Manchester Feminist Theory Network
Launch Event: The Child and Childhood in Feminist Theory
10th – 11 th December 2008
As the launch event of a new cross-university interdisciplinary feminist theory network in Manchester , we are convening a 2 day workshop on the theme of the child and childhood in feminist theory. In the last decade, there have been a striking number of studies across the disciplines on the figure of the child and on childhood generally, which have drawn on feminist (and other) theories to think about questions of subjectivity, fantasy, relationality, futurity, affect, human rights, nationalisms, psychological and economic models of development, globalization and social inequalities. Debates in these areas have been complex and contested for feminist engagements, in part because of the ways women's rights and children's rights are either presumed to be elided or else set in competition with each other alongside state maternalism and heteronormativity. Hence a feminist politics of childhood becomes increasingly urgent as an arena in which to address key
dilemmas facing transnational and intersectional feminist commitments.
This workshop, based around discussions of pre-circulated papers, will debate where we are now with these longstanding concerns, drawing on a variety of contemporary conceptual, methodological and disciplinary frameworks. Papers will range across the social and human sciences, arts and humanities and through these we hope to be able to consider the place of feminist theory within the academy more generally.
This initiative is co-organised by Erica Burman (MMU) and Jackie Stacey ( University of Manchester ) and is sponsored by the University of Manchester , Manchester Metropolitan University and Salford University .
Speakers include:
Johanna Motzkau (Open University)
Karin Lesnik-Oberstein ( University of Reading )
Karen Lury ( University of Glasgow )
Lucie Armitt ( Salford Univerity)
Daniela Caselli ( University of Manchester )
Jane Kilby ( Salford University )
Venue: The University of Manchester (room tbc).
Dates and Times: Wednesday 10th December: 2-5pm;
Thursday 11th December 9.30-2pm (including lunch).
Registration Fee: £30 (staff) £20 (postgraduate)
To join the email list for the Manchester Feminist Theory Network, and/or to register for this event, contact: nasira.asghar@???
