Do you have an article to finish or PhD chapter to write? Are you looking for a supportive environment and dedicated time to focus on research? CSWG invites you to join the Centre's new structured writing sessions. The sessions will take place weekly on Thursdays 10.00 - 17.00.

Based on the highly successful Sociological Review Writing Retreat model, sessions will be facilitated and divided into a series of strict fixed timed writing slots, with everyone working in the same room at the same time. For more details on how the sessions will run, please see below.

These sessions are open to both staff and students from across the University of Warwick. You do not need to register in advance – just turn up on the day.

Please note that each week we will meet in a different venue, as follows:

• January 11 - S2.77 (Social Sciences Building)
• January 18 - Wolfson Research Exchange (Library, 3^rd floor – you will need your staff/PhD student card to enter. If you want to attend but you’re not a member of staff or PhD student, please email us in advance on m.d.m.pereira@warwick.ac.uk)
• January 25 - PLEASE NOTE THIS SESSION WILL HAVE AN EARLIER END TIME: 14.30 - Wolfson Research Exchange (Library, 3rd floor - see information above about access to this room)
• February 1 - PLEASE NOTE THIS SESSION WILL HAVE A LATER START TIME: 11.30 - Wolfson Research Exchange (Library, 3rd floor - see information above about access to this room) You are very welcome to come to the Wolfson Research Exchange earlier and work at one of the desks in the open space until we start the session.
• February 8 - Wolfson Research Exchange (Library, 3rd floor - see information above about access to this room)
• February 15 - S0.52 (Social Sciences Building)
• February 22 - Wolfson Research Exchange (Library, 3rd floor - see information above about access to this room)
• February 29 - S2.77 (Social Sciences Building)
• March 7 - Wolfson Research Exchange (Library, 3rd floor - see information above about access to this room)
• March 14 - S2.77 (Social Sciences Building)

If you have any questions about these sessions, please email us on cswg@warwick.ac.uk.

We look forward to seeing you there!

The CSWG Team

Plans for the Sessions

We will discuss our writing/research goals at the beginning and end of the session, and the facilitator will tell you when to start and when to stop. We work to a policy of 'no surveillance' so you’ll be responsible for setting your own writing goals and monitoring your progress. The use of phones and the internet during the writing sessions will be discouraged.

To get the most out of the writing time, we advise the following:

• Decide on a writing project (a chapter of your thesis, a journal article or book chapter);
• Undertake the majority of reading needed for your piece of writing;
• Decide on the draft structure of your paper/chapter, including notes, plans, outlines, data, etc.
• Bring all you need to spend the time writing - laptop, charger, notes, readings.

You are warmly invited to the following event, taking place online via Teams:

“Sexual Violence as a Strategy of Enclosure: an Anti-Origin Story"
featuring Prof. Alison Phipps (Newcastle University)

Abstract:

This paper explores a range of stories that aim to account for the origins of gender domination and sexual violence. First, sociobiological thought experiments which centre ‘sexed’ bodily differences in a primitive ‘state of nature’. Secondly, sociocultural theories of how gendered subjectification occurs within kinship systems through the entry into language. Thirdly, socioeconomic analyses of women’s reproductive capacities as a source of exchange value in agricultural societies. Fourthly, sociopolitical narratives highlighting the process of state formation. I ask: what do these different stories offer our understanding of sexual violence? Both the sociobiological and sociocultural stories ultimately present accounts of oppression without exploitation: in other words, they tell us how sexual violence occurs but not why, explaining gender domination in terms of itself and collapsing into a biological essentialism which is arguably colonial in provenance. Using the socioeconomic and sociopolitical origin stories, however, sexual violence can be theorised as a strategy of enclosure, which treats women’s bodies as territory to be used for economic ends, or to be conquered as part of political projects. This is not offered as a definitive account or alternative origin story, but as an attempt to understand what sexual violence might do within shifting and fluid social relations at points when hierarchy emerges out of difference.

Speaker Bio:

Alison Phipps is Professor of Sociology at Newcastle University and author of Me, Not You: the trouble with mainstream feminism. Her forthcoming book is Personal Business: sexual violence in racial capitalism.

This online seminar is free and open to all, but advance registration is required.

To register for a place, CLICK HERE.

If you have any questions about the event, please email cswg-events@warwick.ac.uk

If you have accessibility requirements or there are any adjustments we can make to support your full participation, you can let us know through the booking page. 

This event is organised by the Centre for the Study of Women and Gender at the University of Warwick. If you wish to receive information about CSWG events, please subscribe to our mailing list.