The specific goal of our workshop is twofold. First, we strive to develop concrete practical initiatives that might change recurring problems we experience with regard to factors such as race, gender, sexuality, disability, and class. Second, we seek to interrogate the theoretical premises and implications of such pragmatist approaches in the field of diversity and to examine the intersection of various power dynamics that shape our academic lives. To this end, we will organize panels in which dimensions like anti-blackness and ableism are brought together, either within an individual paper or through the specific constellations of contributions on a given panel. We invite contributions (10-15 minutes in length) from a variety of methodological angles on topics such as (but not limited to):
- Accessibility: access intimacy (Mingus), appearance and disappearance in the academy (Titchkosky), universal design university (Powell & Pfahl), conference logistics, unspoken premises, habitus, physical safety, targeted recruitment of staff, alternative modes of academic writing and presentation, mental health, politics of inclusion in GAAS representation and participation.
- Affect and Institutional Structures: modes of disidentification (Muñoz), the politics and feelings of tokenism, emotional labor (Ahmed), modes of interpellation.
- Ethics & Methodology: ‘pornotroping’ (Spillers), fetishization of the abject, the representation and reproduction of violence in academic frameworks (research, teaching, presentations), ‘safe spaces,’ critical diversity perspectives in eco-criticism.
- Ownership of Knowledge & Epistemological Violence: citation politics, intellectual property, ethnographic research paradigms, dynamics of appropriation, curation of conference formats (e.g. selection of keynote speakers and workshops).
We welcome abstracts of 300 words or less for papers or other styles of presentation. Please send your abstract and a short bio to anna-lena.oldehus@engsem.uni-hannover.de by April 15, 2020. Applicants will be notified of acceptance by the beginning of May.