Call for Proposals

This Group invites papers and complete panels that treat theoretical, methodological, and/or practical dimensions of the following themes:

• The history of this Group in the academy over the past thirty years
• The limits and contributions of feminist theory to lesbian-feminist contestations of patriarchy, heteronormativity, and homophobia in religion/religious studies — both critical and constructive pieces are welcome
• Ethics, grammar, discourses, models, and/or experiences of lesbian-feminist sexualities in non-Christian religions
• For a cosponsored session with the Gay Men and Religion Group, issues connected to the new visibility of teen suicides, particularly of GLBTQ and sexual minority youth
• For a cosponsored session with the Religion, Holocaust, and Genocide Group, Native Traditions in the Americas Group, and/or Womanist Approaches to Religion and Society Group, the marginalization of traumatic and genocidal histories in the academy — for example, the marginalization of Holocaust histories within the larger rubric of European History or similar patterns that occur with the categories of United States History and African-American History
• For a cosponsored session with the Religion and Migration Group, sexuality and sexual violence that intersect with religion and forced and/or voluntary migration

Mission

For over twenty-five years, this Group has employed feminist perspectives to explore the multiple dimensions of lesbian interaction with religion, providing one of the few consistent academic settings where discussions on lesbian issues in religion and feminist perspectives on lesbian issues take place. Whether pursued through religious studies, social-scientific, historical, or theological methods, during the approach to the academic study of religion, lesbian-feminist scholarship challenges hegemonic discourse within gay, lesbian, and queer movements that function to privilege queer theory as capable of eclipsing theories and methodologies that are explicitly feminist in the face of entrenched patriarchy, and self-consciously lesbian in the face of persistent maleness and heteronormativity. Along with the obvious concern for both historical and contemporary issues pertaining to gender and sexuality, a longstanding feature of the scholarship of this Group has been analysis of race/class/postcolonial critiques. The Group handles important, diverse, and timely themes, providing a theoretical space for probing and further developing the openings and opportunities afforded by changing sociopolitical and theoretical contexts.

Anonymity of Review Process

Proposer names are visible to Chairs but anonymous to steering committee members.

Questions?

Marie Cartier
California State University, Northridge
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Yvonne Zimmerman
Methodist Theological School, Ohio
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Method of Submission