Call for Applications: Feminist Critical Analysis: Boundaries, Borders and Borderlands
Postgraduate course
Inter-University Centre Dubrovnik, Croatia
May 24-29, 2004
Belgrade Women's Studies Center, Centre for Women's Studies, Zagreb, and Women's and Gender Studies Department, Rutgers University are pleased to announce postgraduate course, FEMINIST CRITICAL ANALYSIS: Boundaries, Borders and Borderlands. This, fifth, course is a part of a long-term co-operation between three institutions, in offering a joint graduate courses, each year focusing on a different issue. The course will be co-directed by Dasa Duhacek (Belgrade Women's Studies Center), Zeljka Jelavic (Centre for Women's Studies, Zagreb) and Joanna Regulska (Rutgers University, USA).
Topic:
This years' topic will use as a point of departure the proposition that: all demarcation lines are of our own making and are, therefore, arbitrary and contingent. These boundaries and borders can pertain to territories, as well as to fields of research, to languages but also to words themselves; they apply to diverse norms, values, and rules and simultaneously to daily practices. As feminist scholars how do we understand borders and boundaries that are at once geographic and theoretical, disciplinary and disciplining, national and gendered, sexual and juridical? How does feminist scholarship help shed light on changing political economies, nation-states and movements of people through immigration, displacement, and exile; on globalization, diaspora, hybrid identities and changing sexualities? This year's seminar will explore the gendered dimensions of boundary-making and feminist challenges to boundaries, in order to understand in what ways have feminist scholars reconfigured borders in theory and practice.
The seminar will address boundaries, borders and borderlands from different perspectives so as to allow for insights into the ways in which they are being constructed and used. Our discussions may inquire into the plausibility of borders and boundaries, but will also interrogate the question of the interests, ownership and power struggles over their retention, collapse or toppling down. In these debates contemporary feminist theory and praxis has much at stake, as we create new entry points for significant interventions into social world through interdisciplinarity, innovative methodologies and a questioning of the passivity of theory. These and other topics may serve as sources of inspiration but, in keeping with the ongoing theme of the seminar, will also be critically approached. The course, as before, is built on the assumption that intellectual dialogue among a diverse body of scholars from different geographical locations will result in a better understanding of the ways in which our particular locations within the changing social systems are influencing our own theoretical and political choices, positions and struggles.
Eligibility:
IUC courses are conducted at a postgraduate level. All postgraduate students interested in the topic may apply for participation. The course will be limited to 25 participants, in order to provide sufficient space for discussion. Participants should seek funds from their own institutions to cover travel and accommodation costs. Limited financial support is available for participants from Central and Eastern Europe.
Application Procedure:
A short narrative explaining your interest in the topic and your C.V. (please be sure to include all your current contact information at the top of your C.V.) should be submitted by e-mail to zenstud@zamir.net. Subject: IUC Dubrovnik 2004, or by fax + 385 1 48 72 406. Registration deadline is January 2, 2004.
Looking forward to seeing you in Dubrovnik,
Course Co-directors:
Dasa Duhacek, Belgrade Women's Studies Center
Zeljka Jelavic, The Centre for Women's Studies, Zagreb
Joanna Regulska, Women's and Gender Studies Department,
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
