EXTENDED DEADLINE: _Identity, Violence and Resilience in 21st Century Black British and American Women's Fiction_
EXTENDED DEADLINE:
Violence against women manifests itself in different areas and degrees and defines, in many cases, the identities of those who have suffered or are suffering from it. Violence against women and children exists, to varying degrees, in domestic and public settings in forms such as as poverty, violent migrations, trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. In just over two decades, the 21st century has accumulated visible violence in armed conflicts in different regions of the world. Black women have been subjected to a long history of physical, sexual and reproductive violence. In 2020, the Black Lives Matter Movement expressed their 2015 Vision for Black Lives online platform purpose to pursue new avenues that expanded their agenda to “struggle with all oppressed people” (https://m4bl.org/policy- platforms/). The psychosocial and emotional consequences of violence leave traces that speak of vulnerability, but they can also activate resistance and resilience mechanisms as suppliers of personal and social agency (Butler 2009). Amid the endless stories of violence against black women's lives we may also think of stories of resistance and resilience. These capacities allow activating one's own strength processes and rebuilding oneself beyond the experience of violence (Herman 1992; Ungar 2012).
This coedited volume seeks contributions that explore 21st century Black British and American women’s fiction that tackle issues of violence against women and its representations. These writers’ works elicit reading experiences, perceptions, and literary contributions that can inform one another. We believe that this simultaneity is rich in intersections and needs to be approached through multidisciplinary perspectives.
The book will also focus on the relationships between language and violence that many writers exhibit in their narrative works, denouncing the authoritarian uses of language and the ubiquity of violence, which is not only mistreatment, rape, death, but also stigmatization, neglect, invisibility. We also aim at publicizing less known writers who in their works denounce violence, abuse, discrimination and reflect resilience against these forms of violence, taking the ethical and political rethinking of how we are building our social, work, personal relations, care, science, culture…
_Identity, Violence and Resilience in 21st Century Black British and American Women's Fiction_ takes a transnational point of view on a topic that has too often been limited by a regional or national frame. We are interested in the diverse forms of violence depicted in fictional texts which include stories of resistence and resilience, which we hope will reflect the diversity of backgrounds and experiences of potential contributors.
We invite non traditional, creative nonfiction, and experimental pieces as well as more traditional scholarly work. We seek contributions that consider (but are not limited to) the following topics:
* Violence against women and displacement, diaspora
* Women trafficked for sexual exploitation
* Indigenous studies and violence against women
* Cultural geographies of violence against women, femicides, mutilations
* Decolonial/Anti-colonial approaches of violence against women
* Sexist harassment and bullying
* Water management and violence against women
* Peacemaking and peacekeeping
* Ethnographic and autoethnographic approaches
* Science Fiction and violence against women
* Post-apocalyptic and dystopian narratives and violence against women
* Cinema, media and visual studies and violence against women
* The Anthropocene, climate change and violence against women
Please send the following to mgn024@ual.es AND nuria. torres@ual.es by May 15, 2022:
1) a 400-500 word chapter abstract/proposal, and a 150 word bio indicating the author’s name, email and institutional affiliation, as a Word document
2) a 150 statement of your interest in this Project, as a separate Word document.
Those with accepted proposals will be expected to submit a full draft (5,000-6,000 words).
Deadline for submissions of abstracts: May 15, 2022.
Contributors will be notified of inclusion in the proposal by June 15, 2022. Final inclusion in the volume will be subject to peer review.
Nuria Torres López, Universidad de Almería (nuria.torres@ual.es)
Carmen García-Navarro, Universidad de Almería (mgn024@ual.es).
Works Cited:
Butler, Judith. 2009. Frames of War. When is Life Grievable? London: Verso.
Herman, Judith. 1992. Trauma and Recovery. New York: Basic Books.
Ungar, Michael, ed. 2012. The Social Ecology of Resilience. A Handbook of Theory and Practice. New York: Springer.
Vision for Black Lives, in The Movement for Black Lives, n.d. https://m4bl.org/policy- platforms/.
CARMEN GARCÍA NAVARRO
