N e ws EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION FOR GENDER RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND DOCUMENTATION
(25) MARCH 2011
Dear members, In this newsletter: 1- New ATGENDER web portal 2- ATGENDER Spring Conference, April 8-9-10, 2011, Utrecht, the Netherlands 3- ATGENDER General Assembly & Election of New Board, April 9, 2011, Utrecht 4- Why I Became An ATGENDER Member th
5- Call for Papers 8 European Feminist Research Conference 6- Names to Faces: ATGENDER’s New Intern Karina Pouentes 7- Announcements
It is with great pleasure that we hereby present to you the March 2011 newsletter of ATGENDER, the European Association for Gender Research, Education and Documentation. This newsletter is packed with announcements and information that shows the activity of ATGENDER in past, present and future. So far, ATGENDER’s sophomore year has been a busy year, and mind you: the Spring conference ‘Feminist Heritages - Feminist Futures: Connecting Research, Activism, Gender Equality and Teaching’ is yet to come! This newsletter gives you a preview of the activities to come, and will reflect upon what we have engaged with so far in order to shape ATGENDER’s future.
The Past is Yet to Come Let us first invite you to visit our new website via www.atgender.eu. Our intern Adinda Veltrop has been the motor behind this new, interactive website, which is part of a bigger communication strategy that she has designed for our association. Secondly, ATGENDER has worked on strengthening its relations with several key players in the field of European Gender Research, Education and Documentation. First, Iris van der Tuin was invited to present ATGENDER, and most importantly the Tuning Gender Brochure, at the February 2011 conference ‘Advancing Gender+ Training in Theory and Practice’ of QUING, the project on Quality in Gender+ Equality Policies (www.quing.eu). Second, Harriet Silius and Iris van der Tuin have paid a visit to EIGE, the European Institute for Gender Equality in Vilnius, in order to discuss the possibilities of cooperation. Both visits were productive, and will be followed up in the (near) future.
Back to the Future It is important to mention the two upcoming conferences (co-)organized by ATGENDER. First, there is the ATGENDER Spring conference that will be visited by circa 140 participants from all over Europe, and thus proves to become a stimulating event. In this newsletter you will read everything about the conference. Second, ATGENDER has, together with the Department of Gender Studies of the Central European University, been working hard on the 8th European Feminist Research Conference ‘The Politics of Location Revisited: Gender @ 2012’. The call for papers has just been published and the website http://www.8thfeministconference.org/ is now
ATGENDER Central Coordination P.O. box 164 3500 AD Utrecht
active. We invite you to join us in the making of this conference by submitting papers, panel proposals and additional activities for our gathering in May 2012, Budapest, Hungary. But first: see you in April in Utrecht! On behalf of the Board of ATGENDER, Prof. Harriet Silius and Dr. Iris van der Tuin
The Netherlands tel: +31-30-253 6013/6322 fax: +31-30-253 6695 E-mail info@atgender.eu Website: www.atgender.org Visit our website! www.atgender.org
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 1. ATGENDER launches new web portal for gender research, education and activism: www.atgender.eu User-friendly, clearly structured and flexible for growth, the new web portal not only offers the latest updates regarding ATGENDER’s activities, but also a platform for gender research, women’s and feminist studies in an European context. Institutionalized and individual members have the opportunity to profile themselves and projects in their connection to ATGENDER, the first professional European association that strengthens the field of gender and places priority on the connectivity between institutions, individuals and countries. After a highly successful launch, ATGENDER’s sophomore year is in full swing with the launch of the Tuning Brochure, new partnerships and a rapidly growing number of members. The upcoming 'Feminist Heritages - Feminist Futures' Spring conference, with Prof. Donna Haraway as keynote speaker supported by the Center for Humanities, is nearly booked to its full capacity. Not only does this emphasize the need to have a professional association as ATGENDER, but it also answers the call from academics and institutions to place value on connecting people. At Home In Gender, a highly anticipated feature, will soon be added to the web portal, as well as an interactive social network which offers both knowledge and inclusivity to those who are interested in gender. We are proud to demonstrate to our members, the media and international community how this portal marks a milestone in the connectivity and establishment of gender as an academic field, an institutional network and a welcome platform for activism. We look forward to welcoming our new members, and working even harder to ensure the voices of everybody within gender research and projects will be represented on an international level.