July 2010 Symposium in Beijing
“Chinese Women Organizing: Looking Back, Looking Forward” ________________________________________________________________________________
Beijing Foreign Studies University, Oxford University & Freie Universität Berlin
In June 1999, the University of Oxford held an international Symposium on Chinese Women’s Organizations. About 50 Chinese and international scholars and women activists took part in the event. Since China opened up to the outside world, especially after the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995), Chinese women have been making tremendous progress in terms of protecting their own rights and interests, promoting their own development and strengthening the capacity of women’s organizations in China. From international and comparative perspectives, the scholars reflected on the experience and highlighted the vibrancy and diversity of Chinese women’s organizations. They also explored current issues and pondered the likely prospects of Chinese women’s organizations. The proceedings of the Symposium resulted in the publication of Chinese Women Organizing: Cadres, Feminists, Muslims, Queers (by Ping-Chun Hsiung, Maria Jaschok, and Cecilia Milwertz, with Red Chan, editors, Oxford and New York: Berg) in 2001.
Ten years have passed, during which time China and the international society have undergone profound changes. Women’s organizations in China have accomplished significant objectives. Not only have they been promoting the integration of gender concerns into the mainstream of policy-making processes, but they have also taken the initiative to participate in worldwide women’s activism as well as in a series of activities launched by the UN around the theme of gender equality.
We want to ask, what changes and developments have taken place since the Oxford Symposium in 1999 as regards Chinese women’s organizations? What progress has been made in the fields of women and gender studies? What are our challenges? These issues do not only draw the attention of women’s organizations, but they are also a key component of good governance in China and important topics on the agenda of women’s organizations and activism worldwide. Besides, in recent years, Chinese universities and research institutes have begun to conduct teaching and research on global women’s issues, with most productive outcomes. Therefore, with regard to all of these evolving global political and economic transformations, the time has come to update ourselves on the current trends in both Chinese women’s organizations and global women’s studies. And this is indeed the purpose of our proposed 2010 Symposium. Undoubtedly, the past ten years of theory-building, of theoretical application and practical implementation in women and gender studies will add fresh and stimulating dimensions to our Symposium.
We propose two themes for our Symposium:
1. The development of Chinese women’s organizations, including the current status of various women’s organizations in China, experience gained, existing problems and their likely causes, major challenges, and developing trends, among other issues.
2. International women’s studies. We propose two aspects for exploration: one is the study of women in the context of international relations (IRs), including new research findings concerning women’s participation in IR, the women’s movements worldwide and gender analysis of IR theories.
The other aspect concerns development projects and emerging methodologies, such as employment of gender-sensitive participatory methodology and action/research approaches in development projects. Proposed topics for interrogation include evaluating the impact of gender differences in development programs, critical approaches to the application of the principle of ‘objectivity’ in development programs, and ways to promote interaction between research and research outcomes in the hope of affecting profound social change.
We are inviting you because we believe that your scholarship will have much to contribute to our Symposium. We hope that you are able to accept our invitation to join what is promising to become an exciting exchange of new knowledge and thought-provoking interpretations.
The deadline for abstract submission is March 31, 2010. Abstracts should be approximately 500-800 words (written either in English or Chinese) and provide an overview of the paper and its relevance to the proposed themes of the Symposium. All submitted abstracts will be peer-reviewed. An official invitation letter will be sent in May 2010 to those whose papers we have been able to accept.
Our plan is to hold the two-and-a-half-day Symposium in early July 2010, to be hosted by Beijing Foreign Studies University. After the conference, following the usual process of refereeing, a number of papers will be selected for publication.
For papers in the Chinese language, please send your abstract to Dr. Li Yingtao at Beijing Foreign Studies University, via liyingtao@bfsu.edu.cn.
For papers in the English language, please send the abstract to Dr. Maria Jaschok at the International Gender Studies Center, University of Oxford, via mjaschok@googlemail.com or Dr. Bettina Gransow at the Institute of East Asian Studies, Freie Universität Berlin (Free University of Berlin) via gransbbm@gmx.de.
We are looking forward to your participation and contribution with much pleasure and anticipation!
The Organizing Committee, representing:
Center of Gender and Global Studies,
Beijing Foreign Studies University
International Gender Studies Center,
University of Oxford
East Asian Institute,
Freie Universität Berlin
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