The
Feminist Action Project, a two-day conference at the University of Texas at Austin on March 30-31, 2012, is seeking panel and workshop submissions.
This year’s theme is
Relationships: building alliances and bridging movements. We hope for this theme to encompass relationships between people, generations, and movements as described in the lists below. We want to make space for conversation on nurturing interpersonal ties and exploring how social justice movements can collaborate and build productive relationships together.
Our goals for the conference include: including the experiences and perspectives of both students and community members, prioritizing 101-level introductions to theories and movements, emphasizing “art as resistance,” and helping broaden the feminist community by framing its issues in relation to other activisms.
Submissions should be consistent with the theme and goals. We welcome academic proposals as well as practical and activist ones, but we prefer interactive models such as discussions and skill-building workshops. This is a relatively small conference that traditionally draws 80-100 people, which allows for involved discussion. We are particularly interested in proposals dealing with one or more of the following topics:
Relationships between people:
- Healthy sexuality
- Consent
- Non-mainstream romantic/sexual identities
- Practicing feminism in close relationships
- Exploring female relationships
- Breaking down “girl hate”
- Confronting oppressive acts/speech
- Calling others out
- Being a constructive ally
- Activist self-care
- Violence, bullying, and harassment
Relationships between movements:
- Confronting –isms and oppression within feminist movements
- Tensions between women of color movements and ‘mainstream’ feminism
- Collaboration between feminist generations/waves
- Trans* and gender identity activism and the LGBT mainstream
- Race and economic rights activism (like Occupy Wall Street)
- Disability rights activism and intersectionality
101-level intersections:
- Privilege and power
- Sexism
- Racism
- Classism
- Ableism
- Sexual & gender identities
- Body activism
- Indigenous rights movements
In accordance with these themes, we are honored to announce one of this year’s keynote speakers:
Dr. Radhika Balakrishnan, an accomplished scholar of gender, economics, and human rights, will be joining us on the evening of Friday, March 30. The next day, the theatrical jazz aesthetic writer and artist
Sharon Bridgforth will speak and perform to finish the conference.
Please include in your submission:
• Title of panel, workshop, or presentation
• A brief description of 300-500 words
• Description of AV and space requirements
• Your name and contact information (phone and email preferred)
The deadline for submissions is
February 15, 2012. Please submit all documents via email to
feministactionproject@gmail.com, with “Attn: Programming Committee” in the subject line. You can send the submission as a Microsoft Word file, .pdf, or text file. If postal mail works better for you, please send it to: Feminist Action Project, c/o Gender and Sexuality Center, 1 University Station, A4400, Austin, TX, 78712.
We are very excited about this year’s conference and we look forward to hearing from you!
To bridge means loosening our borders, not closing off to others. Bridging is the work of opening the gate to the stranger, within and without.
•
Gloria Anzaldúa
