Call for Papers

Radical Traditions

The Role of Contemporary Arab Women in Revolutionising Arab Patriarchal Society

Saturday 12 October 2024/ University of Warwick/ Faculty of Arts

Call for Papers / Deadline: 30 July

 Opening and Closing Keynote Speakers: Dr. Ebtihal Mahadeen (University of Edinburgh) & Prof. Rebecca Ruth Gould (SOAS, University of London)

Edited Collection CFP – Warwick Series in the Humanities, Routledge

Editor: Raad Khair Allah (University of Warwick)

In an interview with the Progressive Magazine, Nawal El Sadaawi, the Arab world’s most prominent feminist and writer, says: “Women are half the society. You cannot have a revolution without women. You cannot have democracy without women. You cannot have equality without women. You can’t have anything without women” (2011). Influenced by these themes, this interdisciplinary one-day workshop and the proposed edited collection aim to shed light on the radical traditions expressed in the efforts and achievements of contemporary Arab women in challenging patriarchal social norms and structures and thereby transforming Arab societies.

We encourage participants to critically reflect on the meaning of freedom, challenge existing power systems of oppression, and imagine alternative possibilities for a more liberated and just society. By engaging in dialogue, reflection, and creative thinking, participants will be inspired to become agents of change and contribute to the ongoing struggle for freedom and social justice.

We are calling for papers from across disciplines such as literature, art history, film studies, gender studies, cultural studies, sociology, media, music, and anthropology and more.

You are invited to submit abstracts of maximum 300 words for 15-20-minute papers by 30 July 2024. Full chapters of 5000–7000-word chapters will be due by 30 January 2025 on a broad range of topics including but not limited to:

Ø Resistance and agency in contemporary Arab women’s literary and visual outputs

Ø  Palestinian literature, cinema, and art of occupation

Ø Arab women’s struggle, in anti and post-colonial resistance and civil wars, for liberation and human rights

Ø Anti- colonial nationalism and the nation as a woman

Ø The intersection and the challenge of multiple forms of oppression

Ø Representations and the politics of sexuality, gender, and power dynamics  

Ø The female body as a site of repression and resistance

Ø Intellectual, political, and sexual freedom

Ø Tensions between authenticity and originality in Arab feminist self-expression

Ø Censorship and suppression of feminist cultural artefacts

Ø Arab women’s resistance to localised forms of patriarchy and Western, orientalist stereotypes  

Ø Writing the difference and the invention of “the new Arab woman”

Ø Arab feminism in local dynamics and in international and transnational worlds

Ø Art as a tool for reclaiming sexuality, identity, and power

Ø AI-generated representations and amplifying marginalised Arab women’s voices

Ø Contemporary Arab women’s movements: identity, mobilisation, autonomy

Ø The influence of digital platforms on the visibility and spread of Arab women’s works, serving as new spaces for artistic and narrative freedom

Please send abstracts and short biographies of 200-250 words to radicaltraditions@gmail.com