Volume 292 | September 30, 2024

Faculty Spotlight

Pictured: Front cover of edited volume Introduction to Afrofuturisum.

Congratulations to Professor Wright who recently published a book chapter, “F.A.M: Trans-Afrofuturism in Janelle Monáe’s and Danny Lore’s “Nevermind.” in the edited volume, Introduction to Afrofuturism: A Mixtape in Black Literature & Arts . In this chapter, Professor Wright centers the short story, “Nevermind,” co-written by Janelle Monáe (she/they) and Danny Lore (they/them), which expands upon the Black women and femme community first presented in Monáe’s song and music video "PYNK." “Nevermind” provides an opportunity to reflect on Black feminist coalition building and how trans ways of being and knowing expand the possibilities of liberatory transformation and offer opportunities to move beyond limitations rooted in cisheteronormativity. If we want to be family/F.A.M, then freedom cannot be predicated on exclusionary ways of building community. F.A.M. relationalities ensures freedom to care, rest, nourish and thrive for all. Utilizing a Black feminist Afrofuturist analysis, Professor Wright argues through Monáe’s and Lore’s work that Black feminist liberatory imaginings are only possible through collective and communal resistance that do not replicate the violence of the state’s racial, gender and sexuality norms.

Way to go, Professor Wright!

Congratulations to WGSS affiliated faculty Professor Alexa Alice Joubin who has been appointed Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. During her two-week residency, she is giving a series of public lectures on feminist AI, critical race and trans studies, and trans and disability studies through film, among other topics. Her visit to Alberta is co-sponsored by the Vice-President (Research and Innovation) Distinguished Visitor Fund, Kule Institute for Advanced Study, Dean of Research of the Faculty of Arts, China Institute, Department of Drama, Department of English and Film Studies, Department of Women's and Gender Studies, and the Department of East Asian Studies.

Pictured: Professor Alexa Joubin

Upcoming WGSS Events

"The Art and Ethics of Disability Culture"

featuring Rosemarie Garland-Thomson

The Art and Ethics of Disability Culture

October 8th, 3:30-5:00pm | Register

*NEW LOCATION* University Student Center, room 307

Next Tuesday, October 8th from 3:30-5:00pm, we invite you to hear from Rosemarie Garland-Thomson on "The Art and Ethics of Disability Culture from Sophocles to Scott.” This presentation will consider the cultural and ethical work of representation, focusing on the history of disability culture, art, and ethics. It offers a broad range of art, literature, film, performance, dance, and design as examples of ways disability comes into meaning through cultural products and shapes ethical practice. This brief history of disability meaning making in the Western tradition begins with Sophocles’ Oedipus the King and continues through the sculptures of the American disabled artist Judith Scott.

About the Speaker

Rosemarie Garland-Thomson is professor emerita of English and bioethics at Emory University. Her expertise in disability bioethics, critical disability studies, and health humanities brings disability culture, ethics, and justice to a broad range of institutions and communities. She is a Hastings Center Fellow and senior advisor, a National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar, a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is co-editor of About Us: Essays from the New York Times about Disability by People with Disabilities and author of Staring: How We Look, and several other books.

"Fighting for Change in Iran" featuring Dr. Fariba Parsa

Fighting for Change in Iran

October 17th, 3:30-5:00pm | Register

Elliott School of International Affairs (1957 E St.), Room 214

On October 17th from 3:30-5:00pm, Dr. Fariba Parsa will deliver a talk on her newest book Fighting for Change in Iran: Women, Life, Freedom Philosophy against Political Islam. This book embodies a growing philosophy and culture deeply entrenched in liberal, secular democratic ideals, championed by women and young men across Iran. This book provides insights into the cultural context that fueled the Iranian uprising under the banner of “Women, Life, Freedom,” illustrating how this new philosophy challenges the existence of Political Islamic ideology in Iran.

About the Speaker

Fariba Parsa, Ph.D., is the author of the book, Fighting for Change in Iran, Woman-Life, Freedom Philosophy against Political Islam, and specializes in Islamic political ideologies and democracy and civil movements in Iran. She worked as an assistant research professor at George Mason University, has conducted research at Harvard University and the University of Maryland, and was previously a Non-Resident Scholar with MEI's Iran Program. Dr. Parsa was born and raised in Iran. She lived in Denmark for several years and has worked with Danish national and grassroots organizations on human rights and democracy. Dr. Parsa is the founder and president of Women’s E-Learning in Leadership (WELL), a nonprofit organization with the mission of empowering women to become leaders to make a positive change in their communities, through online education, mentorship, and global networking.

Donate to WELL online. For those interested in connecting with WELL, as an intern, or as a volunteer, email WELL.

