Subject: Fwd: Conference Call for Women and Globalization
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2004 07:59:16 +1030


Call for Papers

  WOMEN AND GLOBALIZATION Conference   July 27-August 3, 2005

  at the Center for Global Justice, San Miguel De Allende, Mexico



  Co-Sponsored by the Radical Philosophy Association, the Global Studies
  Association, and the Argentina Autonomista Project

       Of all the social groups impacted by neo-liberal globalization,
  perhaps none has felt it more severely than women, especially those in
  countries in the global South.  Young women have been the main 
workforce
  in maquiladora sweatshops.  Women must do more work to support 
families as
  incomes decline.  Women have felt the brunt of violence as frustrated
  husbands despair about not being able to provide for their families.
   Families have been pushed off the land, women have been left behind to
  care for families, and men have gone north to find work. Some women 
have
  also gone north, often as victims of coerced sex trafficking.  Many
  returning men have brought AIDS with them to infect their wives.  World
  Bank and IMF-mandated cutbacks in state services have drastically cut
  medical care, and public education now has user fees.  These cutbacks
  particularly affect women and children, as more women die in childbirth
  and children have to leave school at an early age to work. Similarly,
  women are also severely affected in the global North. In the US, 
welfare
  restrictions, increased costs for health care and housing, and 
declining
  state aid for education and other services have disproportionately hurt
  women and children, particularly poor women, and have increased the
  feminization of poverty. Thus, in both North and South, the social
  pathologies engendered by globalization have affected women most
  intensely.

       But women are not just victims of globalization.  They are also
  subjects, acting individually and collectively against these 
conditions.
   Women are fighting back: creating economic cooperatives, alternative
  health care, and support groups for victims of violence. They are
  fighting along with men against privatization of water, land and other
  natural resources, as well as against development projects and imports,
  like genetically-modified food, that harm the environment. In 
Argentina,
  women were the first to struggle for social justice in the road
  blockades, when IMF policies rendered 26% of the population jobless. In
  Chiapas, Mexico, Zapatista women have taken leadership roles in the
  defense and construction of autonomous municipalities, self-governing
  committees, health and education promotion, and the organization of
  economic cooperatives.

       These and related issues will be the focus of a Conference on 
Women
  and Globalization to be held in San Miguel de Allende in central 
Mexico.
   Here, where North meets South, globalization's effects are 
intensified.
  Conference participants will explore this reality not only through
  discussion of presented papers, activist  workshops and artistic
  performances, but also by meeting with local women's groups struggling 
to
  create alternatives and by making site visits to observe concrete 
social
  conditions.  Every effort will be made to have all activities be
  translated into both Spanish and English.

       Proposals for papers should be e-mailed to Ann Ferguson by March 
15
   at Ferguson-AT-philos.umass.edu. A program committee will read them and
  papers will
  be selected by May 1. Completed papers will be due by June 1 (firm
  deadline), at least in one language, with the translation due by June 
15
  for those who can translate themselves.  The preferred length of 
papers is
  no more than 10 pages (not counting references), since they will have 
to
  be translated . Papers will be translated and posted on the Center 
website
  (www.globaljusticecenter.org
  <http://www.globaljusticecenter.org/> ) in both English and Spanish 
well
  before the conference.  This will enable all participants to read them
  ahead of time, thus requiring only a brief oral summary at the
  conference, and maximizing the time available for discussion.

        The program of the conference will offer paper presentations,
  activist workshops, plenaries and artistic presentations Weds. July
  27-Friday July 29, activist workshops and weekend excursions on July 30
  and 31 to nearby women's organizations and other sites, and another 
round
  of paper discussions, workshops and plenaries Monday Aug 1-Weds. Aug 3.
  Participants can come for all or part of the conference.  San Miguel de
  Allende is a beautiful small colonial town a few hours north of Mexico
  City. Due to its altitude, it has very moderate temperatures in the
  summer.  There are many interesting sites to visit both in the city and
  outside in neighboring communities.  The conference will offer ample
  opportunities for participants to enjoy San Miguel culture and to 
visit a
  number of interesting places in the vicinity. Transportation and 
lodging
  information is available upon request. Check the Center website or 
email
  info-AT-globaljusticecenter.org
  <mailto:info-AT-globaljusticecenter.org>.


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