Gendered Memories of War and Political Violence, Sabanci University, Istanbul, 22-23 May 2012‏

*Call for Papers*

Gendered Memories of War and Political Violence

22-23 May 2012 Istanbul

Gender and Women's Studies Forum

Sabancı University

Workshop organized in the framework of the
Central European University - Sabancı University Joint Academic Initiative

by Ayşe Gül Altınay and Andrea Petö

Opening Remarks by Cynthia Enloe

The 20th century has been a century of wars, genocides, and other forms of political violence. It has also been a century of feminist struggle and theorizing globally. At the peak of what is sometimes called the "memory boom," this conference seeks to explore the different ways in which wars, genocides, and other forms of political violence are remembered through a gender lens. Central questions include (but are not limited to):

* How have wars, genocides and other forms of political violence
been narrated and represented by men and women?
* How do women remember and narrate sexual violence in war?
* How do (written, oral or visual) testimonies challenge or
reinforce the hegemonic accounts of wars and genocides?
* How are wars memorialized and gendered through monuments,
museums, and other memory sites?
* What is the impact of the ethnicization/racialization of violence
on the making of gendered memories?
* How is the relationship between the "personal" and the
"public/national/political" (re)conceptualized in popular culture,
film, literature, and (auto)biographical texts dealing with war,
genocide, and other forms of political violence?
* How are "humanitarian interventions," post-conflict processes, and
transitional justice gendered?
* How do women's, feminist, and LGBTQ movements contribute to
critical memory work on wars?
* What kind of impact has feminist scholarship had on war and
militarism studies, genocide studies, and memory studies?
* What new concepts or theoretical frameworks (queer? postcolonial?
critical race studies?) promise new openings in feminist analyses of
memory work on wars and genocides?

*Applications:*

The working language of the conference will be English. Scholars of all levels and from all disciplines are encouraged to apply. Priority will be given to papers that deal with Europe (in the largest sense of the term) or Europe's connection to the discussed context, but other papers will also be considered.

Please submit an abstract (max. 500 words) outlining the relevance and novelty of your contribution, together with a 200 words resumé.

Presenters will be required to submit their presentation in writing prior to the workshop. With the participation of Cynthia Enloe and other prominent scholars from the field as discussants, we are hoping for close engagement and critical debate during the workshop. Presenters will be encouraged to submit their revised papers for the special issue of the /European Journal of Women's Studies/ on the same topic (to be edited by Altınay and Petö).

There are limited funds for those participants who do not have other sources of funding to attend the workshop. When submitting your abstract, please indicate your need for any financial assistance. There are no registration fees. Lunch, tea and coffee will be provided for all participants.

*The application deadline is 16 December 2011.*

To submit your paper and for more information: genderconf@sabanciuniv.edu
Workshop website: http://myweb.sabanciuniv.edu/genderconf/