LiNQ (Literature in North Queensland)

CALL FOR PAPERS: Bold Women Write Back

eTropic Special Issue Volume 16, No 2, 2017

Submission deadline: 31 July 2017

BOLD WOMEN WRITE BACK

International Women's Day (8 March) is a 'time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women' (United Nations, 2017). This year has witnessed significant threats to progress in the areas of reproductive rights, domestic violence and discrimination, hitting at some of the world's most vulnerable: 'undocumented' migrant women who, as child-care and aged-care workers, have been integral links in 'global care chains' (Hochschild, 2000); women who honour their religion and cultural traditions by donning the veil; and asylum seekers and refugees to only name a few. Much of this discrimination has been targeted at women and children of the tropics and the Global South. Yet, worldwide events such as Women's Marches demonstrate deep emotional responses, resistance, and resilience.

The theme of International Women's Day 2017 is "Be Bold For Change."

An important critique of postcolonial theory and literature in the early 90s and a response to some of the early postcolonial foundation texts such as The Empire Writes Back (1989) was that it was idealistic, Western-centred, and that resisting injustice through art or literature is not enough to change the world (Dirlik, 1994). After all, concrete issues such as economic and social conditions are not "effects of a text." This issue therefore asks, in a world where women are increasingly excluded from citizen participation, is there a new role for resistance through art and literature? For women of the tropics in particular, in what ways can writing, art, and academic work be bold in helping make needed changes? For women more broadly, what does it mean to be bold right now, as oppression intersects race, sex, class, and religion in a world that is repealing rights and advances?

This issue seeks both academic articles and creative works that respond to these questions in any way. It is grounded in the relationship between women, art/literature, and making a difference. These questions might extend to include considerations of:

• The colonial, postcolonial, neo-colonial, and neo-liberal effects of the economy and social circumstances regarding which stories about women get told or silenced, and why
• Intersections between gender and race, class, ability and sexuality in relation to oppression and the role of writing and art in awareness-raising or its alleviation
• The effect of globalisation on women in the publishing industry and the texts they produce
• Women's agency through and in literary or artistic texts
• Gender bias in the publishing industry and outlets for diverse voices
• Representations of diverse women in fiction and creative nonfiction
• The ways literature and writing respond to contemporary and historical events
• Recovering women's stories
• The relationship between women and the environment
• Generations of women, feminisms, and their similarities or differences.

Instructions for authors

• Submissions close 31 July 2017
• Academic articles
  • Should be approximately 4000-6000 words
  • Include a 250-word abstract of the article
  • Include a separate 100-word biographical note for each author
• Creative works (short story, poetry, creative nonfiction, visual artwork including photographs)
  • Written creative works should be up to 5000 words
  • Include a separate 100-word biographical note
  • Can include a 250-word research statement if the creative work emerges from a research project (See http://archive.arc.gov.au/archive_files/ERA/2015/Key%20Documents/ERA_2015_Submission_Guidelines.pdf page 47 for more guidelines)
• We welcome submissions from established academics, authors, artists, early career researchers and research students
• Follow APA citation style and formatting. All contributions should be submitted as Microsoft Word file, double-spaced 11pt Helvetica font. All images must be used with permission and referenced.
• Suitable papers will be double-blind peer reviewed.
• Journal ISSN: 1448-2940

For enquiries or for pitching your ideas or abstracts, please email the issue editors, below:

Issue editors:

Dr Victoria Kuttainen: victoria.kuttainen@jcu.edu.au
Dr Ariella Van Luyn: ariella.vanluyn@jcu.edu.au
Dr Siall Waterbright: s.waterbright@qut.edu.au