GWSS Community Blog

While this season marks only the third edition of Queer Takes at the Walker, the series continues a rich history of LGBT cinema in the Twin Cities that started in the late 1980s with Jenni Olson’s series Lavender Images, which grew into a program at Film in the Cities, which initiated the first Minneapolis/St. Paul LGBT Film Festival. In 1995, the University Film Society picked up the festival and the series continued for the next few years at the Bell Auditorium, when I offered to assist in the programming. In 1999 the University Film Society and Oak Street Cinema merged, and the festival continued over the next few years at Oak Street until Minnesota Film Arts could no longer produce the festival and the Walker launched Queer Takes.

This new edition of Queer Takes has deep connections to the institution. Abigail Child, whose work was included in the 2006 Women with Vision Festival and is part of the Walker’s collection, has a new documentary on the African American male “downlow� scene. Gregg Araki presented his early feature film Long Weekend O’ Despair at the Walker in May 1989. In 1992 Araki’s The Living End, which had an area premiere at the Walker as a 16mm print, returns in an enhanced version through a high-definition transfer and a remixed sound track.

This year’s Queer Takes also spotlights filmmakers focusing on those fighting for dignity and their place in the world, made manifest in brutally honest characters such as the aging hustler in Before I Forget and the intersexed teen in XXY. By focusing on the important work being preserved by the Outfest Legacy Project, the Walker hopes to support the history of groundbreaking films that pushed boundaries for the LGBT community such as Lizzie Borden’s Born in Flames and Bill Sherwood’s Parting Glances. . . .

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Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, a fully-refereed journal published in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics, invites the submission of high-quality interdisciplinary articles on issues pertaining to nationalism, ethnicity and related themes. Examples of these themes include:

• Masculinities and the nation
• Gender, war and violence
• Nationalism and sexuality
• Motherlands and fatherlands
• Women and right-wing movements
• Gender and ethnicity

The editors are particularly interested in the theme of gender, ethnicity and nationalism for this call.

The editors welcome submissions of work in progress as well as contributions from young professionals, post-docs and lecturers in the early stages of their career. SEN especially encourages submissions from PhD candidates. For this call, please ensure your paper reaches us by 1st September, 2008 via email (SEN@lse.ac.uk). Articles should not exceed 8,000 words (including endnotes and references), and should have a minimum length of 5,500 words.

For more information and author guidelines, please visit the SEN website:
http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1473-8481

Posted by Rae at 9:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Applied Research Center would like to invite you and organization to apply to the Applied Research Center's Racial Justice Leadership Institute (RJLI) on July 10-11, 2008 in Oakland, California.

The RJLI is a seminar for social justice activists who wish to sharpen their skills and strategies to address structural racism and advance racial equity. The Institute participants include social change and labor organizers, activists, and advocates, committed to racial justice. It engages people in critical analysis of current race issues and opportunities to promote equitable public policies. Unlike "diversity trainings" that focus on interpersonal relations and cultural understanding, the Institute emphasizes institutional inequality- how it disadvantages, disenfranchises and divides many communities and how this inequality can be effectively challenged and changed. Institute topics include racial awareness and analysis, policy development, and applying a racial justice lens to shape the media.

To assist us in our preparation for the training, ARC will need the following information:

1) Completed RJLI application forms from all interested attendees:
The application is mandatory for all participants. Applicants must complete the attached application form and are selected based on a variety of factors including experience, interest, goals, and racial and geographic diversity. APPLICATIONS ARE DUE NO LATER THAN June 20, 2008, 10AM.

2) RJLI tuition for two-day seminar:
The training fee of $250, which includes breakfast and lunch both days, is due upon acceptance into the Institute. We highly recommend for organizations to submit letters of request for technical assistance to their local funder to help pay for and/or offset the training fees. Limited partial scholarships are available.

To request an application contact Gina Acebo, Network and External Events Coordinator, at 510-653-3415 or gacebo@arc.org.

Facing Race Conference Registration Begins

The Applied Research Center has opened registration for its 2008 national conference. Scholarships are available on a limited first come first serve basis. Sherman Alexie, 2007 National Book Award winner and acclaimed author has agreed to serve as our keynote speaker for Facing Race 2008. Facing Race 2008 is an annual national conference hosted by the Applied Research Center. Facing Race 2008 will be held in Oakland, CA from November 13-15.

For more information go to:

http://guest.cvent.com/EVENTS/Info/Summary.aspx?i=4178c704-4ecf-487a-a1b5-546f941604b5

Posted by Rae at 8:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

2009 MAWSA Conference, March 27-28, 2009
Department of Women’s and Gender Studies
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901

2009 will mark the 40th anniversary of the first glimmerings of Women’s Studies within colleges and universities across the United States. Over the past four decades, feminist scholars have transformed knowledge in the humanities, social sciences and life sciences, challenging long-established beliefs, contesting dominant paradigms, identifying new areas of research, and introducing new strategies of analysis using a complex matrix of gender, class, race, age, ethnicity, nationality and sexuality as fundamental categories of social, cultural, historical and scientific inquiry.