"Ukrainian Feminisms, Resistance, and Psychologies of National Decolonization" by Professor Yakushko

Ukrainian Feminisms, Resistance, and Psychologies of National Decolonization

October 17th, 3:30-5:00pm | Register

1776 G St., Room C117

Join us on Tuesday, November 19th from 3:30-5:00 pm to hear from Professor Oksana Yakushko (Program Director of Professional Psychology and Professor of Clinical Psychology) on her research concerning Ukrainian history of feminist and gender-based traditions of resistance. Professor Yakushko will discuss how this has been shaped by responses to Russian imperialism and state-sponsored violence over the past century. In this presentation an introduction to histories/herstories related to Ukrainian women's role in shaping national identity and national liberation experiences will be connected to the psychological praxis of decolonization (one the most commonly discussed terms in Ukrainian social and scholarly spaces). Ukrainian women as poets, political leaders, scholars, Gulag survivors, liberation fighters, human rights activists, war crimes documentors, and volunteers will be noted in relation to global feminist movements.

About the Speaker

Oksana Yakushko, Ph.D., ABPP is a licensed clinical psychologist and certified psychoanalyst. She is a published scholar, consultant and educator in areas related to immigration, the history of psychology, contemporary psychoanalysis, intergenerational dynamics and trauma. She is an author of over 80 peer-reviewed scholarly publications, including articles, special issues, books and book chapters. She received numerous awards for her contributions to psychology, including recent awards for her work in global psychology, research and leadership in the psychology of women.

In Case You Missed It

Lesser of Two Evils:

A(nother) Candid Conversation on the Election

On Monday, September 23rd, WGSS MA student Andrew Tisell hosted a discussion on the upcoming U.S. presidential election. This event was an opportunity to think and voice ideas, questions, and concerns about the importance of voting and other pressing issues that we hope this election will address. There was a mixed group of undergraduate and graduate students as well as WGSS faculty who shared their thoughts and hopes for what this 2024 election can mean for them. Students and faculty remembered the 2016 and 2020 election years and wanted to understand the commodification of politics that we are witnessing in 2024. Key issues that were discussed were:

the use of social media during a political campaign and wrestling with the good and the harm it may cause
justice for Palestine
criminal justice reform
climate change
high housing costs
student debt
pathways to citizenship/immigration issues
education funding for public schools
unnecessarily funding wars
excessive funding in a police state
the implementation, or continuation of, Project 2025

Students also shared their experience volunteering during an election year and the implications these experiences have for swing states.

Andrew ended the discussions by probing attendees to think about what can be done after the election: commit to engaging with the candidate's policies and issues.

Upcoming GW Events

The Studio Arts and Design Research + Practice conversation series invites acclaimed artists, writers, critics and scholars to the Corcoran School throughout the year. The talks are free to the public, providing both the community and our students access to thought-provoking examples of contemporary research and practice and a chance to engage with leading cultural figures. Speakers are nominated and selected by the Studio Arts and Design programs, hosted by students and faculty at the historic Beaux Arts Flagg Building in Washington, D.C.

All events will be Wednesday nights, 6:30pm-8:00pm in Hammer Auditorium

Upcoming events in the series are below:

10/2/2024: Kelli Anderson, hosted by one Grad IXD student and one Undergraduate Design student.

10/16/2024: Kin Kelley-Chung, Screening and discussion with filmmaker of "Free the People: The Docutriology of DC's 2020 Movement for Black Lives", hosted by 2 Photojournalism Students.

Learn more about the film.

10/23/2024: Siobhan Rigg + Josh T. Franco AWAITING CONFIRMATION, hosted by 2 Graduate Fine Arts Students.

10/30/2024: Katty Huertas + Guest AWAITING CONFIRMATION, hosted by 2 Design Students.

REND: A Staged Reading by Kenneth Reams

October 19th, 5:00-7:00pm | Register

Flagg Building

Join GW faculty members Dr. Anna Jayne Kimmel and Sidney Monroe Williams, MFA, for a staged reading of REND, a new play authored by Kenneth Reams. Stitching together testimonies from death row, REND amplifies the interconnected stakes of mental health, boyhood, and masculinity. The play continues a larger project of Reams' to interrogate the ethics, impact, and legacy of U.S. capital punishment through artistic and aesthetic intervention. Coordinated in affinity with the World Day Against the Death Penalty in October, REND will be followed with a discussion among a panel of artists, activists, and academics, including representation from Voices Unbarred.

Sponsors include the Honey W. Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service, Corcoran School of Arts & Design, Program in Theatre and Dance, University Seminar Series Fund and Voices Unbarred.

