CALL FOR PAPERS
Gender Workshop 2005 - Theories and Methods of and for Gender Studies
International University Bremen
April 29-30, 2005

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce a call for papers for the second Gender Workshop 
at International University Bremen, which will take place on April 29-30, 
2005. The Gender Workshop is a multidisciplinary conference that aims to 
introduce and align ways of seeing and negotiating gender as an analytical 
category in various academic fields and paradigms. The term workshop is 
chosen to stress our wish to offer a forum for lively discussions and active 
exchange. The workshop brings together scholars from a broad range of 
interests and offers talks and discussions on theoretical and methodological 
issues of gender studies and gender theory from both the perspective of 
traditional academic disciplines and interdisciplinary angles.

The First Gender Workshop took place at International University Bremen in 
February 2004. Presentations at the Gender Workshop 2004 covered a variety 
of fields, such as, development and institutionalization of Women’s and 
Gender Studies in Germany, China and post-Soviet countries; gender theories 
and empirical studies in psychology; gender, nationalism and migration; 
gender, genre and (trans)gender formations in literature; construction of 
gender in historical discourses; gender representations in visual arts and 
movies. The workshop provided an opportunity to introduce and discuss the 
many ways gender can be approached in different fields of research. Selected 
papers of the Gender Workshop 2004 will be published early 2005 in a special 
volume titled Negotiating Space for Gender Studies: Frameworks and 
Applications by Peter Lang Publishings.


The many fields that participated in the first Gender Workshop shall by no 
means restrict the choice of fields that will participate in the second one. 
They are, however, listed above in order convey the versatility and variety 
of fields that the workshop is based upon. The Gender Workshop 2005 will 
follow the conceptual multidisciplinary framework of the first conference 
and continue discussing the different ways of studying gender as an 
analytical category in different academic fields. Special attention will be 
given to the applicability, correspondence and incorporation of the category 
of gender in methodologies and epistemologies of traditional academic 
disciplines. In addition, the Second Gender Workshop will elaborate with 
greater precision the varying theories and methods of gender studies.

In order to connect the many different fields and create a basis for 
comparison at Gender Workshop 2005, and in order to work towards a thorough 
understanding of both theory and methods of and for gender studies, we would 
like each contribution to refer to the following three pivotal points:

First, we would like participants to point out in detail the theories of 
gender that are important for their research, and to elaborate on the 
coherence of these theories with their disciplines and fields of study.

Second, we would like our participants to comment on the applied theories of 
gender and explain which parts of them are central and which parts are more 
marginal for their own studies of gender, and why. That is, we would like to 
discuss which meanings, aspects, and/or characteristics of gender are most 
crucial (or less important, respectively) for one’s research.

Third, we would like our participants to specify the methods they use in 
their research.

Each participant will have 60 minutes to discuss her or his research 
project, including 30 minutes for presentation and 30 minutes for 
discussion. The workshop language will be English.

We would like to emphasize that the general conceptual framework of the 
Gender Workshop sketched above does not only target the ones who have worked 
with the category of gender for many years, and who are thus more proficient 
in gender studies. Instead, we would like to invite to our workshop any 
academics, experts or novices, who consider the category of gender important 
for their research and who would like to share their ideas and approaches 
with fellow researchers from other schools and disciplines. Contributions 
from the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences are equally 
welcome. (Since applications by natural scientists have been rare at our 
first workshop, we would like to encourage natural scientists to 
contribute.)

If you are interested in participating at the Gender Workshop 2005, please 
send abstracts of 250-300 words explaining your research project, as well as 
theories and methods you are using in it by Monday, February 7, 2005, to the 
workshop organizers
Özen Odag: [log in to unmask] and
Alex Pershai: [log in to unmask]

Please include your academic affiliation in your letter.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Yours truly,
Özen Odag and Alex Pershai