The IX Conference of Nordic women’s and gender historians.
The theme addresses three important terms in women’s and gender history: The fundamental concept gender, that continuously needs to be discussed, esp. the role of gender perspective and gender research within history.
The other two concepts, space and borders, most often used simultaneously, are connected to another pair of concepts, public and private, which have been part of women’s and gender history from the beginning. It needs to be explored how space and borders have changed over time with regard to geography, politics, sexuality, public/private etc.
The main sessions will focus on local and global perspectives, how histories of globalization affect gender. And, how can trans-national perspectives enrich gender history? Among important questions is what kind of research from other regions do Nordic women’s and gender historians discuss and identify with. Also, what is global, national or regional in women’s and gender history in different historical periods? In other words, how do women’s and gender historians use and discuss borders in historical periods from local and global perspectives. Does gender perspective change traditional borders in history?
The women’s movement seen from local and trans-national perspectives is an upcoming theme: How did women of different nationalities interact with each other in times of emerging feminism and demands for women’s rights?
Theoretical, methodological and epistemological issues need to be discussed: The importance of research in women’s and gender history, how gender can be used analytically on different levels in time and space. And, the relation of women’s history and gender history after poststructuralism. Are they now two equally acknowledged fields of study?
Other important topics within the theme Gender, Space and Borders, are:
• The history of historiography.
• Gender perspective in demography.
• The feminisation of the working class movement.
• Work and gender.
• Masculinity in history.
Historians are encouraged to keep the trans-Nordic perspective in mind when proposing and organizing sessions and workshops.
The conference languages will be Scandinavian and English.