CALL FOR CHAPTERS "Gender and the Periphery"

[Julie Abbou]

Dear all,
 
Please find below (and in attachment) a call for chapters for the volume
"Gender and the Periphery. Grammatical and social gender from the margins".
 
Deadline for propositions: 30th November 2012

Please, circulate broadly.

Best regards,
Julie Abbou


/Apologies for cross-posting/
 
***********************
*Gender and the periphery. Grammatical and social gender from the margins*
 
Gender can be understood as a grammatical category, independent from the
cultural construction imparting meanings and values to the physiological
differences between male and female beings to explain the historical
dissymmetry between men and women. It is also possible to consider that
biological differences and their social interpretations are closely tied
to language, and linguistic structure. In either case, the relationship
between grammatical gender and social gender, as processes of
categorisation, has become nowadays a scholarly topic, which constitutes
an epistemological breakthrough (Hellinger & Bussmann 2002).

This "epistemological breakthrough" in linguistics has long been the
topic of studies in English-speaking countries (Silverstein 1985, Baron
1986, Wattman Frank & Treichler 1989, Curzan 2003, Pauwels & Winter
2006, Huddleston & Pullum 2008), as well as in other fields of research,
such as philosophy (Wittig 1980, Butler 1990), sociology (Delphy 1970,
Mathieu 1985), or history (Knibielher 1977, Scott 1986, 1996). However,
in numerous languages, in which grammatical gender may or may not be
strongly marked, this critical and scientific investigation of the
relationship between morpho-syntactical descriptions such as those
concerning the feminine grammatical gender, and other social factors has
been growing since the 1990s (see among others Violi 1987, Michard 2000,
Khaznadar 2002 for French; Elmiger 2008, Gygax & al. 2009 for German;
Gabriel & Gygax 2008 for Norwegian).

This volume aims to bring together studies on this morpho-syntactical
phenomenon, focusing on its periphery. This periphery can be understood
either in the sense that the studied languages are so called minority
languages and thus less described (as for the Judeo-Spanish or Greek
Cypriot), or because this morpho-syntactical dimension has not received
the interest it deserves in the languages studied (such as for Hebrew
and Arabic languages).

We also take interest in the periphery of uses. This volume can be seen
as a partial answer to Butler's call for a political project aiming at
opening the horizon of possibilities, as far as gender configurations
are concerned (Butler 2005: 118). Indeed, and as reminded by Scott
(1986), the category of gender is multifaceted. The interweaving of
semantic and morpho- syntactical gender on a gradual scale reveals
different possibilities of challenging gender according to languages.
That said, challenging the order of gender --that is, as a norm-- has to
begin 'from margin to centre' (bell hooks 1984). This challenge leads to
a disturbance of what is institutionalised in languages, including
linguistic structure, by the means of speakers' practices.

To enlighten these peripheries is then to broaden the realms of
possibility for a gender critique. It is also, according to the feminist
tradition, giving voice to what is beyond the already mapped grounds.

********
Please send a 250 words abstract before November 30th, 2012 to Julie Abbou:

julie.abbou at lpl-aix.fr

Your proposal should include the following information:
- Title of the Chapter
- Name of the Author, Affiliation, Email
- Abstract

Notifications of acceptance will be send by December 17th, 2012
The full papers will be due by February 25th, 2013

/Chapters will be anonymously reviewed./
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