[csaa-forum] CfPEnglish

[Lelia GREEN]

International Conference, September 15-17, 2005

 

Women's History Network Germany (Arbeitskreis Historische Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung) in conjunction with the Archive of the German Women's Movement Kassel (Archiv der deutschen Frauenbewegung Kassel)

 

Venue: Bremen University

 

 


Communication - Mobility - Networks


The International Dimension of the Women's Movements (ca. 1830 - 1960s)

 

Recent research on the women's movements in various national contexts has not only expanded our knowledge beyond the developments in Germany, Britain, and the US, but has also brought to light transnational contacts. Conceptually, women's movements are increasingly being seen as networks, placing ways of establishing and widening contacts and relationships at the centre of our attention. Any investigation of the international dimension of the women's movements problematizes the quality of both feminist internationalisms and international feminisms. The broader perspective helps to sharpen our perception of the specificity of national conditions, while at the same time heightening awareness of the similarities in women's scope of action in various countries. The critical questions that have begun to be put to national women's movements need to take in their internationalism as well in order to cast light on the mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion on which it was based, such as imperialism, racism and social exclusiveness.

 

The conference will investigate the networks formed by women in Europe among each other and beyond. This is not tantamount to conceiving of developments in extra-European countries as mere attempts of 'catching up'; on the contrary, it is assumed that any transnational contact brings about changes in all the parties involved. In other words: no one women's movement is seen as a vanguard which other women's movements could not but emulate.

 

The time frame chosen spans the period between ca. 1830 and 1967. 1830 roughly marks the beginnings of something like a first international network comprising women from various European countries as well as the US and which was grounded i.a. in the early socialist movements. In the 1960s, the so-called second or new women's movements took off in various European countries and the US, but will not be considered at this conference. However, the proposed time frame spans the caesura the year 1945 marked also in the history of the women's movements. The global competition between the two superpowers had a deep impact on the internationalism of the women's movements in various countries, casting into relief the interrelations of women's movements and the political system within each of them operated, and which in turn fostered new mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion.

 

We welcome papers addressing some of the issues listed below:

*	What was the motivation underlying the internationalism of the women's movements? 
*	How did the women conceptualize what they shared as a gender group and which made international exchange both desirable and possible? 
*	What understandings of internationalism did the women have? 
*	Did the internationalism of the women's movements progress steadily, or did it vary in intensity? Which factors had a bearing on that development? 
*	How was the internationalism of the women's movements anchored socially? 
*	How was it grounded politically? 
*	How can the investigation of international contacts sharpen awareness of national concepts of feminism? 

 

These questions may be investigated in relation to the following topics:

 

1)      Organizational forms of international exchange:

*        How did international communication take place?

(e.g. transnational contacts between women by correspondence and publications)

*        What were the causes of women's mobility? (e.g. travelling to gain information, to improve one`s education, to lecture, to emigrate)

*        How were networks formed and what were the elements making them up?

(informal as well as formal international contacts; personal friendships as the basis for political contacts; international women's congresses, which were held with some degree of regularity from the concluding third of the 19th century onwards; international women's organizations, be they political (e. g. International Woman Suffrage Association, International Council of Women, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom), professional (such as the International League of Women Academics), religious (such as the Council of Jewish Women) or morally based (such as the International Abolitionist Federation)

 

2)      Cultural forms of the international exchange

*        Which venues were chosen for international meetings, and on what criteria was their selection based?

*        What format were the meetings given?

*        Which languages, symbols and rituals were characteristic for international women's meetings?

 

3)      Contents of the international exchange

*        Which ideas fostered or impeded international exchange (e.g. religious/denominational affiliation, socialism, liberalism)?

*        Did any transfer of political strategies occur (e.g. the militancy of the British suffragettes or practices of the international labour movement)?

 

The deadline for the submission of abstracts of no more than one A4 page is December 15, 2004. Please make sure to include your contact details and your institutional affiliation, if applicable. Conference languages will be English and German. 

 

All abstracts to be sent to:

Dr. Kerstin Wolff, Archiv der deutschen Frauenbewegung, e-mail: wolff at addf-kassel.de

 

All queriesto be addressed to any of the organizers:

Dr. Eva Schöck-Quinteros, History Department, Bremen University, esq at uni-bremen.de

PD Dr. Jutta Schwarzkopf, History Department, University of Hannover, schwarzk at uni-bremen.de

Annika Wilmers, M.A., University of Tübingen, a.wilmers at gmx.de

Dr. Kerstin Wolff, Archiv der deutschen Frauenbewegung, Gottschalkstr. 57, 34127 Kassel, phone: +49-561-989 36 70, wolff at addf-kassel.de