Coalition of Women in German (WiG) – Women in German – 37th Annual Conference 2012 (Web)

Time: October 25-28, 2012
Venue: Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort, Shawnee on Delaware, PA
Deadline: March 1, 2012
Website

This panel seeks to explore works by German-language women which demonstrate the phenomenon of women who subvert traditional gender roles while at the same time living them. That is, frequently in works by women we find figures who appear to remain within the parameters of traditional gender roles, and yet they are constantly pushing the „scented“ envelope that encloses them by innovatively creating ways of being that fulfill their goals and desires in quietly transgressive ways.

Papers might include topics such as:

• Female characters in literature or other media who transgress boundaries while remaining within them.
• Quietly transgressive lives of women as expressed in their memoirs or letters.
• Women’s ways of pushing borders through travel or travel writing. Continue reading →

Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (MIRCI) (Web) / MOTHERING AND REPRODUCTION featuring an embedded conference on the topic of MOTHERING, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY

Time: October 18-20, 2012
Venue: Toronto, ON, Canada
Deadline: March 15, 2012
CFP/PDF

This conference will examine the ethical, political, social/cultural, economic, historical, religious, spiritual, and psychological dimensions of reproduction and mothering. While the larger conference will be broad in its interpretation and engagement with the subject of ‚Mothering and Reproduction‘, an embedded conference will be specific to exploring how mothers‘ decisions and experiences of reproduction and mothering have been/are influenced by science and technology. This Call For Papers is for both the larger conference, and the embedded one. Please feel free to submit to either, without necessarily specifying which you have in mind for your abstract/presentation. Read more … PDF

Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association (PCA/ACA) (Web)– National Conference

Venue: 2012 Boston, Massachusetts
Time: April 11- 14 2012
Deadline: December 15 2011

Julie Tharp and Susan MacCallum-Whitcomb write in This Giving Birth: „Ever since a pregnant Demi Moore exploded the beauty myth by posing nude for a magazine cover and Madonna cast off her boy-toy image to sing the praises of maternity, popular culture has also begun to embrace dear old mom.“ At the same time, Modern Family, Mr. Mom, Thomas Beatie, the At-Home Dads Convention, and Superdad: a Memoir of Rebellion, Drugs and Fatherhood are just a few examples testifying to how popular culture has been embracing dad.

Liz Podnieks is looking for papers for multiple panels for the new PCA Area Motherhood/Fatherhood which showcases (from humanities and social sciences perspectives) any aspect of motherhood and or fatherhood in popular culture.

Possible topics to consider include, but are not limited to, the following: Continue reading →

Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (MIRCI) (Web)

Time: May 10-12, 2012
Venue: Toronto, ON, Canada
Deadline: –
CfP/PDF

This conference will explore the nature, status and experience of mothers and motherhood in various historical, cultural and literary contexts, and examine the many ways in which mothers in different historical periods have been affected by, viewed, and/or challenged contemporary cultural norms and dominant ideologies regarding their role.

Topics may include but are not restricted to:
Normative & disruptive discourses about mothers and motherhood in any historical period, including but not limited to the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment; the Victorian era; mothers/motherhood and early feminism(s); mothering bodies: mothers and childbirth/lactation and maternal health in any historical period; mothers & midwifery; mothers and education in any historical period; mothers of color, teen mothers, First Nation/aboriginal/Native American mothers, “good” and/or “bad” mothers in history; mothers and paid/unpaid work in history; Read more … PDF