International Social Philosophy Conference in Boston, 2012

Personal note: I’ve always found lots of feminist work on the program of the social philosophy conferences, lots of women attending and giving papers, and a very friendly, supportive atmosphere.

Twenty-Ninth International Social Philosophy Conference

Sponsored by

The North American Society for Social Philosophy

July 26 – July 28, 2012
Northeastern University
Boston, Massachusetts

Special attention will be devoted to the theme:

Civic Virtues, Divided Societies, and Democratic Dilemmas

but proposals in all areas of social philosophy are welcome.

The Program Committee members are Professor John Koolage of Eastern Michigan, Professor Gaile Pohlhaus of Miami University, and Professor Theresa Tobin of Marquette University.

A 300-500 word abstract should be emailed to all of the program committee members. We welcome submissions from both members and non-members, but we do expect that all presenters will join the North American Society for Social Philosophy if their papers are accepted.

Submission Deadlines:

For those living in Canada or the U.S.: March 15, 2012.

For those living outside the United States and Canada: Jan. 15, 2012.

Submit proposals to all of the following members of the program committee:

John Koolage
wjkoolage@gmail.com

Gaile Pohlhaus
pohlhag@muohio.edu

Theresa Tobin
theresa.tobin@marquette.edu

NASSP Travel Grants for International Presenters

The NASSP has limited funds for travel to Boston for presenters living outside the U.S. and Canada. If you are interested, please indicate this at the time that you receive the acceptance e-mail.

NASSP Conference Awards for Graduate Students

To promote new scholarship focusing on social philosophy and to encourage student participation, the North American Society for Social Philosophy has established the NASSP Awards for Best Graduate Student Papers. These awards give special recognition to papers to be read by a graduate student at the NASSP annual conference. The winners of the annual prizes will each receive $300 upon attendance at the annual International Social Philosophy Conference, and will be honored at the conference. The prizes are awarded only to conference attendees, though there is no obligation to use the money for conference-related costs. Any graduate student enrolled in a program towards a degree beyond the B.A. or first university diploma is eligible. The paper should be consistent with the framework of those presented at the International Social Philosophy Conference, addressing any topic in social philosophy. The papers will be evaluated by a three-member committee. The evaluation criteria include originality and quality of philosophical writing. Papers may be drawn from thesis work or intended for eventual publication, should be no more than 3,000 words (include word count with submission), and conform to the requirements set out by the APA for colloquium submissions to annual Divisional meetings.

Deadline: March 15, 2012.
Both abstracts and completed papers should be submitted to the program committee as directed above for anonymous review. Please indicate that you wish to be considered for the Graduate Student Award in your email. Please also include a word count for your submission.

Toilets: Shopping VS Football

Toilet/restroom signs at a Vietnamese restaurant in Berlin:

Massive props to Mr Jender for not only using the “wrong” one, but mentally practising the German phrase “but I just really love shopping!” for when he got caught. Which he did.

[updated to avoid pbk’s confusion]

CFP: Disabled Mothers

Co-editors: Gloria Filax and Dena Taylor

Publication Date: 2014

DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACTS: DECEMBER 31, 2011!

While there are several books on raising children with disabilities, the literature is scant on experiences of disabled women who are raising children OR the experiences of those parented by a woman with disabilities. Bringing together disability with mothering has the potential to challenge dominant narratives of both mothering AND disability. Noticing dominant ideas, meanings, and/or stories/narratives (normative discourses) regarding both ‘mothering’ and ‘disability’ expose the limits beyond which disabled mothers live their daily lives.

The goal of this edited collection is to add to literatures on mothering and disability through providing stories by disabled mothers or their children as well as chapters of scholarly research and theorizing. We intend that both stories and research in this collection will raise critical questions about the social and cultural meanings of disability and mothering. Whether a birth mother, an adoptive mother,a foster mother, a co-mother, someone mothered by a disabled woman, or someone whose research explores disabled mothering, we invite you to submit to this collection.

Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

How are disabled women discouraged from having children? How does the medical model of disability shape the meanings assigned to disabled mothers? How do chronic illnesses affect mothering? Are disabled mothers healthy mothers? How do the social and cultural models of disability shape how we understand disabled mothers and mothering? Are disabled mothers oppressed? How doissues of race,class, and sexuality affect disabled mothers and their families? Should disabled mothers ‘pass’ as normal? How are pregnancy and birth experiences shaped by disability? How do children experience and understand a disabled mother? What support is needed and received by disabled mothers? How does the built environment, both public and private, shape the experiences of disabled mothers? What kinds of issues are there with children’s schools, health professionals and/or children’s attitudes? What form, if any, does social and political activism take? Do legal remedies work to assist disabled mothers (for example, disability as a protected category in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms or the Americans with Disabilities Act)? How does a mother’s disability expose the expectations of mothering? How does a mother’s disability expose the assumptions about disability? How is society disabling of mothering? How can we ‘do’ disabled mothering differently?

Submission Guidelines

Abstracts should be 250 words. Please also include a brief biography (50 words) with citizenship.
Please send to gfilax@shaw.ca and detaylor@cabrillo.edu
Deadline for Abstracts is December 31, 2011
Accepted papers of 4000-5000 words (15-20 pages) will be due October 15, 2012

Inspirational Women

Check it out.

Parvin Ardalan
Ardalan is a feminist activist writer based in Tehran, Iran. In 2007 she was awarded the Olof Palme Prize for her struggle for gender equality. Along with other feminist writters, ignoring the threats of the Tehran religious-police, she has helped set up the Women’s Cultural Centre in Tehran. This is with the aim to promote women`s issues in Iran. She has been imprisoned for her work. Ardalan is one of the founding members of the One Million Signatures campaign, attempting to collect a million signatures for women’s equal rights.

(Thanks, C!)