Simultaneously, feminist activists have mobilized in grass-root struggles in communities around the globe and within national institutions and international organizations to envision a future worthy of feminist allegiance, and to combine activism, political interventions, and policy transformations to bring that future into being. Seeking changes in consciousness, attitudes, expectations, interpersonal relations, cultural practices, social institutions, agencies of governance, and knowledge production, feminists have wrought profound changes in the world.

Taking Stock: Transformative Scholarship, Transforming Practices will examine the intellectual, political, social, and interpersonal worlds that feminists have created despite three decades of backlash. The Organizing Committee welcomes papers that address feminist efforts to reduce inequities and inequalities associated with race- and gender-based oppression; efforts to create adequate health care, education, welfare, employment, personal security and equity policies that redress gender- and race-based injustices; efforts to “engender� states by seeking gender parity and gender quotas in elective and appointive offices, constitutional guarantees of equal citizenship and equal protection of the law and policy changes to require gender mainstreaming, gender-impact analyses, gender equitable budgets, and monitoring to insure compliance with equality objectives across all policy domains; efforts to make visible women’s reproductive and domestic labor and to reduce the burden of women’s triple shift by redistributing subsistence, childcare, and community-building labor more equitably across genders; efforts to secure women’s rights as human rights, to end all forms of violence against women, and to secure reproductive freedom and sexual self-determination; efforts to transform educational and pedagogical practices; efforts to transform the arts and cultural production; and efforts to devise innovative methodologies to transform knowledge production.

Plenary sessions will feature distinguished feminist scholars and activists including Sara Ahmed, Charlotte Bunch, Florence Butegwa, Cheryl Clarke, Nikol Alexander Floyd, Paula Giddings, Carol Gilligan, Elizabeth Grosz, Alison Jaggar, Diana Tientjens Meyers, Jacqueline Pitanguy, Jasbir Puar, Cheryl Wall, and Deborah Gray White.

Please send electronic versions of paper or panel proposals to Mary Hawkesworth, mhawkes@rci.rutgers.edu, noting MAWSA 2009 Conference
Proposal in the subject head.

DEADLINE for Submissions: October 15, 2008

MAWSA 2009 Organizing Committee
Department of Women’s and Gender Studies
Rutgers University
162 Ryders Lane
New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901

Posted by Rae at 1:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

INVITATION FOR PROPOSALS ON INTERDISCIPLINARY SCHOLARLY AND CREATIVE WORKCFP
Submission Deadline: Thursday, June 12, 2008
The 18th Annual Women's Studies Conference
"Girls' Culture & Girls' Studies: Surviving, Reviving, Celebrating Girlhood"

To be held on the campus of Southern Connecticut State University Friday and
Saturday, October 17 and 18, 2008

The 18th Annual Women's Studies Conference at Southern Connecticut State
University explores girlhood. What does it mean to be a girl? Who defines
girlhood in an age when puberty and sexualization are happening at younger
ages? How do girls assert their own identity in an increasingly medicated and
consumerist culture which targets girls as a prime audience? Why are U.S. girls
preoccupied with perfection? What challenges do girls across races, classes,
religions, nations, and cultures face in an ever more globalized world? What is
the relationship between girls and feminism? What effect can feminism have on
constructions of boyhood and masculinity and how in turn can this affect girls?
In the 18th annual SCSU Women's Studies conference, we will take a close look
at girls' culture and girls' studies, among the most vibrant areas in women's
studies. The Conference Committee invites individuals, groups, scholars,
feminists, activists, girls and all to
submit proposals that address topics related to all aspects of girlhood.

Proposal Format: Faculty, students, staff, administrators, community activists
from all disciplines and fields are invited to submit proposals for individual
papers, complete sessions, panels, or round tables. Poster sessions,
performance pieces, video recordings, and other creative works are also
encouraged. For individual papers, please submit a one-page abstract. For
complete panels, submit a one-page abstract for each presentation plus an
overview on the relationship among individual components. For the poster
sessions and art work, submit a one-page overview. All proposals must include
speakers' name(s), affiliation(s), and contact information (address, E-mail,
and telephone number). Please also indicate preference for Friday afternoon,
Saturday morning, or Saturday afternoon; all attempts will be made to honor
schedule requests.

Panels: Each 75 minute session usually includes three presenters and a session
moderator, but individual presenters may request an entire session for a more
substantial paper or presentation. Presenters are encouraged, though not
required, to form their own panels. The conference committee will group
individual proposals into panels and assign a moderator. Please indicate in
your contact information if you are willing to serve as a moderator.

