The language of citizenship has, in recent years, been mobilized by feminists to articulate a wide range of claims and demands. The notions of economic, political, social, cultural, sexual/ bodily, and intimate citizenship, for example, have all been developed and explored in terms of their normative potential and their actual realization.
In Europe, in particular, there has been a strong steer from research funders and policy makers towards research agendas which address the question of citizenship in the context of increasingly diverse and multicultural societies. But, can the concept of citizenship encompass the transformations that feminist politics seek? What are the restrictions and exclusions of contemporary forms and practices of citizenship? How does the concept of citizenship deal with power, inequality, and difference? What are the problems with framing our desires and visions for the future in terms of citizenship in a globalizing world of migration, mobility, armed conflict, economic crisis and climate change? Does the concept of citizenship restrict our imaginations and limit our horizons within nation-state formations? Can it ever really grasp the complexity of our real and longed-for attachments to communities, networks, friends and loved ones? Is it able to embrace the politics of embodiment and of our relationships with the non-human world? How have feminists historically and cross-culturally imagined and prefigured a world beyond citizenship? Is a feminist, queer or global citizenship thinkable, or should we find a new language for new forms of belonging?
We invite proposals for papers that address these questions and the broad theme of the conference. We particularly welcome papers which explore the interface between the feminist academy and feminist activism, and which are interdisciplinary and innovative in method and approach.
Individual paper proposals (max. 200 words) or proposals for panels of three or four related papers (max. 300 words) should be submitted by 1st December 2009 to: abstracts.beyondcitizenship@bbk.ac.uk
Thee conference will take place in central London. A limited number of bursaries will be available. For further information about the conference, visit the website or email: beyondcitizenship@bbk.ac.uk
Beyond Citizenship: Feminism and the Transformation of Belonging is organised by FEMCIT, an EU FP6 integrated research project on “Gendered citizenship in multicultural Europe: the impact of contemporary women’s movements”, in collaboration with the Birkbeck Institute for Social Research, at Birkbeck, University of London, Rokkansenteret, at the University of Bergen, and is sponsored by the Norwegian Research Council.
Academic Organising Committee:
Sasha Roseneil
Isabel Crowhurst
Ana Cristina Santos
Mariya Stoilova