The Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Program at the University
of Pennsylvania is hosting its 3rd biannual graduate student
conference, co-organized with the Annenberg School for Communications’
Media Activism Research Collective. The theme this year is “Protest”
and will feature a keynote address by Marcia Ochoa and presentation by
Isa Noyola. Please circulate widely and direct any questions to
(GSWSProtest /at/ gmail.com). <mailto:(GSWSProtest /at/ gmail.com)>We hope to have
many of you presenting!
“PROTEST” CALL FOR PAPERS <http://gswsprotest.tumblr.com/>
University of Pennsylvania
Thursday, April 21-Friday, April 22, 2016
Keynote: Marcia Ochoa
Featured Presentation: Isa Noyola
Organized by Penn’s Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Program and
Media Activism Research Collective
Protest defines our contemporary moment. From #BlackLivesMatter in the
US to anti-austerity movements in Europe to popular uprisings in the
Middle East, people have claimed public and digital spaces in response
to local and global injustices, such as structural racism, sexual
violence, material inequalities, political oppression, environmental
degradation, and corrupt governments and corporations. In light of
mass mobilizations and creative insurgencies, this conference asks:
what is the role of protest in bringing about social change? What
forms can protest take? What can protest achieve, and what are its
limits? “Protest” is interested in tracing the contours of protest
along its varied historical, geographical, social, political, and
legal axes.
Protest is at risk of being perceived as obsolete in light of civil
rights victories that promote the illusion of living in a world
resolved of structural injustice, suggesting we are living in a
post-racial, post-feminist, post-gay, and/or post-colonial moment. For
example, as trans activist Jennicet Gutiérrez reminded us when she
interrupted President Barack Obama’s celebration of LGBT rights at the
White House, marriage equality does not begin to address the social,
economic, and political grievances of many in the queer community. As
a political performance, protest, whether individual or collective,
brings the public’s attention to neglected or marginalized causes,
making these issues the subject of public contention and policy
deliberation. For example, “Carry That Weight,” the mattress
performance art of Columbia student Emma Sulkowicz, triggered
nationwide debate around how universities handle sexual assault on
their campuses. Protest may also incite backlash, leading to
state-sanctioned violence, repression, surveillance, or other
disciplinary measures. The arrest, detention, and persecution of
activists in Egypt illustrates the dangers that protest poses for
authorities and protesters alike.
While a graduate student conference, we invite submissions from
graduate students and activists alike that grapple with the many
dimensions and manifestations of protest across time and space. Who
gets to protest? Who does protest leave out? What is the role of
affect (e.g. hope, despair, depression, shame, anger) in protest? How
do new media technologies reconfigure the ways we protest, express
dissent, build coalitions, inhabit material space, and mobilize for
collective action? What new repertoires of protest are made available
by these technologies? Is there a space for protest in the neoliberal
university? What is the relationship between art and protest,
aesthetics and politics? What is the scale of protest? What are the
differences between covert and overt, planned or spontaneous,
individual or collective forms of protest? Which protests are heard,
and by whom? When does protest slip into speaking for, over, or
silencing? How do identity politics reinvigorate or circumscribe
protest? "Protest" takes gender, sexuality, and race as pivotal axes
along which to consider these questions, and we look forward to
addressing the complex personal, institutional, and political meanings
of protest from all disciplinary and intellectual backgrounds.
We invite submissions of abstracts from the sciences, social science,
and humanities. Please submit abstracts (ca 300 words) and direct any
questions to (GSWSProtest /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(GSWSProtest /at/ gmail.com)> by
January 15, 2016. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by February
1, 2016.
Our conference website is: gswsprotest.tumblr.com
<http://gswsprotest.tumblr.com/>
--
Mary Zaborskis
English PhD Candidate
Graduate Associate, Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies Program
University of Pennsylvania
(mzab /at/ sas.upenn.edu) <mailto:(mzab /at/ sas.upenn.edu)>
twitter.com/penngsws <http://twitter.com/penngsws>