Posters, Art Displays, and Slide Presentations: A poster presentation consists
of an exhibit of materials that report research activities or informational
resources in visual and summary form. An art display consists of a depiction
of feminist concerns in an artistic medium. Both types of presentations
provide a unique platform that facilitates personal discussion of work with
interested colleagues and allows meeting attendees to browse through highlights
of current research. Please indicate in your proposal your anticipated needs
in terms of space, etc.

In keeping with the conference theme, suggested topics include but are not
limited to:
Girls and Pop Culture
Construction of Girlhood
Media and Girls' Culture
Girls & Cutting/Self-Mutilation
Politics of Girls' Studies
Girls & Leadership
Women's Studies & Girls' Studies
Girls & Child Labor
Race & Class in Girls' Studies
Girls & Performance
Coming of Age Globally
Gender Research & Girls
Body Image and Girls
Girls & Disabilities
Girls & Sexuality
Girls & Ink.
Human Trafficking & Girls
Girls & Religion
Indigenous Women and Girls
Human Rights of Girls
Girls & Sports
Chick Lit
Girls & Resistance
Globalization and Girlhood
Race, Ethnicity, and Class in Girls' Studies
Construction of "Tween" Agers/Girls
Violence against Girls & Women
Girls and Gangs
Girl Power and Politics
Transnational Adoption of Girls
Girls' Studies in Academe
Girl Power and Feminism/Anti-Feminism
Growing up Incarcerated
Girls and Grassroots Activism
Girls across/between Worlds
Parenting/Raising Girls
American Girls and Beyond
Girls as Parents
Reviving Ophelia, Surviving Ophelia, Resisting Ophelia
Representations of Girls

We also invite your ideas and suggestions. Conference sessions will juxtapose
cultural, generational, and geopolitical perspectives in order to construct
feminist renditions of girls' cultures, histories, and representations. Expect
fun through meals, performance, and poetry slam, with girls and their allies
speaking of their struggles and power.

Please submit proposals and supporting materials to:

Women's Studies Conference Committee
Women's Studies Program, EN B 229
Southern Connecticut State University
501 Crescent Street
New Haven, CT 06515

Or via email to:

womenstudies@southernct.edu with attention to Conference Committee. If you
have any questions, please call the Women's Studies office at (203) 392-6133.

The Annual Women's Studies Conference at SCSU is self-supporting; all
presenters can pre-register at the discounted presenter's fee, not exceeding
$110.00 for both days, $60.00 for one day. The fee includes all costs for
supporting materials, entrance to keynote events, and all meals and beverage
breaks.

Submission Deadline:
Postmarked by Thursday, June 12, 2008

Notification of Committee Decision:
Mailed by Friday, July 18, 2008

Posted by Rae at 1:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HECUA seeks a part-time creative, innovative, detail-oriented *Teaching Assistant* in the *Metro Urban Studies Term (MUST)* in Minneapolis/St.
Paul. The Teaching Assistant will coordinate program logistics, attend most seminars, lead selected class sessions, recruit students at member
campuses, serve as the administrative assistant to the Program Director, and share in fostering a learning environment that is holistic,
interdisciplinary and academically rigorous. The ideal candidate will use this opportunity to gain valuable experience in higher education
teaching and program administration within an organization dedicated to experiential and community-based learning. The position reports to the
MUST Program Director.
*
About the Metro Urban Studies Term:
*The Metro Urban Studies Term is a semester-long study opportunity for college students that takes an interdisciplinary approach to probing
issues of poverty, inequality and social change. The combination of seminars, group field experiences and individual internship placements
allows students to meaningfully integrate theory and practice. Students meet two full days a week for Reading, Field and Internship Seminars.
Three days a week, each student also participates in a social change internship appropriately related to program themes. Highly motivated
students from many colleges join the Metro Urban Studies Term each semester for a rich, holistic experience that actively engages them in
exploring issues of poverty, inequality and social change and equips them with skills for political engagement. The Metro Urban Studies Term
was founded in 1971 and is offered both fall and spring semesters.
*
Terms:
*This is a year-round part-time position, constituting 27 hours per week. Position is annually renewable based on performance. Competitive
benefits include health and dental insurance, life and disability insurance, paid time off, and a 403(b) retirement plan. Compensation
based on experience and education; $1,404 - $1,665 per month (total salary of $16,850 - $19,985 for the 27 hours/week, 12-month position).
*
Applications must be received on or before June 19th 2008.* Please view full posting at* *_http://www.hecua.org/jobs.php_
<_http://www.hecua.org/jobs.php_> for more information, including qualifications and application information.

