Gender and Work in Literature and the Arts at the Turn of the 20th Century: A Theoretical and Historical Inquiry
de genere - Journal of literary, postcolonial and gender studies
Special issue:
Gender and Work in Literature and the Arts at the Turn of the 20th Century: A Theoretical and Historical Inquiry
Editors for this issue: Federico Bellini (Catholic University of Milan), Lisa Marchi (University of Trento)
The end of the 19th century witnessed the solidification of a cultural paradigm that placed work at the center of human life, particularly in the industrialized West. While this paradigm had been evolving for at least a century and a half, it was in the decades around 1900 that it became predominant. A diverse range of discourses— including socialist, Catholic, Protestant, and liberalist—converged in the exaltation of labor, further driven by momentous social transformations, the emergence of alternative political and cultural paradigms, and technical innovations in production systems.
As is often the case, literature and the arts did not simply reflect this transformation but also actively contributed to shaping and metabolizing this historical and cultural process. While many aspects of this shift have been widely studied, the interrelation between gender, identity, and work remains relatively underexplored. In particular, there is much to be uncovered regarding how women workers – at a time when their participation in the workforce was increasing – contributed to the affirmation of the centrality of work and the work ethic not only in economic production and in a capitalist system but also in one’s identity and life.
For this issue of de genere, we invite proposals for papers that investigate the literary and artistic representations of women's labor (both waged and unwaged) by both women and men authors and artists in literary and artistic works produced between 1870 and 1930. We seek to explore how the gendered dimension of work – intended as the social mechanisms of gender construction and performativity within a traditionally binary system – played a role in producing this cultural shift. We intend to investigate how gendered expectations, norms and roles have contributed to shape or challenge the broader narrative around work. More specifically, we ask: How is the interconnection between work, identity, and gender represented in literature and the arts at the turn of the 20th century? What do these literary narratives and artistic representations tell us about (working) women’s exclusions, segregated roles, and wayward lives? To what extent have literature and the arts contributed to consolidating or questioning the ideologies of work, and what role has the distinction of gender played in this process?
We welcome contributions across a spectrum of interdisciplinary approaches, which may include, but are not limited to, the disciplines of history, literature, the visual arts, philosophy, gender and queer studies.
We encourage submissions that engage with, but are not limited to, the following themes:
- Representations of women workers in literature and the arts
- Women’s roles in the workforce represented by male and female authors/artists.
- The portrayal of waged versus unwaged labor in literature, visual arts, or other cultural forms.
- The influence of genre and of the different literary movements on the depiction of women’s work (e.g., poetry, prose, realism, naturalism, or early modernism).
- The gendered nature of the workist paradigm
- How did the rise of the work-centered cultural paradigm interact with gender norms, roles, and expectations?
- In what ways did the labor of women, especially in traditionally undervalued sectors or in professions that were a male prerogative, contribute to or resist the workist paradigm?
- How have literature and the arts contributed to the creation and development of professions stereotypically associated with women (from the teacher to the midwife, from the telegraph operator to the nurse, and more) as well as to their critique and subversion?
- Cultural and political discourse on women and work
- The influence of socialist, Catholic, Protestant and liberalist thought on gendered labor practices and representations.
- The role of feminist or proto-feminist thought in challenging or reinforcing work-centered cultural ideals and practices.
- Transnational comparisons and influences
- Comparative studies of how the paradigm shift around work and gender played out in Italy versus other European and extra-European contexts.
- Representations of immigrant women workers and their place in the labor systems of the time.
- Artistic contributions to the labor movement
- The role of visual artists, novelists, poets, or playwrights in the depiction, whether celebratory or critical, of women’s work.
- The influence of women artists or authors in advancing new understandings and practices of labor and gender.
We welcome abstracts for original research papers or theoretical essays that embrace an interdisciplinary approach. Submissions should be in English or Italian. Please send your proposals for articles, interviews or creative interventions (max. 500 words, in English or Italian), and a short biography to degenere.journal[at]gmail.com, and in Cc to federico.bellini[at]unicatt.it and lisa.marchi[at]unitn.it. For submission guidelines and further info please check our submission page: https://www.degenere-journal.it/index.php/degenere/callforpapers2
Deadlines:
- Deadline for abstract submission: February 28th, 2025
- Acceptance of proposals will be notified by March 7th, 2025
- Deadline for submitting final accepted articles: July 15th, 2025
This CFP is part of the activities funded by the European Union – Next Generation EU within the framework of the project: "Beyond Workism and the Work-Centered Society: A Gender-Oriented Theoretical and Historical Inquiry into the Vocabulary of Socio-Political Inclusion." (P2022N8YKE, CUP J53D23017750001 - E53D23020210001).