Journal of Lesbian Studies; Taylor Marie Doherty, Julie R. Enszer, Laura Harris, Sy Heying, and Amanda Mixon (Web)
Proposals by: 15.01.2024
On July 2, 2023, Minnie Bruce Pratt died at the age of 76 after a brief illness resulting from a glioblastoma. (Obituaries are available here and here.) Pratt leaves behind an important body of creative, theoretical, and political work as a gift and legacy to scholars, activists, cultural workers, writers, poets, and readers.
While Pratt’s creative output has been examined in a number of scholarly works (a bibliography is available here), more work remains. A collective of scholars has come together to curate and edit an issue of The Journal of Lesbian Studies (Web) on the work and legacy of Minnie Bruce Pratt. This Call for Proposals is an invitation to think and write about Minnie Bruce Pratt, her work, and her legacy.
How did Pratt’s work create pathways for queer families to form? How are key texts by Pratt, such as Crime Against Nature and S/HE resonating with contemporary readers and activists? How does Pratt’s political activism provide community organizing strategies for the contemporary moment? How does Pratt’s writings about her relationship with Leslie Feinberg dialogue with recent work in trans studies? How does Pratt’s feminist pedagogy inform contemporary methods for teaching in a time of political pushback against critical race theory and LGBTQ studies? What are Pratt’s contributions to southern literature and literary traditions? Why are Pratt’s methods of collaboration and collectivity significant? What can we learn from Pratt’s collaborative work? What is the significance of Pratt’s teaching at a HBCU? How was Pratt situated (or not) in the neoliberal academy, and what can be learned from that?
For this issue, the editors – Taylor Marie Doherty, Julie R. Enszer, Laura Harris, Sy Heying, and Amanda Mixon – seek work that embraces and responds to the many elements of Pratt’s work and life. Yes, the editors invite articles about her poetry and creative prose, as are articles that engage her activism with LIPS, Worker’s World, Camp Trans, and other political formations. Yes, the editors imagine articles that consider Pratt’s theoretical interventions in feminist and lesbian theory through her essays in Yours In Struggle and Rebellion as well as material that examines her personal and political investments in the South or the women in print movement. Continue reading