The 2009 Feminism(s) and Rhetoric(s) conference

Hey folks, I went to this conference in 2007 when it was in Little Rock, Arkansas and I really enjoyed it. The organizers were very on top of things, and yet it was way smaller and more intimate than CCCC. I went to some pretty good talks, including several on transnationalism and feminist rhetoric, which of course helped me think about my diss project. These conferences are a good way to see what others are working on nationally and sometimes internationally, to meet other grad students from different programs, meet senior scholars in preparation for future job searches or perhaps if you are thinking of applying to a PhD program. I like to think of it as another type of training in academia, much like I heard David Bartholomae say in his C's exemplar speech at CCCC 2006 in Chicago, that the conference was like another type of graduate school for him. But above all, many of the talks and roundtables are energizing, and make me excited to be in my field. I know funding is tough; see my post above for some ways I've funded conference travel.

Michigan State University / East Lansing, Michigan / October 7–9, 2009
The 2009 Feminism(s) and Rhetoric(s) conference will be hosted by the
Rhetoric & Writing program at Michigan State University.
We invite proposals
that:

• reflect the complexity and diversity of who "we" are as a scholarly community;
• make manifest the deep structure of the connections, intersections, and overlaps that actually make us a community;
• help articulate who "we" are as a deliberate community of scholars, and what that means about our responsibilities and relationships to one another across scholarly areas and institutional positions;
• highlight scholarly and teacherly activities that deliberately create space for more complex notions of scholarship and teaching within the discipline of Rhet/Comp;
• include and significantly engage communities outside of the academy;
• focus on antiracist pedagogies and scholarship; present interdisciplinary scholarship in Afrafeminist Rhetorics; American Indian Rhetorics, Chicana Rhetorics, Asian American Rhetorics, post/neo-colonial rhetorics;
• highlight the intellectual traditions of women's communities, especially communities constellated around specific identity markers such as race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation issues, geographic origins;
• explore the relationships between written, oral, and material discursive production;
• and other topics that address the connections in the conference theme.

We also welcome proposals on relevant topics not directly addressed above, that significantly engage disciplines other than Rhet/Comp, and that have consequences for communities located outside of the academy. Although traditional presentations are acceptable, we encourage participants to create formats that go beyond the read-aloud academic paper. Interactive sessions that include discussions, dialogues, and performances are especially welcome. Proposals should be uploaded to the FemRhet 2009 web
site (www.femrhet2009.org), and can be for:
• 20-minute individual presentations (250-word proposals)
• 90-minute 3–4 member panels (500-word proposals)
• 90-minute workshops or roundtables (500-word proposals)
Please plan to submit a title, a proposal the length indicated above, and a program-ready, booklet-friendly 50-word blurb for the presentation.
Proposal System Open: December 15, 2008
Proposal Deadline: February 1, 2009
Acceptances Distributed: April 30, 2009
For more information: Contact Malea Powell (powell37@msu.edu), Nancy DeJoy (
dejoy@msu.edu), or Rhea Lathan (lathan@msu.edu) or visit our website at
http://kairos.wide.msu.edu/~femrhet/