The Politics of Reproduction: Surrogacy in Literature, Film, Visual Art, and Social Media

October 25th, 9:20am-5:00pm | Register

Contact Event Organizer: Dr. Laura Lazzari

The GW Romance, German, and Slavic Studies (RGSS) Department invites you to participate in a Virtual Global Symposium on Surrogacy. Surrogacy has become a crucial and complex controversial issue in today’s society. It is a process fraught with ethical implications and consequences that concern, among many others, reproductive justice, women’s bodies and health, human rights, social class inequality, feminism, motherhood, masculinity, parenthood and the concept of the family. While surrogacy is currently banned in several countries, its literary, cinematographic and artistic representation has flourished in the past 20 years, contributing to stimulating debates that concern both the humanities and the medical humanities.

Organizers

Organized by Dr. Laura Lazzari (GW RGSS) and Dr. Giulia Po DeLisle (UMass Lowell) with the collaboration of the Department of World Languages and Cultures at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, The Sasso Corbaro Foundation for the Medical Humanities (Switzerland), The Department of Romance, German, and Slavic Languages and Literatures at George Washington University, and The Medical Humanities Initiative at Georgetown University.

Other Upcoming Events

Women's Health Conversation

October 2nd | 7:00-8:00 pm

(Community org fair: 5pm-7pm; Photo op with Dr. Malone: 8pm-8:30pm)

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library

RSVP

In partnership with the MLK Jr. Memorial Library, the Georgetown-Howard Center for Medical Humanities and Health Justice will host “Grown Women Talking: Lessons on Women’s Health Through Community” with speakers Dr. Sharon Malone and Jonquilyn Hill. This event will discuss women’s health and the lore that influences personal health decisions. Using Sharon Malone’s book Grown Woman Talk: Your Guide to Getting and Staying Healthy, this conversation will explore the role of patient and caregiver narratives in navigating our right to quality healthcare. Free copies of Dr. Malone's book will be provided.

There will also be a community organization fair prior to the main event, featuring health and humanities organizations serving women in the greater Washington region. Attendees will have an opportunity to receive health screenings, referrals, education, and engage with health advocacy groups.

Behind the Lens: Women Driving Change through Film

October 10th | 6:00-8:30pm

In celebration of International Day of the Girl, Vital Voices and Working Films is celebrating women driving change through film. Behind the Lens: Women Driving Change Through Film brings together women filmmakers who have used the medium to explore social change and make measurable impact on the world around them.

The evening will consist of a film panel and networking reception where students can have conversations with other filmmakers, students, and organizations.

There will also be information on internship opportunities from multiple organizations available.

Career Opportunities in International Relations (COIR) Symposium by American Women for International Understanding

Friday, October 4, 2024 from 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM

MLK Library, 5th Floor Auditorium | Purchase Tickets

The theme of this event is "Women in STEM: Forging Global Impact." This gathering will provide a unique opportunity for young women to connect with seasoned professionals, engage in thought-provoking discussions, and gain valuable insights into the world of international relations.

The agenda includes:

Keynote addresses from renowned experts in the field
Panel discussions on current global issues including cybersecurity, AI, public-private partnerships for space exploration, health equity, climate change, and more
Networking sessions to connect with fellow attendees and recruiters, including Peace Corps, Fulbright, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, American, and others
Q&A sessions with experienced mentors

PhD Project at Linköping University, Sweden

PhD position at the Department of Thematic Studies: Technology and Social Change, Linköping University, Sweden

This PhD position is part of the research project "Biomedicine, Clinical Knowledge, and the Humanities in Collaboration: A Novel Epistemology for Radically Interdisciplinary Health Research and Policy-Work on Post-Covid-19 Syndrom," and specifically the subproject "A Novel Model for Policy-Work."

The aims of this subproject are to examine what is assessed as relevant knowledge for health care recommendations and policies, regionally, nationally, and internationally; how this assessment is done, and which epistemic presuppositions the assessment rests on. Another aim is to create a model for knowledge assessment that makes it possible to include research results from within randomized clinical trials as well as hermeneutically oriented qualitative research and other studies in medical humanities. PostCovid is used as an example. Medical sociology, science and technology studies, phenomenological philosophy and analytic philosophy perspectives are combined within analyses in this subproject.

The PhD project is part of the subproject ‘A Novel Model for Policy-Work’. Within it, the PhD candidate is expected to analyze assessment methods that are used in the development of health care recommendations and policies (such as GRADE or other models for assessment of research), with a focus on how epistemic assumptions and choices of models for assessment help constitute what get to be perceived and understood as relevant knowledge for health care recommendations. This could, for example, be done from a phenomenological perspective that examines the epistemic presuppositions underlying the constitution of criteria in healthcare recommendations. Again, postCovid-19 syndrome is used as the example.

Qualifications

Master’s degree or completed courses with a minimum of 240 credits, at least 60 of which must be in advanced courses.
Those who have knowledge equivalent to 90 higher education credits in any subject of central importance to the subject have special eligibility.
Relevant education for the advertised position is, for example, philosophy, science and technology studies (STS) or related subjects.
Documented scientific skill in phenomenological philosophy is meritorious.
Documented scientific skill in working interdisciplinary is meritorious.
Good knowledge of spoken and written English.

