It is curious that when we speak of love, especially as women of color, we often speak of what love is not: abuse, abandonment, and pain. The narratives that we tell of un-love, or these “war” stories, have become perhaps the dominant “romantic” narrative among already marginalized women. It seems that rarely do women sit in rooms with each other and tell stories about true partnership, caring and concern; instead we trade horror stories about men cheating, lying, and hurting. We are interested in our collection with uncovering what power these “war” stories have in our culture. We are requesting contributions in the form of analytical essays, personal narratives and/or creative works based on actual experiences of "romantic" relationships, especially heterosexual relationships. We are particularly interested in those papers that critically discuss how the writer wrestled with a challenging relationship(s). Therefore, any essays that explicate any trials and tribulations that the authors endured / enjoyed are most welcome. Selected and collaboratively edited narratives will be part of a peer-refereed publication of a critical study examining female experiences in the realm of romantic relationships.

Moreover, for our “talk back” or response section we are interested in collecting narratives from women who have broken through the negative experiences and/or healed cycles of abuse to experience what they might call genuine love. These narratives can include cases in clinical psychology, autobiography, or examples from popular literature.

Some of the specific topics include, but are not limited to the following:

Analysis of bell hooks’ works on love
Advice about love passed down from grandmothers, mothers, etc.
Critical self-analysis processes
Freudian / Lockean / Alpha male / masculinity / Michael Dyson / slavery / pre-emancipation / institutionalized oppression /
Feminist theories and relationships
Deceit regarding finances, love, sexuality, fidelity, truth, etc
Heart - break phenomenon
Fighting wars / battles
Diaspora-related experiences
Literary analysis of love in the works of African, Caribbean,
Asian, Native American, African American or Latina women
Monogamy / bigamy / poly -amorousness
Unexpected outcomes
Experiences with down-low / playboys / deadbeat partners
Relationship jitters / fears / allergies
Abuse - violence, verbal, emotional, psychological, physical, sexual...
Commitment phobia, truth phobia, perennial state of denial
Communication breakdown, communication phobia
Misinterpretations, accusations, suspicions, jealous
Offensive / defensive behavior
Strange relationships / marriages
Status differentiation - financial, education, neighborhood, nationality, family background, taste, class, inter-racial issues
Mistrust, antagonism, paranoia, power struggles
Habitual liars / lies / half-truths / misrepresentations
Torturous behavior
Humaneness and foolish behavior
Ideal v reality
Female empowerment as civic engagement

Deadline for submissions: December 20, 2009
Electronic submissions in MS Word Times New Roman 12pt font

Please send inquiries, submissions and brief bios to both:
Dr. Miriam Chitiga genderstudies@claflin.edu
Dr. Corrie Claiborne cclaiborne@claflin.edu

English Department, Claflin University, Orangeburg. South Carolina 29115