Thinking Gender, Pre-existing Conditions

28th Annual Thinking Gender Graduate Student Research Conference

March 1-2, 2018, UCLA

Keynote:

Terri Conley, University of Michigan

Anticipated Pleasures and Sexual Double Standards: 

Explaining gender differences in reaction to real and hypothetical sexual offers

NEW Submission Deadlines

Visual Art and Film: November 27, 2017

Submit Art Proposals Online: http://csw.ucla.edu/tg18form

LATE BREAKER Paper, Roundtable, and Poster Proposal Deadline:
December 1, 2017

Submit Latebreaker Proposals Online: http://csw.ucla.edu/tglatebreakerform

Call for Proposals

The UCLA Center for the Study of Women invites submissions of paper, poster, speed pitching research roundtable, and visual arts proposals for our 28th Annual Thinking Gender Graduate Student Research Conference.

This year’s conference theme, Pre-existing Conditions, will focus on the interactions of health and gender as a play on the current, on-going discussions about gender-focused health and healthcare. Healthcare reform is not new to political or contemporary discussions, but what is novel is the recognition of the need for vast improvement of political understanding of health and care especially for women and LGBTQI+2s communities.

The contemporary definition of health encompasses a state of physical, mental, and social well-being, not simply the absence of illness or disease, connecting individuals’ bodily well-being to other aspects of their lives. For example, personal economic well-being is fundamentally tied to access to healthcare and health resources, and strong social support helps to bolster individual mental health and resilience. More broadly, environmental justice movements seek safe living environments for people of all socio-economic backgrounds. Similarly, there is growing awareness of how food deserts emerge from socio-economic conditions and public approaches to policy that limit access to foods that promote healthy eating, and how built environments—through spatial planning and urban design—promote or inhibit healthy communities.

Furthermore, the notion of what constitutes “being healthy” is contextually- and culturally-dependent and socially constructed with normative concepts of health and their applications and implications evolving throughout centuries. For instance, pre-modern notions of disorder connect ideas about bodily sickness and health to political and economic health; and researchers, advocates, artists, and interest groups across historical periods have asserted their own definitions of health in order to push for feminist, intersectional, and reproductive justice. Moreover, as scholars of biopolitics have demonstrated, the exertion of economic, political, and social power reveals whose lives are valued in a given society. Such power dynamics not only shape social determinants of health creating the conditions in which life can or cannot flourish, but create the conditions under which cultural production and artistic creation can or cannot flourish. Despite these advances in understanding health within many different contexts, more research and dialogue is needed as our communities, society, policies, and health-literacy continue to change.

Pre-existing Conditions invites conversations about the directions and foci of intersectional and multi-contextual approaches to health and well-being. Public health approaches have abandoned a “one-size fits all mentality” and continuously seek to meet the specific health needs of all persons and communities.

We welcome LATE BREAKER Paper, Poster, and Roundtable Proposals on the following topics ONLY:

  • Feminist biology
  • Global women’s health
  • Gender and mental health
  • Sexual health

We welcome Art and Film Proposals that deal with any of the following topics:

  • Community-based organization approaches to health and well-being
  • Feminist approaches to health education, medical training
  • Feminist biology
  • Gender, ability/disability and accessibility
  • Glass ceilings and gender-bias in health science fields
  • Global women’s health
  • Health as activist concern
  • Historical perspectives on health, gender, sexuality, and sex research
  • Illness narratives and depictions in literature, art, film, music, etc.
  • Notions of health and state control
  • Politics of self-care
  • Politics of women’s/ LGBTQI+2s health
  • Reproductive health research and reproductive justice
  • Sexuality and sexual health research
  • Social and historical constructions of health
  • Race, class, gender, and social determinants of health
  • Social responses to sexual health decision making
  • Gender-based violence
  • Gender and mental health research
  • Gender and occupational health research

Submission Guidelines

Eligibility

Registered graduate students from any institution are eligible to submit presentation proposals for all Thinking Gender sessions, including the panel, poster, speed pitching, and visual arts sessions.