For more information, read the full description of this position.

For questions, you may write to:

Kristin Zeiler, Professor, Department of Thematic Studies; Technology and Social Change

Dick Magnusson, Head of Division

Carin Ennergård, Senior Coordinator

Camilla Junström Hammar, HR Partner

Jobs, Internships, Fellowships, and Scholarships

Part-Time and Full-Time Positions

National Women's History Museum:

K-12 Education and Research Specialist

The K-12 Education and Research Specialist plays a vital role in supporting the Museum’s educational mission by developing, implementing, and evaluating educational programs and research designed for K-12 students and educators. This position requires a deep understanding of research best practices, a strong background in K-12 classroom teaching and/or museum education, and specialized expertise in K-12 teaching and/or museum education methodologies.

Qualifications: Master's degree in education, history, museum studies, or related field, with a focus on K-12 education and/or programming; at least 5 years of experience in K-12 teaching, curriculum development, or museum education, with demonstrated expertise in pedagogical methodologies.

Senior Associate, Operations & Administration

The Senior Associate of Operations and Administration provides exceptional support, including coordinating Board meetings, event management, calendar management and meeting preparation for the senior leadership team. The Senior Associate of Operations and Administration also works closely with our Education, Development, and Communications teams, with a focus on national events and donor relations management.

Qualifications: Bachelor's degree; minimum of five-seven years of experience working in office administration, preferably with senior leaders; strong written and verbal communication skills, including proofreading

The Honey W Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service

The Honey W Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service at GW is hiring FWS students and volunteers. Apply for Math Matters, Jumpstart, engageDC, and SMARTDC tutoring and leadership open positions at the Nashman Center. Work directly with DC Public Schools and community organizations, making a real impact in the community.

Read full job descriptions and apply online. Contact the Nashman Center via email with any questions.

Digital Media/Staff Assistant for Rep. Kevin Mullin

Rep. Kevin Mullin (CA-15) is seeking a Digital Media/Staff Assistant to join his Washington, D.C. office and serve an important role on the Congressman’s communications team. They will report directly to the Communications Director, who is based in the District, and DC-based Chief of Staff, and will work collaboratively with all staff. Read more information.

Email your application materials as one combined PDF (résumé, short cover letter, and 2 pieces of original digital media content (graphic designs, event invitations, etc.). The subject line should read as: “Last Name: Digital Media/Staff Assistant”

Research Funding Opportunities

The Russell Sage Foundation is offering research funding for the below programs

Program 1: Future of Work

Purpose: To support innovative research on the causes and consequences of changes in the quality of jobs for low- and moderately paid workers and their families in the U.S.

Program 2: Social, Political, and Economic Inequality

Purpose: To support original research on the factors that contribute to social, political, and economic inequalities in the U.S., and the extent to which those inequalities affect social, political, psychological, and economic outcomes, including educational and labor market opportunities and consequences, social and economic mobility within and across generations, and civic participation and representation.

Program 3: Promoting Educational Attainment and Economic Mobility among Racially, Ethnically, and Economically Diverse Groups after the 2023 Supreme Court Decision to Ban Race-Conscious Admissions at Colleges and Universities

Purpose: To support innovative research on the aftermath of the 2023 Supreme Court decision striking down race-conscious college and university admissions policies. The initiative focuses on ways to promote educational attainment and economic mobility among racially, ethnically, and economically diverse groups following the court’s ruling that the declared that use of race-conscious admissions policies violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and was, therefore, unconstitutional.

Funding: up to $200,000 (trustee grants/15% indirect); up to $50,000 (presidential awards/no indirect; if project involves original data collection or gaining access to restricted-use data, capped at $75,000)

Key Dates:

LOI due: October 29, 2024
Proposal due: February 19, 2025
Funding decision by: June 2025
Grant start date: August 1, 2025

More details can be found at the Russell Sage Foundation's website. Considering applying or have questions? Please email Hyunjin Cho, GW's Associate Director of Foundation Relations, for additional information.

Call for Submissions

Disruption as Resistance: Labor, Noise, and Refusal

Abstracts due on September 30th

Ampersand: An American Studies Journal at Boston University invites scholarly and creative contributions for our next issue, Disruption as Resistance: Labor, Noise, and Refusal. This issue seeks to inflect scholarly trends with practical and personal concerns of graduate workers, contingent instructors, and faculty emerging from, amid, or looking ahead to labor organizing, disruptive actions, and noise-as-resistance.

