CFP: 2009 Feminism(s) and Rhetoric(s) Conference (Feb. 1 Deadline)

[Jessica Lynn Rivait]

Hello, 

Below is a CFP for the 2009 Feminism(s) and Rhetoric(s) conference.  The 
conference will be hosted by the Women Scholars in the History of Rhetoric 
and Composition and Michigan State University’s Graduate Program in 
Rhetoric and Writing at the Kellogg Center in East Lansing, MI from October 
7-9, 2009.  We welcome proposals from various disciplines.  Non-traditional 
presentations (such as discussions, dialogues, and performances) are also 
welcome.  Please circulate widely. 

Best,
Jessica Rivait 

 

The 2009 Feminism(s) and Rhetoric(s) Conference 

“Enabling Complexities: Communities/Writing/Rhetorics” 

Michigan State University / East Lansing, Michigan / October  7–9, 2009 

The 2009 Feminism(s) and Rhetoric(s) conference will be sponsored by the 
Coalition of Women Scholars in the History of Rhetoric & Composition and 
hosted by the Rhetoric & Writing program at Michigan State University. We 
invite proposals that: 

*reflect the complexity and diversity of who “we” are as a scholarly 
community; 

*make manifest the deep structure of the connections, intersections, and 
overlaps that actually make us a community; 

*help articulate who “we” are as a deliberate community of scholars, and 
what that means about our 

responsibilities and relationships to one another across scholarly areas and 
institutional positions; 

*highlight scholarly and teacherly activities that deliberately create space 
for more complex notions 

of scholarship and teaching within the discipline of Rhet/Comp; 

*include and significantly engage communities outside of the academy; 

*focus on antiracist pedagogies and scholarship; present interdisciplinary 
scholarship in Afrafeminist 

Rhetorics; American Indian Rhetorics, Chicana Rhetorics, Asian American 
Rhetorics, post/neo- 

colonial rhetorics; 

*highlight the intellectual traditions of women’s communities, especially 
communities constellated 

around specific identity markers such as race, ethnicity, class, sexual 
orientation issues, geographic 

origins; 

*explore the relationships between written, oral, and material discursive 
production; 

*and other topics that address the connections in the conference theme. 

We also welcome proposals on relevant topics not directly addressed above, 
that significantly engage disciplines other than Rhet/Comp, and that have 
consequences for communities located outside of the academy. 

Although traditional presentations are acceptable, we encourage participants 
to create formats that go beyond the read-aloud academic paper. Interactive 
sessions that include discussions, dialogues, and performances are 
especially welcome. Proposals should be uploaded to the FemRhet 2009 web 
site (www.femrhet.cwshrc.org), and can be for: 

*20-minute individual presentations (250-word proposals) 

*90-minute 3–4 member panels (500-word proposals) 

*90-minute workshops or roundtables (500-word proposals) 

Please plan to submit a title, a proposal the length indicated above, and a 
program-ready, booklet-friendly 50-word blurb for the presentation. 

Proposal System: December 15, 2008 

Open Proposal Deadline: February 1, 2009 

Acceptances Distributed: April 30, 2009 

 

For more information: Contact Malea Powell (powell37 at msu.edu), Nancy DeJoy 
(dejoy at msu.edu), or Rhea Lathan (lathan at msu.edu). 


Jessica Rivait, M.A.
Doctoral Student in Rhetoric and Writing
283 Bessey Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824 

"...In the end our most valuable asset is not the doctrines we hold dear, 
but our ability to think without them." 

~John Wittman 

"Her work, I really think her work
is finding what her real work is
and doing it,
her work, her own work,
her being human,
her being in the world." 

~U.K. Le Guin