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 2. ATGENDER Spring Conference 'Feminist Heritages - Feminist Futures' , April 89-10, 2011, Utrecht, the Netherlands The aim of this first academic conference of the European Association for Gender, Research, Education and Documentation ATGENDER is to establish cooperation between ATGENDER members: to create structures, make plans for applications and prepare for publications and for the 8 th European Feminist Research Conference (Budapest, May 16-20, 2012; see: www.8thfeministconference.org). All participants are committed ATGENDER members, either through individual membership or via the institutional membership of their organization. We all share commitment to make ATGENDER a strong and effective network strengthening gender & women’s studies, feminist research and gender equality in Europe. The different parts of the conference have been set up in such a way to accommodate this process. On Friday we start with a welcome and a keynote conference by Prof. Donna Haraway, followed by short exploratory sessions of the 9 workshops, and drinks and dinner to facilitate getting to know each other. On Saturday, all nine workshops will have three sessions each, to establish different forms of cooperation. Participants bring to their workshop their interest in research,
education, documentation, activism, policies and professional development regarding gender in Europe. During the workshop sessions on Saturday the participants explore and decide on how they want to cooperate in the future. There will be no academic paper presentations, but it is a meeting of professionals who design the way they want to work in ATGENDER. This means intensive conversations to design ways in which ATGENDER can play a role in supporting the cooperation between ATGENDER members who share an interest in the topic of the workshop. The workshops present their plans in the General Assembly of ATGENDER at the end of the Saturday. Elections for the new board of ATGENDER will also take place at the General Assembly, where the candidates for the elections will explain how they intend to support and build on the plans that have been proposed. On Sunday morning there will be space and time for follow ups. The workshop-themes were selected at a previous meeting (Brussels, November 2010) of ATGENDER members and former ATHENA working group coordinators who expressed an interest in becoming active in ATGENDER. Some of the themes have a long tradition within ATHENA, others are new. Before the list was finalized, all ATGENDER members and all former ATHENA partners have been invited to propose themes & topics. The result: 1. Gender equality in Europe: research, politics and training (Ana Cabo, Allison Woodward) 2. Postcolonial Europe: Transcultural and Multidisciplinary Perspectives (Sandra Ponzanesi, Brigitte Hipfl, Kirsti Lofsdottir) 3. Information and dissemination: infrastructures and networks in Europe and beyond (Tilly Vriend, Maria Gronroos) 4. Travelling concepts: space, women, migration (Melita Richter , Sara Goodman, Mina Karavanta) 5. Gender and new technologies: teaching the body, health, ICT and visual culture (Marek Wojtaszek, Magdalena Gorska, Aino -Maija Hiltunen, Edyta Just) 6. Generations and gender: connecting activism and gender studies (Sveva Magaraggia; Mariagrazia Leone, Iris van der Tuin) 7. Gender and public history, stories of the self, constructions of the nation(Mary Clancy, Andrea Peto) 8. Gender, care & social welfare: work, migration, women & children(Vesna Leskosek Mirja Satka) 9. Teaching gender studies: impact/dissemination Tuning Gender Studies and Teaching with Gender Series(Berteke Waaldijk, Edyta Just, Andrea Peto) The proposals from the workshops at the ATGENDER Spring Conference can have different forms:
Proposal for a permanent working group within ATGENDER (permanent working groups should be open to all members)
Proposal for a volume in the ATGENDER teaching-with gender book series
Proposal for a research project and grant application
Proposal for a panel, an activity or event at the Budapest conference
Proposal for a grant application in which ATGENDER will serve as dissemination (research, educational project, mobility, conference)
Setting up a specific activity within ATGENDER (e.g. website, newsletter, coaching and mentoring network, job or internship exchange, database of experts, advisory group for quality assessment procedures of educational programmes)
Secular
Creativity Reconsidered: Technological Practices
Rethinking
Feminist
Art,
Media
and
All workshops will provide a very short oral report in the plenary, and the proposal will be included in the conference report. Workshop participants should make sure a one page proposal is handed in at the end of the conference. This way the ATGENDER spring conference Feminist Heritages – Feminist Futures will contribute directly and effectively to the future of ATGENDER. The ATGENDER Spring Conference Committee Mia Liinason, Andrea Peto & Berteke Waaldijk
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 3. ATGENDER General Assembly & Election of New Board, April 9, 2011, Utrecht Online voting: for those who are not able to attend the General Assembly (9th April), it is possible to vote online. A voting form will be available in ATGENDER 's website: members are asked to download the document, fill it, sign it, scan it and send to our email address info@atgender.eu. We ask you to do this until the 8th of April. In order to better know the candidates, another document will be placed online presenting each one of them and their statements. We remind you that, in order to vote in these elections, you need to have paid your membership fee 2011 as stated in our statutes; otherwise, we won't be able to consider your vote valid.
