RHN 56/2014 | Call
Organiser: Laura Michele Diener (Department of History, Marshall University)
10-11 April 2015, Marshall University in Huntington, WV, USA
Deadline: 1 January 2015
Women and Gender in the Social and Natural Worlds:
Rural Perspectives
This conference addresses, from a multi-disciplinary perspective, the roles, experiences, struggles, and triumphs of women in rural contexts across the world. Our theme is founded in the critique, introduced by feminist scholar Sherry Ortner (1974), of the pervasive view that women are inherently and irrevocably connected to nature. This idea’s corollary is that culture – read as progress, development, technology – is men’s work. But research has increasingly shown that women play a central role, not only in sustaining rural life, but also in the development and economic stability of ever changing rural communities. By examining perspectives on rurality throughout history as well as in the contemporary world -- in which it is arguably a declining state -- this conference will explore the gendered aspects of rurality and its vicissitudes within the neoliberal, global landscape.
We invite submissions for individual paper presentations as well as three- to four-person panels. Submissions from faculty, graduate students, undergraduates and independent researchers are welcome.
Submissions may address but are not limited to the following themes:
- Rurality and development
- Women and economic independence
- Child rearing in rural areas
- Disease and gender
- NGOs and women’s rights
- Sexuality and gender in rural life
- Families and gender roles in rural life
- Ecofeminism
- Environmental advocacy
The conference will be hosted at Marshall University in Huntington, WV on April 10-11, 2015. Marshall is situated in the heart of Appalachia, a center of Appalachian heritage, environment, and culture.
Submission guidelines:
Please send abstracts of approximately 250 words for single papers and up to 500 words for panel proposals as well as a brief CV to Laura Michele Diener at diener@marshall.edu
Source: H-Net