Emily Jane Seru
Manager of Internships & Community Partnerships
Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs (HECUA)
2233 University Avenue West, Suite 210
St. Paul, MN 55114

Direct: 651/287-3313
Main: 651/646-8831
Fax: 651/659-9421
http://www.hecua.org

Posted by Rae at 1:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Rae at 1:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

calling all youth ...
Young Writers!
Network :: Socialize :: Write :: Perform :: Workshop
Don't Miss the Summer Kickoff—This Wednesday!

Young Writers Summer Kickoff
Wednesday, June 4th, 2008
6-8PM at Intermedia Art
2822 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis
Ages 19 and under
$2 suggested donation for pizza!
This monthly gathering is the spot for creative young voices! A place for young writers (ages 19 and under) to meet other youth writers, workshop their writing, work with local artists, participate in public literary readings and have fun! Grab your notebook and head over to Intermedia Arts this Wednesday to find out what Young Writers! is all about.

You won’t want to miss this.

For details, call or email: (612) 871-4444 or info@intermediaarts.org

Posted by Rae at 1:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Working Title: Spilling Over: A Fat, Queer Anthology
Editor: Jessica Giusti, Feminist Studies Ph.D. Student, University of Minnesota
Contact: spillingover@gmail.com
Submission Deadline: December 1, 2008

Despite the attention given by queer studies to the materiality of bodies and the cultural and social inscriptions that designate them, still a dearth of both scholarship and literature exists around intersections of gender, sexuality, and fatness. As fat studies begins to emerge as a viable academic location of inquiry, questions surface as to how fat bodies, deemed "excessive" in their trespasses of size and space, create even more complex subject positions when compounded by queer desires. This proposed anthology seeks contributions addressing junctions of "fat" and "queer" in pieces that consider the representations and resistances of non-normative corporeality and also writings considering the theoretical conceptions of these intricate subjectivities. Spilling Over will reflect the notions of excess, boundaries, and containment implied by the labels "fat" and "queer" both singularly and collectively. In the form of scholarly writing and creative non-fiction pieces, essay submissions might consider (but are not limited to):

* theorizing the concept of "excess" as it pertains to fatness and queerness
* fat and queer identities; personal narratives; reclaiming "fat" and "queer"
* notions of (in)visibility, hypervisibility, and passing and/or privilege
* intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, (dis)ability, age, and religion
* the economics of the obesity "epidemic" and the diet industry
* fat, queer art and performance; performativity
* pleasure, sex-positivity, eroticizing non-normative bodies
* acceptance movements, political activism, resistance
* the engagement of feminism with fatness
* global, transnational, transcultural constructions of fat, queer bodies and lives
* critical reflections of fatness and queerness in media, literature, film, music, and visual arts
* the rhetoric of fat oppression, fatphobia, homophobia, transphobia, bigotry, responding to and/or addressing hate speech

By December 1, 2008, please send your 2,000 – 6,000 word submission, along with your complete contact information and a 50-100 word biography, to spillingover@gmail.com with the subject line of "Spilling Over – Submission." Submissions must be received in 12 point Times New Roman font and sent in via Word documents (PDFs will not be accepted). Pieces will be reviewed and decisions made by April 2009. Please note that accepted submissions will be approved on a tentative basis, pending editorial board approval once the anthology has secured a publisher.

Questions can be directed to me at spillingover@gmail.com or visit the MySpace page at www.myspace.com/spillingoveranthology.

Posted by Rae at 1:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ananya Dance Theatre
DAAK, Call to Action
Shows: June 12-15, 2008, Thursday - Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 7pm.
Post-show discussion Friday and Saturday
Venue: The Southern Theater, 1420 Washington Ave. South, Minneapolis 55454
Box Office 612/ 340-1725 Tickets: $19 (includes $2 building preservation fee)

DAAK, Call to Action, responds to aggressive lands rights violations in several communities across the world. The project seeks to create relationships between transnational and diasporic communities through the sharing of the stories of women affected by such violations historically and currently. Testimonies from the Native communities of Leech Lake and Lower Sioux Reservations- where women are leading the Truth and Reconciliation Project in an effort to re-write the history of this state, a project particularly potent as the Sesquicentennial Commission proceeds with its plans to celebrate 150 years of MN's statehood without acknowledging the history of ethnic cleansing, genocide, and land appropriation that lies underneath our feet- will inform the project. We will also learn about the struggles of activists and artists in government-designated "special economic zones" in West Bengal, India, where agricultural land is being appropriated violently from poor farmers by the state in order to sponsor global industrial projects; and from the maquiladoras of Tijuana and Juarez, Mexico, where once again women are being forced to work in factories established on land violently seized from their
communities. The piece will end with a "call to action" to audiences, inviting them into awareness of the trauma suffered by communities endangered by environmental racism, as well as the innovative ways in
which they resist these phenomena. The piece itself will articulate the struggle over land rights through the innovative use of space and by imagining different relationships between bodies and land/ground.

Posted by Rae at 1:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)