Call for Sessions // Sharing Feminist Research and Practice // 26 & 27 February 2021 // Online Event

“To insist that you deserve to live, by any means necessary, is an act of radical self-love.”
Mariame Kaba

“If feminism means freedom, it means the right to self-determination and the right to be multi-dimensional, disorganised and even incoherent.”
Lola Olufemi

“Art is never static. And while the ideas of identity and transformation are critical components in our work, the bedrock that all ideas rest upon is love.”
Lilly Wachowski

Sharing Feminist Research, Methods and Practice Event

The CHASE Feminist Network was borne of discussions wishing to provide spaces of resistance in what continues to be a patriarchal higher education sector, with ongoing and intersectional discrimination happening at all levels. We seek to create a community of inspirational people inside and outside of CHASE who are challenging this environment, provide spaces for discussion, and offer support for innovative projects and events. The network is transpositive and intersectional, and places a strong emphasis on the importance of interdisciplinary commitments to feminist research and practice and welcomes a wide variety of creative, artistic, historical, literary, theoretical, and experimental contributions.

This has been a year of both triumph and despair for feminism on an international scale, in which structural inequalities – and the refusal of our governments and institutions to address them – have been laid bare. The crises of 2020 have evoked a spirit of solidarity in mutual aid programs and local communities, but also forced us to challenge our own principles of feminist action in the face of rising racism, ableism, and transphobia.

Inspired by, or in spite of this troubled backdrop we would like to invite proposals for contributions to our two-day event from everyone, within and without the academy. We welcome proposals for a variety of formats, including individual or collaborative papers (20 minutes), workshop suggestions, themed topic roundtables, creative workshops, and performances, which aim to demonstrate the plurality and the breadth of feminist expression across CHASE. We are particularly interested in submissions from trans* and BAME applicants, and from applicants outside the academy. Please note that all proposals must be suitable for digital delivery.

We welcome submissions that consider queer and feminist ways of doing research, cultural analysis, teaching, and artistic practice. How can this operate through activism? How can a feminist approach become an act of resistance in itself in spaces of intersectional oppression? How can feminism be an everyday practice of resistance to hierarchies in the academy and beyond, as a way of creating and recreating our own academic identities in a hostile system? We are particularly interested in submissions that address, but are not limited to:

Feminism in the time of COVID-19
Trans rights and visibility
Race, legacies of empire and decolonising the curriculum
Contemporary responses to Black Lives Matter
The whiteness of the academy, and self-critique of its organisations
Mental wellbeing and self care
Motherhood, childcare and caring responsibilities
Feminism and (dis)ability
Precarious employment and the pay gap
Gender, austerity and class
Youth engagement and age(ism)

Please complete the form below with an abstract of no more than 300 words outlining your submission idea and providing a short bio by 30 January 2021. All successful presenters will receive a speaker’s fee of £90 per session following the event. We are also pleased to announce that we are able to cover all expenses related to travel and childcare for this event.

Please submit your abstract and bio here: https://forms.gle/xp75xfEgqD6ATgnU9

For any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us at chase.feminist@gmail.com

We try our best to use inclusive and welcoming language, however, we recognise that we don’t always get things right. Likewise, we understand that our network embodies a diverse range of feminisms and levels of experience. Please get in touch with any questions or suggestions.