2024 has been a turbulent year on many university campuses. This Ampersand theme specifically responds to the graduate worker union strike at BU and the changes it has made to how we understand our positions as teachers, researchers, and scholars. We see this issue as making noise about our difficult bargaining journey and taxing labor environment as graduate workers and disrupting norms and complicit silences. Recent journals and conferences across the disciplines have attended to labor, activism, and power as guiding themes to drive pedagogy and practice forward in justice and collaboration. We seek pieces that disrupt status quos on the level of subject as well as genre, tone, medium, and language. We are particularly interested in personal essays, creative pieces, and multimodal projects that elevate perspectives about precarious labor and reconsider our assumptions about labor and labor environments today.

Topics might include, but are not limited to:

Past, present, and future labor strikes and organizing
Disruptive noise, noisy technologies and activisms
Power and politics of refusal
Distraction and noise and media saturation
“Cutting through the noise” as well as silences and silencing
Noise and/or labor as a racialized, gendered, classed, ableist phenomenon
Invisible labor and enforced labor
Architectures of labor, resistance, and revolution

Submit online an abstract of 250-300 words and a short bio (100-150 words), along with a CV. All abstracts are due by September 30, 2024. Selected contributors will be asked to send completed submissions by early November.

Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) Annual Convention

March 6-9, 2025 | Philadelphia, PA

Abstract Proposals due September 30, 2024

This year's theme, "(R)EVOLUTION," asks how the Humanities—in all their infinite variations, genres, and productions—have changed (in) our world, or failed to do so, or have maybe offered more or less progressive and imaginative mappings for more or less radical change. What role can the Humanities play in society, to honor our cultural and global diversity in all its dimensions.

Read online for more information on submission and abstract requirements and general guidelines for the convention.

Breaking the Silence: Digital Narratives of Trauma Among Immigrant and Refugee Women

Kennesaw State University

Proposals Due October 27, 2024

Immigrant communities facing displacement and trauma have increasingly turned to social media as a platform to share their testimonies, connect to their communities, and build new support networks. Due to existing structural inequities, women face unique challenges, such as discrimination and violence, human trafficking, economic deprivation, and conflicting cultural norms. This is particularly true in the case of immigrant and refugee women from the Global South.

This edited volume seeks to explore the intersection of trauma, displacement, and digital activism, focusing specifically on the use of social media among immigrant women, refugees, asylum seekers, and other displaced women from the Global South. Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

• Digital Testimonies and Storytelling: using social media platforms as venues to share personal narratives, testimonies, and lived experiences of trauma and displacement.

• Community Building: the use of social media in immigrant communities to forge connections, build solidarity, and create supportive networks with others facing similar challenges.

• Activism and Advocacy: case studies or analyses of digital activism campaigns led by displaced women to raise awareness, advocate for their rights, and challenge systems of oppression.

• Digital Ethnography: Research on the online experiences and interactions of displaced women through social media platforms.

• Social media as an emerging platform to share challenges related to motherhood and womanhood for women who have experienced migration, asylum-seeking, and displacement. How women immigrants from the Global South leverage social media to establish agency.

All interested authors must consult the guidelines for manuscript submissions and propose a Chapter online.

Liberatory Practices for Worlds in Crisis

March 22-23, 2025 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Submissions due October 30, 2024

The Graduate Consortium in Gender, Culture, Women, and Sexuality invites graduate student scholars, activists, and practitioners to examine what it means and has meant to survive in a world in crisis. What do we mean by crisis? How do historical experiences of crisis inform our understanding of present crises? What is the meaning and purpose of "liberatory practices" in the historical and contemporary world? How do Indigenous, feminist, queer, trans, disability or other lenses offer alternative understandings of crisis? What world is possible after a crisis? By exploring these and more questions, we hope to consider how new methods of study and care practices in our scholarship might allow us to imagine different worlds, develop resilience in a crisis-laden world, become "undisciplined" academically, and/or form more caring and collaborative communities.

Papers should be submitted online. Read the full description of the Call for Proposals.

26th Southeast Conference for Languages, Literatures, and Film (SCFLLF)

February 22-23, 2025 | DeLand, Florida

Abstracts due November 15, 2024

The 26th SCFLLF will be held in DeLand, Florida, on February 22-23, 2024, hosted by Stetson University, with the support of Western Carolina University and the University of South Florida . The SCFLLF welcomes papers on all aspects of literature, linguistics, culture, philosophy, cultural history, film, applied linguistics, second language acquisition, and pedagogy pertaining to non-English languages (ancient and modern). Submissions are encouraged (but not limited to) addressing the conference theme: "Disputed Realities: Recalibrating the Real" in its broadest understanding. The Humanities have always dealt with imaginary worlds and how they are connected to and/ or influencing our conception of the real. In the present cultural climate where facts are more and more presented as disputed realities the humanities are repositioning themselves as a way to navigate, assess but also influence the political and the personal.

