Gendering the Civil War and Reconstruction: Explorations of Difference in the Southern United States.

Call for Chapter Proposals

The editors of Gendering the Civil War and Reconstruction: Explorations of Difference in the Southern United States are seeking contributors for this edited collection of essays on the Civil War and Reconstruction periods. For consideration, submit a 750-word proposal ( project title, chapter abstract which includes sources) and a two page cv no later than by January 2, 2013 to Dr. Karen Cook Bell and Dr. Sharita Jacobs-Thompson at genderingthecivilwar@gmail.com.

An 8,000-10,000 word chapter will be due by May 30, 2013.

Approach

This is a study of African American women that is informed by an “ethos of difference.” The essays collected here all expand, explore, and critique this concept in a range of contexts and discourses. This study seeks to challenge the idea that enslaved women in the southern United States experienced emancipation the same and more importantly encourages further exploration of the “effects and affect of difference”—to use one of the central ideas in Naomi Greyser’s essay on feminism and affect studies. The study of gender can illuminate deeper historical patterns and processes, which continued to affect African American women in the twentieth century. This collection of essays extends the arguments presented by Pamela Scully and Diana Paton, who reflect on emancipation from the point of view of women, and who demonstrate through an analysis of comparative Atlantic emancipations how emancipation confirmed or disrupted existing gender relations and placed issues such as violence, sexuality, and the gendered politics of public space at the heart of emancipation studies. As such, “slave emancipation was not only experienced differently by men and women, it also served to “reconstruct” the very categories of “man” and “woman.” Recognizing how gender shaped slave emancipation requires that we reconceptualize the narratives that have dominated scholarship in this area. We are especially seeking proposals which highlight geographical differences.

Schedule 2013

January 2, 2013: Deadline for submission of 750-word proposal

January 10th: Selected contributors will be informed

January 10th: Submission instructions sent to Authors

May 30th: Chapter submitted by Contributors on or before this date

July 30th: Each chapter sent to Reviewers 1 and 2

August 10th: Each chapter received back from Reviewer 1 and 2

August 15th: Authors notified of revisions (if applicable)

August 30th: Revised chapters submitted by Contributors on or before this date

September 10th: Authors notified of decision and further revisions

September 20th: Final chapters received from Authors

September 30th: Final chapters edited

November 15th: Manuscript edited and delivered to publisher