations that will leave sufficient time for discussion.

 Please include:

• Title of panel.
• Name, affiliation, and email address of faculty sponsor/panel moderator.
• For each presenter: name, affiliation, email address, presentation title, and an abstract of no more than 300 words.

Note: Faculty sponsors are invited and encouraged to submit a separate proposal for an individual presentation or as part of a preformed panel.

BWWA Travel Awards

As part of its mission to encourage conference participation by graduate students, early-career scholars, independent scholars, and contingent faculty, the BWWA offers four travel awards of up to $500 (pending availability of funds) to help assuage the costs of travel to the BWWC. These awards are offered for the following categories:

• Independent Scholar/Contingent Faculty Travel Award
• Graduate Student Travel Awards for work in the following periods:
  • Early to mid-eighteenth century
  • Late eighteenth century to early nineteenth century
  • Mid-nineteenth century to early twentieth century (The Pam Corpron Parker Memorial Travel Award)

For more information, please visit the BWWA website (https://britishwomenwriters.org/).

The BWWA Constance Fulmer Award in Mentorship

The Constance Fulmer Award in Mentorship recognizes outstanding mentorship of graduate student and early-career scholars of long eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British women writers. The BWWA seeks nominations for the 2025 award, which will be presented at the BWWC 2025 conference.

For more information, please visit the BWWA website (https://britishwomenwriters.org/).

BWWA Mentorship Program

The BWWA mentorship program pairs graduate students and early career scholars with a mentor with whom they can meet during the BWWC conference. Individuals who would like to participate in this program as a mentee or mentor may indicate their interest in and expectations for doing so when registering for the conference.