Invited speaker: Helena Goscilo, University of Pittsburgh
Miami University, Oxford, OH
October 18-19, 2002
The Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet Studies at Miami University
invites graduate student papers reflecting on the many ways gender is implicated
in postcommunist social, cultural, and political formations. By calling
for papers that "place" gender in post-communism, we hope to promote two
lines of inquiry:
1. What are the sites and spaces in which and through which gender is
(re-)constituted in postcommunism? We point to a range of kinds and
levels of place or space, from the most specific and local to the largest
and/or most diffuse, from communal apartments, kiosks, and farmers' markets
to medical, educational, legal, and political institutions, to nation states
(and the borders between them), to the internet. Papers might consider
transactions made on street corners or comparatively analyze regional differences
in gender-related policies or gendered participation in parliaments or
bureaucracies. They might highlight the gendered implications of
postcommunist architecture or the gendered aspects in the travels of migrant
laborers. Papers might also consider gender and gender studies in
postcommunist academic institutions or the role of gender in civil society.
2. How can we most fruitfully place gender in terms of our own intellectual
discourses? And what are the imagined geographies which undergird
our thinking about gender in postcommunism? Much current work draws
either implicitly or explicitly on a dichotomy between feminisms east and
west or denies that such differences exist. We seek work that might
point the way to new and variegated feminist topographies. For instance,
how might the work on gender and postcolonial studies be brought to bear
in thinking about postcommunism? What would comparisons of Polish
and Pakistani feminisms look like? How might theories of intersectionality
be brought to studies of Roma women? How might feminist studies of
Islam make sense of Islamic postcommunist regions? Papers may hail from
any discipline (anthropology, sociology, political science, literary criticism,
folklore, religious studies, history, etc.) and may focus on any aspect
of social and political life in which gender is at stake in any of the
postcommunist countries in Central and Eastern Europe or Central Eurasia.
We strongly encourage proposals from grad students who have already completed
their dissertation research. The Havighurst Center will provide accommodation
in Oxford, ground transportation from the airport, and partial travel funding
(up to $250 for domestic travel and up to $500 for international travel).
To be considered for the conference, submit
an abstract of approximately 250 words and a CV by August 1, 2002.
Please type "grad student conference" as the subject of the email.
We plan to get back to you by September 1, 2002. Final papers, of
approximately 15-25 pages, must be submitted by October 1, 2002, when they
will be posted on the Havighurst website.