We propose a special issue of Gender & History that will address "Gender History across Epistemologies." The editors hope to promote conversations that bridge scholarly communities and epistemological and methodological divides. We especially seek contributions, either as individual or co-authored papers or in pairs or clusters, that highlight or problematize the diverse assumptions and methods of gender history as it is understood and practiced across the humanities, the historical social sciences, and historical approaches to natural sciences. How have these diverse fields contributed to gender history and responded to each other in recent years? Can positivist and anti-positivist approaches to gender history productively address one another and, if so, how? Which arenas of gender history are currently producing constructive exchanges across methodologies and even epistemologies, and what are the innovative directions in which gender history could move in the future?

These are large questions. We seek contributions that can address them through historical research on a particular time, place, and/or topic, and that also problematize “ways of knowing” – the epistemological presumptions, methodological decisions, limits and possibilities inherent in various approaches to studying gender historically. We are open to submissions on all periods and themes and from all approaches. Possible arenas of cross-epistemological or cross-methodological exchanges would include, for example: Cultural anthropology and the categories of gender and kinship; quantitative data and the relationality of gender; the gendering of economic theory and gendered analyses of production and consumption; case law approaches to legal history and literary approaches to self-representation; approaches to studying embodiment and subjectivity when mediated through texts; gender and the state, statelessness, and transnationalism. These are merely indications of the kinds of dialogue we hope to generate; submissions on these or any other topic are welcome, as long as they explicitly address epistemology/methodology as well as being grounded in a specific area of research in gender history.

We seek contributions from scholars at all levels. Our process of development of the special issue will include a workshop to be held at the University of Minnesota in April 2011 on the general theme of “Gender History across Epistemologies.” Scholars interested in being considered for participation in the workshop should submit paper abstracts by November 1, 2010; abstracts should outline the historical substance and the epistemological issues to be raised by the proposed paper. The editors will select a set of abstracts for development into full papers to be pre-circulated for discussion at the April 2011 workshop. Our goal is to form clusters of papers that might be brought into productive conversations with one another at the workshop, and then revised for submission to Gender & History following the workshop. Authors may also submit article manuscripts for consideration for the special issue directly to the journal through the usual submission process.

Timetable:
November 1, 2010
Deadline for submissions for abstracts for consideration for the workshop
December 1, 2010
Selection of abstracts for workshop
March 15, 2011
Full first drafts of papers to be pre-circulated in advance of workshop
March 15, 2011
Deadline for additional abstracts of articles (beyond those discussed at the workshop) which would be submitted directly to Gender & History for consideration for special issue
Mid-April, 2011
Workshop in Minneapolis to discuss papers
July 15, 2011
Deadline for revised workshop articles and independent submissions submitted to Gender & History for review process and consideration for special issue
September 2011 through March 2012
Editorial process
June 15, 2012
Deadline for final revisions