Registered undergraduate students from any institution are eligible to submit proposals for poster presentations, speed pitching presentations, and participation in the Visual Arts Reception only.

Individuals may appear in only one capacity at the conference.

Unpublished papers are preferred for submission.

Recently published and forthcoming papers will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Registration Fee

To participate in Thinking Gender, successful applicants will be required to pay a registration fee of $50, the entirety of which will go towards covering conference costs. Participants for whom the registration fee is prohibitive are encouraged to contact thinkinggender@women.ucla.edu.

Deadline for Proposal Submissions

LATE BREAKER Proposals for Papers, Posters, Roundtable Sessions: December 1, 2017

Visual Arts and Film: November 27, 2017

Once submissions are reviewed and accepted, all participants in the panel sessions will be required to submit a draft of their paper by January 29, 2018, for pre-circulation among their co-panelists and faculty moderator.

Modes of Research Participation

Panel Presentations:

Panels will consist of graduate student paper presenters and a UCLA faculty moderator who will read and provide detailed feedback and questions on each paper. Paper presentations will be 12 minutes long. Panelists will be required to submit their paper drafts by January 29, 2018, for pre-circulation among their co-panelists and faculty moderator.

Panel Presentation application requirements:

  1. Paper proposal (2-3 double-spaced page maximum) that includes a thesis/research question, discussion of methodology and theoretical framework, explanation of your argument and supporting data, and conclusions or anticipated conclusions
  2. Works Cited (1 page maximum)
  3. CV or Resume (2 page maximum)

Poster Session(s):

Graduate students and undergraduate students will present visually compelling research posters. Posters will be presented during the poster session(s) where each presenter will be present with their poster for discussions and questions with circulating attendees. Posters will remain on display throughout the conference.

Poster Session application requirements:

  1. Poster proposal (1-2 double-spaced page maximum) that includes a thesis/research question, discussion of methodology and theoretical framework, explanation of your argument and supporting data, and conclusions or anticipated conclusions
  2. Works cited (1 page maximum)
  3. CV or Resume (2 page maximum)

Speed Pitching Research Roundtables:

Graduate students and undergraduate students will present their research in short, three-minute presentations to attendees sitting at their roundtable. Each roundtable session will last a total of 15 minutes with approximately 12 minutes devoted to discussion and questions post-presentation.

Speed Pitching Research Roundtable application requirements:

  1. Abstract (500 word maximum) including information on purpose of research, methodology, supporting data/results, and conclusions or anticipated conclusions
  2. CV or Resume (2 page maximum)

Visual Arts Reception:

Graduate and undergraduate students will present visual art related to health and well-being. We welcome the submission of short film, photography, etchings, drawings, paintings, mixed media, digital, and other visual art to the Visual Arts Reception. Successful submissions will demonstrate a high quality of work and a strong theoretical base.

Visual Arts Reception application requirements:

  1. Description of the work that you plan to present with discussion of its relationship to the conference theme (1-2 double-spaced page maximum)
  2. CV or Resume (2 page maximum)
  3. A short work sample (film or image files accepted)

NOTE: All submissions for the visual arts reception will be considered, however due to viewing space limitations, special consideration will be taken for large-sized submissions.

All materials must be submitted online.

Art and Film Proposals: https://csw.ucla.edu/tg18form
Late Breaker Paper, Poster, and Roundtable Proposals: https://csw.ucla.edu/tglatebreakerform

Only complete submissions received by the deadline will be considered.

This year, participants will be allowed to submit proposals for consideration for an individual research presentation option, as well as submitting for consideration to all three options (i.e., panel presentation, poster presentation, and/or speed pitching research roundtable). Participants who choose this option will be considered for any of the research presentation modes. If you choose to submit to all three presentation modes, you will need to follow the submission requirements for the Panel Presentations.

Questions?

Contact Drew A. Westmoreland, 2018 Thinking Gender Conference Coordinator, at thinkinggender@women.ucla.edu.