AGENDA GENERAL ASSEMBLY One of the aspects of the Utrecht conference is the second General Assembly of ATGENDER. This is an important event, because a new Board will be elected for the coming 3 years. The GA will be chaired by the current presidents of ATGENDER (Harriet Silius and Iris van der Tuin). Please find the agenda below: 1) Opening 2) Report of the activities of ATGENDER in 2010 (Board) 3) Presentation of the financial report (Treasurer) 4) Elections 1 - the chair of the elections committee Sara Goodman explains the proceedings, and ATGENDER members fill in their voting papers. The election committee leaves in order to count the votes. 5) Plenary discussion proposed and prepared by "Genderact", a network of ATGENDER –members (Chair: Maria do Mar Pereira; Introduction: Sabine
Grenz, Respondents: Angeliki Alvanoudi, Mia Liinasson) "Gender Studies in Times of Change: Challenges and Visions for Feminist Futures" Universities in Europe experience pressure of political and economic changes. These have an impact not only on structures but also academic
cultures. Gender Studies (or women’s or feminist studies) as a young field is particularly vulnerable in this process. At the same time, because of its flexibility, and its connections between academia & activism, scholarship and equal rights policies, it may have its own particular strength. In this plenary discussion we would, therefore, like to ask ATGENDER members and candidates for ATGENDER board to discuss questions mainly around the following issues: a) What challenges do the current changes impose on European Gender Studies? What changes are the results? What continuities exist? b) What impact does this have on the kind of research that is done? c) What visions do you have for Gender Studies? How could the challenges be met for the development of Gender Studies? 6) Elections 2 - the voting committee presents the results of the elections 7) Thanking the Board members that will leave the ATGENDER Board. 8) Closing. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 4. Why I became an ATGENDER Member ATGENDER’s aim was to have an overview about the membership drive of its members. Therefore, a random inquire was conducted among our members. Here you can read some of their reactions.
Ella Akkerman, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel:
I’d have to name as the most profound cause of my motivation, to enter the ATGENDER organization, the combined efforts of scientists in the field of Gender research, and my quest to enroll into that domain, and contribute my share in a topic (“Gender and New Technologies”) I find imperative; what most concerns me, is the promotion of equal learning opportunities for women (of different backgrounds), something I find ATGENDER to be the exact forum for investigating this. I was first contacted about the ATGENDER venture, via the Ben-Gurion University’s “Women’s Forum”, of which I am an ardent member, and a web-founder. They directed me to this valuable association. What I hope to accomplish, is the meeting of other like-minded European researchers, with their vast and far-reaching experience, that could facilitate my work, for the bettering of Women Higher-Education equality, in the Engineering and Computer Science fields.
Silvia Radicioni, Italian Women’s Library- ORLANDO, Italy:
While NGOs, Information Centers, libraries and Archives are increasingly experiencing the need of a bigger access to current developments and new topics on gender research and education to satisfy the user's demands, they also have to improve their dissemination and information strategies to reach a broad public, share information between each other, develop projects and possibilities of funding. Many centers as the Women's Library in Bologna have also the need to satisfy the women's demands in terms of training and consultancy, despite the lack of funding in the recent years. Thanks to Athena we have found new ways to strengthen the link with Academic research on gender by contributing to the dissemination of results, teaching series, newsletters and through the Wine Network and the development of its tools (e.g website,
blog, mailing list). Now we are willing to participate to ATGENDER: in this regard Wine (Women's Libraries, Archives, Information Centers, Web Portals about Women and Gender in Europe) proposed the Workshop no.3 Information and dissemination: Infrastructures and networks in Europe and beyond. I hope many ATGENDER and Wine members would join the workshop and discuss ideas and dissemination strategies. There are many reasons why is important to be part of a network, maybe the mutual inspiration and contagious positivity is the most convincing one! The Italian Women's Library is both a public Library specialized on Women and Gender and a Women NGO aiming to develop cooperation and exchange programs between women NGOs across Europe, Maghreb and Middle East, training for women (e.g. IT training, Italian language courses) and local projects focused on social inclusion.
