The theme of the 2011 Feminisms and Rhetorics conference is “Feminist
Challenges or Feminist Rhetorics?: Locations, Scholarship and Discourse.”
The Feminisms and Rhetorics conference is sponsored by the Coalition of
Women Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition
http://cwshrc.org/, and will be hosted by Minnesota State University,
Mankato <http://www.mnsu.edu> October 12-15, 2011.

The conference committee is strongly interdisciplinary and therefore our
theme seeks to recognize the spaces between disciplines and communities. The
conference theme is meant to acknowledge the academic and socio-discursive
spaces that feminisms, and rhetorics on or about feminisms, inhabit. Major
political, religious and social leaders have recently discussed feminism,
including the Dalai Lama, but the discussion seems to revolve around
cultural or essentialized discourses of feminism. This spotlight on feminism
is, of course, not new, and they ways feminism is engaged in public
discourse is much different than that of academic discourse. However, in
Rhetoric and Composition, we have seen many significant publications lately
focusing on what it means to be a woman in the field, how to be a successful
woman in the field, and the connections between feminist theory and feminist
pedagogy.

We seek proposals that speak to the challenges and diversities of feminist
rhetoric and discourse, in public and private life, in the academy, and in
the media. We welcome proposals on topics that significantly engage
disciplines other than Rhetoric and Composition, and that have consequences
for communities located outside of the academy.

Questions to consider include:

What are the discourses of feminism? Where are they located?
What does feminist scholarship look like in the 21st century?
What is the politic of feminist scholarship?
How does feminist inquiry impact our understanding of scholarship?
What are the challenges faced by feminists inside and outside of the
academy?
Where do we find feminist rhetorics? How do we understand the
function of feminist rhetoric?
How has interdisciplinarity impacted the feminist agenda?
How do we understand the politics of inclusion in 21st century
feminism?
How might we add to Joanna Russ’ invective: “She wrote it, BUT.?”

In the past few years, women have made, yet again, publicly recognized
strides in breaking through a variety of glass ceilings, however, current
events in places like Arizona, illustrate the necessity of a renewed
feminist politic. The recursive nature of feminism is not new, and is, in
fact, embodied in the rhetorical struggle for place in dominant discourse.

On the submission and registration page, you will find options for panel,
roundtable, or individual submissions. If you have any questions, please
email Kirsti Cole at kirsti [dot] cole [at] mnsu [dot] edu.

UPDATED DEADLINE: APRIL 25th, 2011

Acceptance to the conference will be sent out no later than May 15, 2011.