The journal of contemporary history S-nodi. Pubblici e privati nella storia contemporanea proposes – for its issue no. 3 of Summer 2008 – an interdisciplinary discussion of the experience of the journey. The special issue, based on the article of David Bidussa published in the first number of S-nodi (www.scripataweb.it), will explore different journey narratives in history of the 19th and the 20th century.

Those interested should submit articles analyzing one of the many forms of journeying: religious or political pilgrimage, journey as study trip, as holiday, imaginary and utopian journeys. The journal intends to promote the intersection of different fields of knowledge: therefore, preference will be given in the selection to articles linking different sources and disciplines. Continue reading →

Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences CR

Proposed date: 27-28 November 2008
Venue: Prague, Czech Republic
Deadline for submission of papers: 30 April 2008

Science today, perhaps more than ever, is the site of multiple negotiations. Market values increasingly drive scientific research and higher education yet the traditional emphasis upon rational knowledge remains. The range of actors with a claim to ‘have a say’ in science has also grown to include a range of voices beyond academe, from industry and the public. These new actors may play different roles in different contexts and geopolitical spaces. All these processes also have a gender dimension – from recruitment and retention of students and employees, to work-life balance and the gendering of knowledge production processes and practices.

The conference will showcase research on these issues from (social) science and technology studies, and feminist and post-colonial studies under the framework of the project Knowledge, Institutions and Gender: an East-West Comparative Study Continue reading →

For a Special Issue of Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, edited by Talia Mae Bettcher and Ann Garry

The recent publication of The Transgender Studies Reader (ed. Susan Stryker and Stephen Whittle, New York: Routledge, 2006) marks a watershed in the development of trans studies. Arising in the early nineties in close relation to queer theory, trans studies is characterized by the coming-to-voice of trans people, long the theorized and researched objects of sexology, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, and even feminist theory.

Sandy Stone’s groundbreaking “The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto” sought the end of monolithic accounts of trans people (authored by non-trans) to reveal a multiplicity of trans narratives told by trans people themselves. By recognizing trans people as Continue reading →

Les Editions Sils Maria publieront un volume collectif intitulé L’objet homosexuel – Etudes, constructions, critiques

Les textes composant ce volume s’intéresseront aux sciences sociales, aux sciences humaines ainsi qu’à la philosophie et examineront:

1. comment ces différents domaines ont abordé (ou, parfois, «oublié») l’analyse et l’étude de l’homosexualité;
2. comment ces études menées dans les champs de la sociologie, de l’anthropologie, de la psychologie, de l’histoire, de l’ethnologie, de la psychanalyse, etc., ont pu mobiliser un certain nombre de « préjugés », de paradigmes, de problèmes et schémas aboutissant à la construction d’un certain objet (ou d’objets) homosexuel;
3. comment cette construction, ce qu’elle présuppose et implique, peuvent être Continue reading →

The Public Art Studies Program at the Roski School of Fine Arts, University of Southern California in Los Angeles, has begun a process of self-examination, and curricular and structural transformation, under the leadership of the newly appointed Director of the Program Joshua Decter.

The PAS program has extended its application deadline for the 2008-2009 academic year to June 2, 2008, to seek students from a range of academic, disciplinary, and professional backgrounds.

This 2-year graduate masters program currently confers a Master of Art Studies (MPAS) degree, and offers a unique context for the study of key issues regarding the history, current manifestations, and the future of art practices in the public sphere. We examine the complexities of community engagement, modes of collaborative and participatory art production, the historical and contemporary conditions of Continue reading →