Submit your work to present at the 2007 GCWS Graduate Student Conference!

• Call for Proposals

This cutting edge conference grows out of our interest as academics and activists to understand the relationship between practice, experience, and theory. Theories of race, multiculturalism, Marxism, postcolonialism, and feminism ground work in Women’s and Gender Studies – we will consider what realities these theories address (or ignore), what praxis they strengthen (or fail to), what communities they reach, and which they may leave behind. Is the grassroots and activist sentiment inspiring these concepts trumped by the theoretical vocabulary used to describe them? Do the pressures of academies and institutions limit the execution of diverse expressions of feminism in the classroom and on the ground? 

In an effort to model the alternative methodology addressed in the conference abstract, this conference will follow a non-traditional structural and organizational format.  Presentations will take the form of open dialogues; panels will be followed by topic-based, hands-on workshops; other opportunities for attendees to share their knowledge, experience, and opinions equally with topic presenters.  

To this end, we encourage submissions that represent cross-disciplinary exploration in content, concept, and structure.  This could include (but is not limited to):

• Panels that include the combined voices of academics, community activists, and grassroots organizers
• Presentations of works-in-progress that pose relevant questions about the investigative process across institutions, disciplines, and identities
• Workshops that propose new models of interdisciplinary work and collaboration with hands-on activities relevant to the proposed topic
• Panels, workshops, or roundtables that not only represent but could also take the form of performances, artwork, poetry, etc.

Submission Topics:

Possible submission topics can include but are not limited to the list of possible themes below. Historic and Contemporary, Domestic and International interpretations are welcome.  The focus is Women’s and Gender Studies and Activism and is inclusive of related fields: how about changing the order and adding the following:  Critical Race Theory, Queer Studies, Food Justice, Art, Media Studies, Labor Organizing, Comparative Studies, Inequality Studies, Environmentlaism, etc.

• Mainstream Perceptions of the "F" word: Uses, Abuses, Alternatives and Reclamations

• The Past, Present, and Future of the Post-Gender, Post-Race, Techno-Feminist Third Wave

• Deconstructing Deconstruction: The Role of Theory and Activism in Everyday Life

• Culture-hacking: Social and Political Intervention in the 'Tower' and on the Ground

• Systematizing Knowledge: Interrogating Access and Privilege in Education

• Radical Pedagogy: Thinking and Doing Feminism in Research, Education, and Community Organizing

• Building Alliances Between Academic and Activist Communities

• Conducting Research Outside of the Academy

• Research as Activism/Activism as Research

To read more about proposal guidelines and to submit your proposal online click•Submit•

For more information, contact Andi Sutton, GCWS Program Coordinator at:

Graduate Consortium in Women’s Studies
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Building 16-287
77 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA 02139
Tel: (617) 324-2085
Email: gcws@mit.edu