*DEADLINE EXTENDED* “Theory in the Flesh”: The Function of Praxis in Resistance (NeMLA )
Philadelphia, PA
Organization: NeMLA
Event: NeMLA
DEADLINE EXTENDED---56th NeMLA Convention (2025) Panel - “Theory in the Flesh”: The Function of Praxis in Resistance
Focusing on the intersection of theory and practice, this panel calls for contemporary discussions of “theory in the flesh,” i.e., theory considering the material conditions of existence. While the panel is particularly interested in women of color writing, other engagements with the place of material reality in academia will be considered.
Now canonical, This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color was the first ever anthology of women of color writing published in the US in 1981, and is now in many ways a cornerstone of women of color feminism. Its editors, Gloria Anzaldúa and Cherríe Moraga, explicitly called for “theory in the flesh,” meaning, “one where the physical realities of our lives -- our skin color, the land or concrete we grew up on, our sexual longings -- all fuse to create a politic born out of necessity.”[1]
The exigency of shifting the focus of academic thought to the material conditions of existence has been especially underscored by those for whom oppression is intimately felt on the physical body; a shift which is not simply theoretical but a requisite for survival. After over four decades since the publication of This Bridge…, the need for theory to address the material effects of oppression – violence, hunger, death – is still a pressing one.
This panel borrows María Lugones’ understanding of “praxis” as “the indissoluble link between theory and practice”[2] seeking to investigate what “theory in the flesh” might mean in the time of the now. The panel invites scholarly papers focusing on theorizing the materiality of existence, whether by analyzing contemporary women of color literature, discussing the place of the physical body in critical theory, or problematizing the function of academia in the face of physical violence.
[1] Moraga, Cherríe, and Gloria Anzaldúa, ed. This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. 4th ed. SUNY, 2015. 19.
[2] Lugones, María. Pilgrimages/Peregrinajes: Theorizing Coalition against Multiple Oppressions. Lanham: Rowman, 2003. 37.
NeMLA's 56th Annual Convention will take place on March 6-9, 2025 in Philadelphia, PA.
Please submit a 200-300 word abstract and a short bio.
Abstracts accepted now through Oct 15, 2024. (Membership is not required to submit abstracts.)
Abstracts must be submitted through the NeMLA online portal: https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/CFP
For more information on submitting an abstract online, see https://www.nemla.org/convention.html
For questions about the panel, please contact Marina Malli (mmalli1@binghamton.edu).
Marina Malli