[Commlist] CFP for an edited anthology: "Childfree across the Disciplines: Academic and Activist Perspectives on NOT Choosing Children"

*Call for Chapter Proposals for Anthology*
**
*Title: *

/Childfree across the Disciplines: Academic and Activist Perspectives on 
/ Not/Choosing Children/
//
*Editor: *

Davinia Thornley (University of Otago, Aotearoa New Zealand)

Recently, Childfree people (Cfers) have been foregrounded in mainstream 
media. More than 7% of Western women choose to remain childfree (Cf) and 
this figure is increasing (Krupka, 2016). Being Cf challenges a 
“particular hetero-gendered order of which the procreation imperative is 
a central component “(Morison et al., 2015), occupying an uneasy 
position in relation to—simultaneously—traditional academic ideologies 
and prevalent social norms. After all, “if a woman is not a mother, the 
patriarchal social order is in danger” (Avivi, 2017).

This collection intends to engage with (mis)perceptions about Cfers: in 
media representations, in economic theory, in demographic models, in 
historical documents and historiographic models, and in legal texts, to 
name but a few of the areas of academic praxis that the Cf life impacts 
on—and is impacted by. It unequivocally takes a stance supporting the 
subversive potential of the Cf choice, particularly the “sense of 
continual potential in who or what [a person] could be” (Doyle et al., 
in press). It also seeks to delineate how Cfers factor (or not) into 
both previous and future academic literatures. To this end, I am 
interested in submissions from academics and activists in various 
disciplines and movements about the Cf life: its implications, its 
challenges, its conversations, and its agency—all in relation to its 
inevitableness in the 21st century.

Following are suggestions for prospective chapters; please do not 
hesitate to contact me if you have additional themes/ideas and would 
like to discuss these further:


  GENDER STUDIES/THEORY

  * Addressing the failure of feminist theory to account for Cfers’
    place in, and contributions to, progressive feminism(s), while
    meeting the challenge to “develop theory that does not recreate a
    maternal essence” (Hird & Abshoff, 2000).

  * The role of Cf men in the Cf movement: where are they? What does it
    mean to be a male Cf academic?

MEDIA/COMMUNICATION

  * Talking back to the ‘elephant in the room’: Cfers as selfish,
    immature, unnatural, materialistic.
  * Varying representations of Cfers in the media (Carmichael &
    Whittaker, 2007), literature, and pop psychology.
  * The role of the internet/social media in providing ‘(un)safe spaces’
    for Cf people?

ORGANISATIONAL/MANAGEMENT THEORY

  * The academic structure models and, indeed, often rewards a Cf
    lifestyle. Are Cfers drawn to such workplaces and, if so, why?

  * On (not) being a Cf “career woman/man”: finding alternate pathways
    for our lives (Devers & Saugeres, 2014).

BIOLOGY

  * Reproductive planning and birth control in Cfer family units.

  * Theorizing modernity via the “separation of sexuality from the
    exigencies of reproduction” (Hall, 2003).
AREA STUDIES

  * Cfness as a Western privilege: “Just over 40% of pregnancies
    worldwide are unplanned and many of those are unwanted...the choice
    to limit fertility is very much still an ideal rather than a reality
    for many women” (Krupka, 2016).

EDUCATIONAL THEORY

  * Cfers and mentoring/teaching/policy-making/activism.

ECONOMIC THEORY

  * The impact(s) of risk (Lupton, 1999a: 59-85 & 1999b; Jackson &
    Scott, 1999: 86-107; Wallerstein, 2000; Beck & Beck-Gernsheim, 2000:
    70) and/or rational decision-making vis-a-vis exchange theory on the
    Cf choice (Seccombe, 1991). What is the balance? Is balance even
    possible?
  * The /Idiocracy/ Debate: Satoshi Kanazawa’s claim of increased
    intelligence for Cfers and the impact of their choice to remain Cf
    on the future average intelligence of populations in advanced
    industrial nations (2014).

CRITICAL CULTURAL STUDIES

  * Raced/classed/heteronormative/gendered experiences of Cfness e.g.
    enforced and voluntary sterilization; (in)equality in the treatment
    of Cf women and men and between Cf women and Cf men; Cf ‘others’ and
    their struggles for biological sovereignty; the role of white
    privilege in Cfness (Kelly, 2009; Settle & Brumley, 2014).

  * Mobilizing a Cf movement: factors that hamper, findings that help.

HISTORY

  * Cavassing the broad social changes that have precipitated the rise
    of Childfreedom.

  * Naming and claiming International Childfree Day: its history,
    ideologies, advocates and detractors, role, and
    social/political/demographic impact.

  PSYCHOLOGY

  * The role(s) of friends, support groups, and “chosen” families—both
    positive and negative—in Cfers’ lives.

  * The positive impact of Cfness on marital satisfaction (Twenge et
    al., 2003).
DEMOGRAPHICS/POLITICAL SCIENCE

  * Redefining “family”: The growing Cf demographic and its impact on
    traditional academic definitions, as well as commonsense
    understandings, of family.

  * Voter consciousness among Cf groups.
  * Aging as a Cfer in a childed world.

SOCIOLOGY

  * Structural/cultural constraints and opportunity costs for both Cf
    academics and members of the general public, including but not
    limited to: pronatalist discourses (Koropeckyj-Cox & Pendell, 2007);
    “matrigyno-idolatry” (Meyers, 2002); “mandatory motherhood” (Russo,
    1976); and parents’ sense of distributive justice or “their
    convictions that the rewards of their choice offset the sacrifices
    and that marriage and children are the best route to personal
    happiness” (Veevers, 1972).

  * The importance and/or usefulness (or not) of the following concepts
    for Cfers:
 1. reproductive individualism, or internally referential reproduction
    i.e. “childbearing/rearing [choices] that primarily express the
    reflexive creation of individual identity” (Hall 1993)
 2. Anthony Giddens’ “pure relationship(s)” (1992; Jamieson 1999).
*Proposal guidelines:*
**
      Seeking essays of 5000-6000 words, inclusive of references

      Proposals should contain the following:

        o Contributors’ contact information (name, title, affiliation, 
email)

        o Chapter title

        o Chapter abstract of 250-500 words that illustrate the chapter’s

              a) topic/subject matter

              b) methodological approach

              c) conclusions/argument

*Proposals are due *April 1, 2019**
Proposals or questions: please email Davinia Thornley 
((davinia.thornley /at/ otago.ac.nz) <mailto:(davinia.thornley /at/ otago.ac.nz)>)


---------------
The COMMLIST
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier. Please use it responsibly and wisely.
--
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit http://commlist.org/
--
Before sending a posting request, please always read the guidelines at http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
URL: http://nicocarpentier.net
---------------