Patricia Treush, Humboldt University, Germany
I became a member because of my interest in participating in the Spring Conference and attending the lecture of Donna Haraway. Prior to that, I wasn’t acquainted with ATGENDER’s activities. I expect to be able to establish a network within my field of research (an interdisciplinary approach of a Sociology of the body), especially from a Gender and Science and Technology Studies perspective; and to be able to work with other students from the Gender Studies field. I also want to learn through the interaction with other scholars, students and researchers from the field how to survive in the academia world as a Gender Studies student.
Angeliki Alvanoudi, Aristotle University Thessaloniki , Greece
I was introduced to ATGENDER through the Athena network. After working in the Athena groups for about 4 years and experiencing the profits of networking with feminist scholars from all over Europe, I was eager to participate in this newly founded organization for Gender Studies in Europe. I am a feminist scholar located in a discipline, working in an academic context where Gender Studies has not been institutionalized yet as an autonomous discipline. This means that in my everyday academic practice I face the difficulties as well as the challenges raised by disciplinary authority. ATGENDER provides me with a space of transgressing disciplinary boundaries and overcoming feelings of academic isolation. I prefer to think of ATGENDER as a vehicle of constructing new feminist academic cultures in European universities.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: th
5. Call for Papers 8 European Feminist Research Conference
CENTRAL EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY
CALL FOR PAPERS
The Politics of Location Revisited: Gender@2012 8th European Feminist Research Conference May 17-20, 2012 │ Budapest, Hungary
Deadline for proposals: June 30, 2011 http://www.8thfeministconference.org Women and men in Europe in the first decades of the 21 st century are confronted with acute social, political, cultural, economic and environmental concerns, including increasingly racist politics and nationalist discourses across Europe, huge cutbacks in social services and education, strengthening conservative gender discourses, and an overall climate unfavorable if not hostile to feminist, queer, and other progressive movements. In striving to address these concerns on regional, national and international levels, feminist scholars are re-assessing their theoretical and political toolbox. The ‘politics of location’, coined by Adrienne Rich in 1976, continues to play a crucial role in these debates. Women’s and gender studies cannot do without reflecting on the politics of their locations, but how to use this tool now that locations are constantly shifting? When the locations we inhabit are perceived to be multiple, paradoxical and (in)comparable? The 8th European Feminist Research Conference invites scholars, students, activists and policy makers to re-visit their politics of location in the light of current crises in Europe and beyond, and to reflect upon the ways in which feminist scholarly tools can be used for understanding and for changing the world. Reflecting the diversity of women’s and gender studies European Feminist Research Conferences represent cutting-edge scholarship. The 8th European Feminist Research Conference is organized by the Central European University, Department of Gender Studies and AtGender, the European Association for Gender Research, Education and Documentation. The European Feminist Research Conferences usually have more than 500 participants from both inside and outside Europe. The Conferences have a track record of presenting innovative feminist scholarly work with critical perspectives on contemporary Europe and its histories. The previous European Feminist Research Conferences were held at the universities of Ålborg (1991), Graz (1994), Coimbra (1997), Bologna (2000), Lund (2003), Łódź (2006), and Utrecht (2009). This one will be held in Budapest, Hungary, May 17-20, 2012.
Confirmed Keynote Speakers HANA HAVELKOVA (Faculty of Humanities, Charles University, Czech Republic) CLARE HEMMINGS (Gender Institute, The London School of Economics and Political Science) ANDREA PETŐ (Central European University, Budapest, Hungary) FATIMA SADIQI (International Institute for Languages and Cultures, Fez, Morocco)
Call for Papers The 8th European Feminist Research Conference welcomes papers that keep in focus the connections among a number of relevant axes that frame current researches in the field. We have in mind connections between disciplines and interdisciplinarity; the past, the present and the future; gender and intersectionality; activism and power; local and global; margin and center. The strands listed below indicate the main lines of inquiry around which the Conference will be structured. Participants must indicate a strand which their paper addresses; it is also possible to indicate a second strand that will be addressed in their contribution. Based on these indications, the Conference Board will create intersecting panels across different strands.