Some suggestions of topics and their representations in methodology, philosophy, literature, visual and online media, and art include:

reality and perception in literature, art and film
constructing reality in film and literature
reassessing what is real
the reality of trauma, how it is expressed, perceived, believed or not
disputed facts in methodology
the reality of what’s happening in the classroom
the contested reality of culture
The broader influence of imaginary worlds in film, literature and the visual arts

Submit a proposal online (of no more than 250 words) for a single paper or a full panel (max. of 3 presentations). Only proposals submitted online will be accepted.

International Student Mobility and Contested Knowledges

5^th ISA Forum of Sociology, Rabat, Morocco on 5-11th July 2025

In 2021, there were over 6.4 million international students globally, up from 2 million in 2000 (UNESCO, 2023). Scholars have shown how such mobility for higher education tends to reinforce knowledge hierarchies across the globe. Students moving from the Global South to the Global North, for example, are typically taught a curriculum that is presented as encapsulating ‘universal’ principles and perspectives, but which often tends to privilege Western modes of thought and knowledge (e.g. Rizvi, 2000). Even within Europe such trends are evident, with cross-border mobility institutionalising the flow of knowledge from central points of power within the European university system to more marginal locations – in effect a transfer from ‘old’ to ‘new’ Europe (Kenway and Fahey, 2007). The growth of English-language courses in many parts of the world, as a means of attracting international students, has also been understood as a manifestation of both English hegemony and neo-colonialism (e.g. Choi, 2020).

This session will, however, explore the extent to which such knowledge hierarchies are being challenged by, inter alia, more diverse patterns of international student mobility (e.g. to the Global South as well as from it) (Waters and Brooks, 2021); the rise of China as a higher education powerhouse (Marginson, 2022); and the attention given to decolonising the curriculum in some nation-states, which has often been driven by international students (Begum and Saini, 2019). It will comprise five 20-minute papers, and will be run as a joint session between the Education and Youth Research Committees.

Please submit your abstract (up to 300 words) by October 15th via the conference portal. Read the Call for Abstracts - 5th ISA Forum for further instructions. (The session is listed under both the 'Sociology of Education' Research Committee (RC04) and the 'Sociology of Youth' Research Committee (RC34).)

Contact session organizers Rachel Brooks, University of Surrey, United Kingdom, or

Vera Spangler, University of Surrey, United Kingdom, with any questions.

2025 Melvin Van Peebles Symposium

Ohio Wesleyan University | March 27-30, 2025

Submissions deadline: October 30, 2024

The 2025 symposium theme is "Disruption! Signal Fires, Reckoning, and Jubilee Through Black Art." This symposium aims to celebrate emerging artists/artistry that extend our longstanding Black radical tradition of disruption. In doing so, we invite diverse proposals engaged in thought, action, and cultural production around political themes within Black arts today and/or in the Harlem Renaissance in fields including but not limited to, film, theater, dance, music, visual art, literature, and business.

Diverse proposals engaged in thought, action, and cultural production around political themes within Black arts today and/or in the Harlem Renaissance in fields, including but not limited to, are invited:

- Film

- Theater

- Dance

- Music

- Visual Art

- Literature

- Business

For more details on submission guidelines, please refer to the symposium's webpage. For questions, email Dawn Chisebe.

Space and Place| University of Virginia's English Department Graduate Symposium | April 4, 2025

This year, the University of Virginia’s Graduate Symposium invites graduate students studying arts and humanities across Virginia and Washington, D.C., to consider how space and place affect their research and the communication thereof. How do our physical locations influence our scholarship and pedagogy? What does it mean to move between institutions as an academic while pursuing the same line of scholarly inquiry? How can we acknowledge the specificities of our spaces and places while building expansive intellectual communities? And how should we articulate our sense of institutional belonging when those institutions depart from our values?

Potential topics to be addressed may include:

• Regional and national relationalities

• Diaspora, forced migration, and climate-related mobility

• Disability and movement

• Environmental humanities and natural space

• Material culture and the built landscape

• De facto vs. de jure understandings of place

• Language, linguistics, and location

• Decolonial and postcolonial thought

• Place-conscious pedagogies

• First-person criticism

Presentations should be no longer than 15-20 minutes. In addition to accepting traditional academic papers, we also encourage submissions featuring creative work with academic components (such as creative nonfiction, documentary poetics, or multimedia presentations). Please specify in your submission whether any alternative categories apply to your paper and if you would require AV equipment.

Abstracts and a brief bio should be submitted online before 11:59 P.M. on Friday, January 3, 2025.

Email any questions or concerns to Graduate Symposium co-chairs: Gabby Kiser or Spencer Grayson.

