The State of the Nation: American Women in the Twenty-First Century
Marie Curie Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland
Friday, March 27, 2015
As American women have obtained positions of world power, leader, and strength they are still facing continual struggles to maintain and shape their place within the public and private spheres. Legislation attempting to dismantle the 1973 Roe v Wade decision, the 2014 Supreme Court ruling in favor of an employer’s right to choose a woman’s contraception, and continual battles for equal pay are just some of the obstacles women still face. This one-day symposium seeks to discuss contemporary issues facing American women by examining their position in the United States and by assessing the “state of the nation” in terms of gender equality. The European Association for American Studies Women’s Network invites proposals that consider American Women in the Twenty-First Century broadly conceived. We particularly encourage individual abstracts and panels which incorporate transdisciplinary explorations of the subject, and welcome submissions from any branch of American Studies. Possible themes include, but are not limited to:
- Feminism and American Studies
- New frontiers for women
- American women writers
- Activists, organizational techniques, NGOs
- Feminist collaboration; collaboration across difference; gender relations
- Women’s Studies pedagogy/the language of feminism
- Women and American academia
- American women and cultural studies
- American women and consumer/popular culture
- American politics/the politics of the body
- Able-bodiedness/performativity
- Education, the economy, government, public policy
- Women and war/the military
- Women and medicine/health care
- Sexuality/LBTQ rights/reproductive rights
- The beauty industry, media, sports
- The work/family challenge
- American women of color
- Citizenship, immigration, and mobility
- Diaspora, and (forced) displacement
- FGM/violence/domestic abuse
- labor exploitation/the environment
- The impact of the Internet and social media outlets (Facebook/Twitter) on American women
Comparative approaches that include the United States
Proposals should be sent to the EAAS Women’s Network (eaaswomensnetwork@gmail.com) and should consist of a 500 word abstract in English, as well as a one-paragraph biography for each participant. The time allowance for all presentations is 20 minutes. An additional 10 minutes will be provided for discussion.
Deadline for proposal submission: December 15, 2014.
Notification of proposal acceptance: January 15, 2015.
More information will be posted on our website as it becomes available: http://www.women.eaas.eu/