Conference strands: 1. Women’s and Gender Studies between Neo-discipline and Interdisciplinarity 2. Rooting and Shifting (in) Feminist Research: Assessing the ‘Turns’ in Feminist Theory 3. Teaching ‘Gender’ across the Borders of the Human, Social, Natural and Biomedical Sciences 4. Located at Crossroads of Race and Gender: Intersectional Analysis in Women’s and Gender Studies 5. Shifting Sexualities, Masculinities and Femininities: LGBTQI 6. Revisiting ‘Equality vs. Difference’: Feminism in the 21st Century 7. Triple Helix of Social Inclusion: Connecting Activism, Policy-making and Gender Research 8. Feminist Legacies, Feminist Futures: Generating Feminisms 9. The Politics of Migration: Transnational Feminisms? 10. Re-Imagining
‘Europe’:
Imperialism,
Post-State
Socialism
and
Multiculturalism in the 21st Century 11. Violence Revisited: Security, War and Peace Narrated 12. Religion Revisited: Spirituality, Gender and the Post-Secular 13. Creativity Reconsidered: Rethinking Feminist Art, Media and Technological Practices
Abstracts should have not more than 300 words and can only be uploaded at http://www.8thfeministconference.org. Paper abstracts must be submitted before June 30, 2011. The conference organizers also welcome proposals for whole panels as well as presentations by women’s centers, libraries, documentation centers, networks or publishers. The conference fees and other relevant information are posted on the conference website http://www.8thfeministconference.org.
Please note that ATGENDER members have special benefits for participation at the conference. Please consult the website for more information.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 6. Names to Faces: ATGENDER’s New Intern Karina Pouentes Dear ATGENDER members, For the last two months we have been interchanging emails quite often and it is a pleasure for me to use this space ATGENDER has so kindly offered me so I could say a few words about myself. I’m half Greek-half Cuban, living currently in The Netherlands and a proud heir of a long tradition of migration that goes back endlessly in my family tree. It is my belief that the need to constantly create bridges (puentes) between the different cultures influencing me and those of my own, has strongly influenced my path and areas of interest within the Gender Studies and the Feminist Research field. I come from a theatrical background, having obtained my first degree in Theatre Studies, Lisbon, Portugal. Because of my growing interest on that area, later on I followed a postgraduation in Gender Studies also in Lisbon, Portugal. Seven years afterwards I’m one of the lucky students following the 1MA Gender Studies program in Utrecht University, having been given the ground to develop my own research project which focuses on the Integration Programs implemented by the Member States of the EU to integrate thirdcountry immigrants. My focus at the moment is particularly on one of the many aspects of the Dutch Integration Program. I’m interested on addressing -between other thingshow biased cultural representations of what is presented as “Dutch” and as “Foreign” behavior influence the integration process of third country immigrants and their descendents in the Dutch society. My current internship at ATGENDER has given me the opportunity to place my research in a European network of research and to get in touch with other scholars, researchers and policy-makers who develop similar projects or share similar fields of interest. As all of you, I’m also very excited with the upcoming Spring Conference 2011, which to me is translated into the perfect opportunity to open necessary dialogue(s), to craft paths. Karina Pouentes Kepaptsoglu
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 7. Announcements
7.1. Bring your national association for gender or women’s studies to ATGENDER!
Dear ATGENDER members, Being the European Association for Gender Studies, ATGENDER is looking forward to effective cooperation with all national or regional associations for Gender or Women’s Studies in Europe. In the past WISE brought together these associations in Europe and connected them with WOWS the World Organization of Women’s Studies. WOWS is the organization that manages the three yearly Women’s Worlds Congresses and brings together national and regional associations of women’s and gender studies from all over the world. This summer, July 2011, the Women’s Worlds Congress will take place in Ottawa (http://www.ww05.org/wows/start.html), and ATGENDER has, also on behalf of the Asian Association of Women’s Studies, proposed a session on global cooperation
between women’s and gender studies. The proposal has been accepted. In order to prepare for this session it is crucial that ATGENDER finds out if and in what way it may play a role in representing national or regional (e.g. Nordic or maybe sub-national) associations for Women’s or Gender Studies. We need your help in this! ATGENDER does not have a full list of Gender or Women’s studies associations in Europe and membership is far from complete.