Jobs in Higher Education

The Department of Gender, Women’s, + Sexuality Studies (GWST) at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor to begin August 2025. The successful candidate should have a demonstrated record of scholarship and teaching core courses in the field of Gender, Women’s + Sexuality Studies at the undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as a commitment to and experience in fostering inclusive excellence. The ideal candidate will have a Ph.D. in Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies or a closely related field and research and teaching expertise in gender, women’s and sexuality studies as they relate to either Black Diasporic experiences or Arab/Muslim experiences. The position is fully located in the Gender, Women’s, + Sexuality Studies Department, with the possibility of teaching courses cross-listed with other campus units. The teaching load is 2-3. The salary range is $80,000-$88,000.

The Gender, Women’s, + Sexuality Studies Department at UMBC is an interdisciplinary academic unit committed to transnational and intersectional understandings of how gender and sexuality and their intersections with race, nation, class, religion, and ability make a difference in individual lives and in the practices and institutions of human societies and cultures. The program currently has five faculty lines and more than 30 affiliate faculty. It enrolls approximately 70 undergraduate students in its undergraduate major, minor, certificate, post-baccalaureate certificate in gender and women’s studies, and its critical sexuality studies minor programs, and is one of nine participating departments and programs in the Language, Literacy and Culture Ph.D. program. The department is deeply collaborative, with a coordinating committee of core and affiliate faculty that jointly manage the curriculum of core and cross-listed courses. We are deeply engaged in campus DEIA activities and social justice issues on campus and in Baltimore area communities.

Applications should be addressed to Dr. Vrushali Patil and should be submitted online through Interfolio. Applications should include a 1) cover letter outlining interest in the position, research experience, and future research plans, 2) CV, 3) a statement of experience with and commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, 4) a teaching portfolio, and 5) a list of three references. Review of applications will begin October 1, 2024 and will continue until the position is filled.

The WGSS program at American University is seeking an adjunct instructor to teach “Gender in Society” (WGSS 125) in Spring 2025. Dates and times of the class TBD. There are 19 students in the course. The pay is $4,750 per class for instructors with a Ph.D, $4,158 per class without a Ph.D.

This is for an immediate hire. A successful launch could well lead to further teaching opportunities with the WGSS program. ABD’s and completed M.A.’s are encouraged to apply, as well as those candidates who have completed their PhD’s. The WGSS program is the largest of six interdisciplinary programs which make up the broader department of Critical Race, Gender, and Culture Studies at American University.

If you are interested in this opportunity, email the Director Amy Barber with a brief introduction and CV.

Applications should be addressed to Dr. Vrushali Patil and should be submitted online through Interfolio.

Review of applications will begin October 1st and will continue until the position is filled.

The University of Georgia (UGA) Department of History and Institute for Women’s Studies invite applications for a tenure-track assistant professor. The Department seeks a specialist in gender and the history of medicine. This is a joint appointment between the two units on campus; the tenure home will be in the Department of History. Anticipated start date is August 1, 2025. Applicants must have their PhD in History, Women’s and Gender Studies, or a related field conferred by July 30, 2025.

The successful candidate is expected to maintain an active research agenda in gender and the history of medicine. Competitive applicants will demonstrate evidence of training, expertise, and commitment to women’s and gender studies. The successful candidate will teach undergraduate and graduate courses related to their specializations and the curricular needs of both units. The standard teaching load is four courses per year (two in each unit). The successful candidate also will participate in activities related to the academic mission of both units and the university, including service on committees, graduate student advising, and recruitment.

To apply, read the full job description and apply online. Applicants should include a cover letter detailing how the applicant's credentials and experience meet the needs, responsibilities, and qualifications stated above; C.V.; writing sample (article or chapter); teaching statement; and the names and contact information for at least three references. Letters of reference and other supporting materials may be requested from a smaller pool of applicants at a later date.

Applications received by November 1, 2024 will receive full consideration; however, the position will remain open and applications may be considered until the position is filled.

The Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant or Associate Professor faculty position beginning September 1,2025 in the areas of native/indigenous feminisms and human rights.

Applicants should be accomplished researchers and experienced instructors who are committed to teaching in an urban university setting and to thinking and practicing in collaborative and interdisciplinary ways. Tenure stream faculty are expected to teach two courses each semester. A major focus of the position would be contributing to the growth of the department's thriving undergraduate minor in Human Rights. Candidates will have opportunities to collaborate with a number of ethnic and global studies programs and departments in the College of Liberal Arts and beyond including the Critical Ethnic & Community Studies MS, Conflict Resolution , Human Security & Global Governance, the Native American and Indigenous Studies Minor, the Institute for New England Native American Studies, The Consortium for Gender, Security and Human Rights , and the Boston area Consortium for Graduate Studies in Gender, Culture, Women, & Sexuality.

Minimum requirements: receipt of Ph.D. in Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies, Indigenous, Native, or First-Nations Studies, or related field by August 31, 2025.

Review of applications will begin on October 15, 2024. The position will remain open until filled.

Application instructions: Read the full job description and apply online. Applicants should submit a CV with a cover letter describing in detail your research and teaching interests, one writing sample, and three letters of references.

