SEX AND GENDER. CULTIVATING IDENTITIES TODAY.
Issue 30 of CRITIQUE & HUMANISM journal
Issue Editors: Dr. Marina Liakova (University of Education, Karlsruhe) and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vyara Angelova (Sofia University „St. Kliment Ohridski“)
The issue is scheduled for December 2009. The journal invites contributions in English, German and French. The accepted articles will be published in Bulgarian translation.
ABOUT US: Critique & Humanism journal, founded in 1990, is the first independent academic journal in Bulgaria. It has an interdisciplinary profile, with special emphases on political philosophy, social theory and sociology. The journal released thematic issues twice a year in Bulgarian language, with special bilingual issues (in Bulgarian and English). Based on its understanding of social sciences as a fundamental critical resource in contemporary world, the journal fosters and represents intellectual and public debates and thereby promotes the building of an active public sphere and civic culture in Bulgaria as well as the integration of Bulgarian scholarly community into the international intellectual discourse. The journal editor-in-chief is Dr. Dimitar Vatsov, associate professor in the New Bulgarian University.
CALL FOR PAPERS: The issue is focused on the social construction of gender. It will tackle the arguments and controversies evoked by this topic in the various fields of human and social sciences, as well as the impacts (successes or shortcomings) brought by the public voicing of gender related problems in contemporary social world. A theoretical section of the volume will deal with recent developments in the field of gender theories. Another section is open for problem-oriented analyses or empirical studies regarding mechanisms of exclusion and practices of rigidifying gender- or sexuality-based inequalities in differing social and historical contexts.
The key note is a paper by Prof. Dr. Nancy Fraser (New York). We suggest the following perspectives for theoretical reflections:

• Re-thinking feminism, gender studies, queer studies: theoretical problems and insights
• Recent revisions of the critical theory: the agency of social critique today
• Feminist theories of power and political strategies of empowerment
• Identity politics: new challenges and responses
• Re-contextualizing sexual and gender inequalities in the age of globalization
• Gender studies and migration studies: merging approaches

Those are only some possible paths of analysis. Any other avenue of approach to the issue topic is welcome. Some of the possible topics for empirical analysis are:

• Marginalization of women/gays and lesbians at the labour market
• Sexual minorities´: political and economic exclusion/inclusion of the sexually `different´
• Legalizing discrimination: juridical forms of differentiation of heterosexuality and homosexuality
• Variations of experiences: convergences and divergences in the formation of gender identities and politics in the West and in the East
• The emergence of gender-sensitive policies and social movements as well as practices of intolerance and discrimination in Eastern Europe after the collapse of socialist regimes
• Overlapping inequalities at the intersection of gender and race/ethnicity: experiences of female/gay and lesbian migrants

SUBMISSIONS GUIDELINES:
Application materials: An abstract (maximum length 500 words) and a short CV of the author in Microsoft Word or PDF file format. Although the full version of the paper might be in English, French or German, the abstract and the CV are requested in English language.
Deadline: May 10, 2009
The materials should be submitted to: liakova@ph-karlsruhe.de or angelovav@gmail.com. After a review procedure, the applicants will be notified about the editorial decision by the end of May 2009. The full versions of the papers (length 5,000-6,000 words) will be due by September 10, 2009. After a proof reading by the editorial board, some corrections or improvements might be suggested shortly after the submission. The final version should be sent by October 20, 2009.
We are looking forward to your paper proposals!