We therefore ask you as a member of ATGENDER to do the following in your own country. a) Find out which national or regional gender or women’s studies associations are active in your country, probably you are already a member. b) Send the contact details (website, email, postal address, contact person) to info@atgender.eu If you have a bit more time:
c) Find out whether ‘your’ national or regional association wants to become an institutional member of ATGENDER. -
Remember the advantages (networking, advertising activities, three votes in general assembly, three reduced fees for European Feminist Research Conference in Budapest, eligible for hosting the ATGENDERconferences, and possibility of being represented in WOWS) and the possibility of reduced fees for associations with serious lack of budget.
d) Make your association a member of ATGENDER and let us know (with the name of contact person) at info@atgender.eu. e) If the association is a member, ask if you may represent its views on future international cooperation between gender & women’s studies associations at the ATGENDER Spring Conference. We will devote part of one session to this theme and would want to hear how national associations think about this. PS– Beware of cross-listing, it may be the case that other ATGENDER members in your country do the same and your association is flooded with this request. I see no effective procedure from preventing this. The ATGENDER -office is flooded with work for the conference – so please use your own inventiveness of solving this.
7.2. Teaching With Gender Series: - PEER REVIEWED PUBLISHING ON TEACHING GENDER
The ATGENDER Board took over from Athena3 the ATHENA Book series: Teaching with Gender. ATGENDER members are entitled to publication of approved manuscripts. New proposals are welcome. Please consult our website for more information regarding the series:http://www.atgender.eu/index.php/initiativesmenu/teachingwgen For downloads of the first www.athena3.org>publications.
seven
volumes
in
this
series
see:
7.3. GenderAct: Academic Cultures and Transformation in European Gender Studies Genderact is an international and interdisciplinary Gender Studies network of mostly younger senior scholars. Our aim is to investigate how Gender Studies is influenced by politics surrounding European WGFS, such as broader changes in academic structures and cultures, how knowledge emerges within WGFS and how knowledge traditions are being build and altered. Coordinator: Sabine Grenz Members: Kerstin Alnebratt, Angeliki Alvanoudi, Mia Liinasson, Maria do Mar Pereira and Iris van der Tuin The network is funded for three years (11/2010 – 10/2013) by the Swedish Riksbanken Jubileumsfonds.
7.4. EIGE – European Institute for Gender Equality At the moment, EIGE has two positions for paid traineeships, one for a national expert, and an open call for a study on gender and climate change:
7.5. Two traineeships (paid): http://www.eige.europa.eu/career-opportunities and a position for a Seconded National Expert on gender and Environment: http://www.eige.europa.eu/career-opportunities
7.6. Call for a new study on http://www.eige.europa.eu/eige-2011-oper-02
gender
and
climate
change:
Interested researchers or consortia or networks are invited to apply. On behalf of the board & staff from ATGENDER we would like to thank all of you for your support as we have entered our second year. Invite your colleagues and your institution in the field of gender to join us by becoming a new ATGENDER -member. There are many exciting projects coming up, so stay tuned! 7.7. The Tuning Gender Studies Brochure is available online. This Brochure is result of extensive consultation of the experts in genders studies (hundreds of students, activists, teachers and graduates have participated) in Europe. It contains ‘Reference Points for Design and Delivery of Degree Programs in Gender Studies. As such it is a tool for all involved in designing, improving gender and women’s studies programs. Since this is an official EU-sponsored text, the brochure is crucial in processes of acquiring academic accreditation. The brochure can be found on: http://www.deusto-publicaciones.es/ud/openaccess/tuning/tuning_i.html
At the Spring conference, workshop # 9 will be devoted in part to this brochure, here you may learn more. Our mailing address is: ATGENDER PO Box 164 Utrecht, Utrecht 3500 AD