The Department of Feminist Studies at UC Santa Barbara invites applications for lecturers in Feminist Studies. Lecturer will teach FEMST 171A (Winter) and FEMST 171B (Spring). The successful candidate will be expected to teach this two quarter course sequence that integrates field-work experience with an academic seminar focusing on the historical, sociological, and political issues surrounding community services for women. Each student will be placed as an intern in a community agency for 1-2 quarters. The Program is especially interested in candidates who can contribute to the diversity and excellence of the academic community through teaching and service.

Applicants must possess a minimum of a Master’s degree or equivalent foreign degree in Feminist Studies, or a related field. Additional qualifications include having had two years of teaching experience in a college or university (required at the time of start). Applicants with a doctoral degree in Feminist Studies or related field are preferred, experience teaching upper division feminist studies courses and/or engaged learning courses and experience in online teaching and learning, teaching underrepresented minorities and inclusive classrooms will also be considered.

Apply online by December 1st. The next review date is September 20th.

The Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Program at Bowdoin College invites applications for a full-time tenure-track faculty appointment at the assistant professor level in transnational/global feminisms broadly defined. The position will begin July 1, 2025. Applicants should be interdisciplinary scholars working at the intersections of gender, race, and social justice and focusing on sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, or Asia or who incorporate transnational or diasporic approaches to these regions. Applicants can contribute to both gender and sexuality aspects of the curriculum and address student interests in social movements, law, health/medicine, climate justice, environmental studies, government and political science, technology, or science in society. The teaching load is two courses per semester. A Ph.D. is required at the time of appointment. The Program is particularly interested in candidates with a strong commitment to undergraduate liberal arts education.

Read the full job description and apply.

The Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Kansas seeks an Assistant Professor of trans studies for Fall 2025. This position is a full-time, tenure-track, academic-year (9-month) appointment. The successful candidate must have research and teaching expertise in trans studies. Applications from all trans studies scholars are invited, however we have identified the following areas that would complement the work of our current faculty: critical race theory, disability studies, and decolonial analysis. A Ph.D. in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, or equivalent is highly preferred. A Ph.D. in a related field plus graduate work in WGSS or similar will also be considered.

Applicants should submit: (a) a letter of interest detailing graduate training in WGSS, research trajectory, and teaching experience (b) full curriculum vitae, (c) research statement, and (d) contact information for three academic references. Completed applications must be received no later than October 7, 2024. A writing sample and letters of reference will be requested of short-listed applicants.

Read the full position description and apply online. Questions may be sent via email to the search committee chair, Associate Professor and Department Chair Katie.

Sciences Po, a research university based in Paris, France, is launching a Call for Applications for Gender Studies Visiting Faculty. Applications are open for 1-semester stays planned in the 2025 Spring Semester, the 2025 Fall Semester, or the 2026 Spring Semester. The visiting program is open to current full-time permanent academics in any discipline.

Read the full Call for Applications (PDF). Application deadline is November 7, 2024.

Resources

GW Mutual Aid Spreadsheet

Created by GW students for GW students, this resource serves as a connecting point for those who are providing or seeking aid. Areas of support include housing, health care, food, transportation, storage, pet/child/plant care, and more.

Online Therapy Resources for the LGBTQ+ Community

Online therapy is a resource that offers a plethora of different types of virtual therapy for the LGBTQ+ community. Online therapy makes it easier to access mental health care and to engage in therapy on your own terms. Find more resources that can be helpful for navigating the coming-out process, strengthening your relationships, and learning how to be true to yourself as an LGBTQ+ individual.

Contribute to the WGSS News Digest

Would you like your event, announcement, or news to be featured in our news digest? There is a process! Please fill out the below form by Thursdays at 4:00 PM to have your event featured in our upcoming digests.

Submit additions to the digest. We look forward to hearing from you!

The Violence Against Women Act Edition

Image Caption: Picket signs in favor of the Violence Against Women Act.

(Image Credit: Global Girls Glow)

In 1993, former Senator and now President Joe Biden introduced the first Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which came about after a three-year investigation into the pervasive issue of violence against women. On September 13th, 1994, thirty years ago, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was signed into law. The monumental act has been a lifeline for women across the country, making history as one of the most influential pieces of legislation for women’s rights ever to be passed. The Feminist Majority Foundation's article "30 Years of Progress: The Evolution and Impact of the Violence Against Women Act," considers the historical impact and current needs that are necessary to increase the potential of the VAWA.

The article suggests that VAWA’s continual need for reauthorization and expansion reminds us that the fight against violence is far from over. Furthermore, VAWA must adapt to address the expansion of protections for underserved communities, given that the inclusion of cybercrimes and the enhancement of trauma-informed practices all point to how our understanding of violence, especially against women, is broadening.

Read the full article for more suggestions on the way forward.