Call for Papers: Redoing Linguistic Worlds, Volume 2

Click here to download CFP as a PDF

Editors: Kris Aric Knisely (U Arizona) & Eric Louis Russell (U California, Davis)

On the heels of Redoing Linguistic Worlds: Unmaking gender binaries, remaking gender pluralities (RLW, Multilingual Matters, Knisely & Russell, eds. Click here for more information.), we invite chapter proposals for the next volume in this series exploring the doing of language and gender beyond binary frameworks.

With Redoing Linguistic Worlds 2 (RLW2), we aim to build on the core understandings of the first volume and assemble an increasingly robust coalition of scholars and collection of community knowledges about how the social, relational acts through which we remake our worlds are being done, undone, and redone within –and even beyond– linguacultural communities labeled as trans, nonbinary, gender nonconforming, gender noncompliant, and other culturally-specific terms. Going beyond discourses of parity and inclusion, the RLW series is about cultures of language in context and how languagers are challenging boundaries, binaries, and other normativities in and through (socio)linguistic praxes.

In this second volume we are particularly interested in contributions from scholars and about linguacultures not well represented in existing scholarship. This includes but is not limited to anyone whose experiences or work can be described in one or more of the following ways:

Scholars:

· who have meaningful relationships with the linguacultural communities about which they write

· whose lived experiences otherwise resonate with the focus of this series

· who have been marginalized in and by academia

Contributions that treat:

· linguacultures marginalized on the basis of languaging modality (e.g., signed linguacultures)

· linguacultures that are marginalized via racialization

· linguacultures other than spoken English

· linguacultures outside of the global north

· plurilingual contexts

· translanguaging praxes and spaces

These interests resonate with our commitment to developing mutual aid in trans language scholarship (by this or other names), especially by and for people who have ongoing and meaningful connections to the communities about which we write. In keeping, we wish to explicitly state that students and early career scholars are warmly welcomed to submit a proposal. We also wish to explicitly invite anyone who would like support with developing their idea and/or the proposal itself to contact us or to register for the below-listed workshop. Building capacity and community in this area of inquiry is one of our major goals with the second volume of RLW — As discussed in the first volume, we understand greater participation for everyone as essential to increasingly robust and meaningful scholarship. We are committed to maintaining a supportive, “no attitude” policy with regard to work, inquiry, and mutuality.

We encourage those interested in RLW2 to consult the first volume to become familiar with the framework in which we are thinking. Please contact us if you experience any barriers to accessing the first volume or should you have any questions about this call for contributions.

Have an idea and a desire to take part in RLW2 but not sure where to go from here? Sign up for a free, virtual workshop we’ll be holding on Monday November 25 2:30 pm PST to discuss putting together a proposal, crafting a project, and writing a chapter: https://bit.ly/rlw2workshop3 (Please register by the Friday before.)

Please contact us (knisely@arizona.edu & erussell@ucdavis.edu) with a preliminary chapter proposal, short bio, and confirmation of your interest by Friday December 20. A preliminary schedule will be provided upon acceptance or request; authors will not be asked to submit complete first versions of their chapters before March 2025.

While this volume is not yet under contract with any publisher, Multilingual Matters has expressed strong interest.

Should you have any questions, please contact Kris and Eric at knisely@arizona.edu and erussell@ucdavis.edu with the subject line “RLW2”

Call for workshop participants

We regret to inform you that the first two workshops, one held at Lavender Languages and the other held online, have both concluded. Please read the above CFP for a final workshop to be held online Monday 25 November 2024. Thank you.

Kris Aric Knisely (U Arizona)
Eric Louis Russell (U California, Davis)

Date, Time, Modality: Online (October 10 2024, 11 am-1 pm Arizona GMT-7), Free to all.

Description: On the heels of Redoing Linguistic Worlds: Unmaking gender binarities, remaking gender pluralities (RLW, Multilingual Matters, Knisely & Russell, eds. Click here for more information and discount codes.), we propose a collaborative workshop that will set the foundation for the next volume in this series.

This workshop will bring together scholars –especially those up-and-coming– who are working on questions of language, gender, and identity in non-English linguacultural contexts. We are particularly keen for participants working in/on linguacultures not covered in the first volume and those under-represented in contemporary scholarship, as well as contributions from scholars who are members of the linguacultural communities about which they are writing, although not only (we want to build capacity and community). Rather than present polished papers or even more tentative works-in-progress, we wish to foster open discussion and brainstorming. We will specifically hold space for scholars who are unsure as to how such research might be imagined, begun, or conducted, those who might need assistance bringing contemporary theories (e.g. of gender, language) to bear on contexts outside the Global North, and those who might simply be interested in these inquiries. We see this as an opportunity to expand the type of work begun in RLW and, in the spirit of mutual aid, to provide hands-on mentoring and peer support to scholars in a no-attitudes, collaborative way.

Call: The workshop organizers call for commitments to participate from scholars who wish to explore the doing, undoing, and redoing of gender in non-Anglophone linguacultural contexts, with a preference for those not represented in RLW (i.e. we are especially —although not only— interested in working with people on languages other than France/Montreal French, German, Italian, and Peninsular Spanish). Participants can bring rough ideas, works-in-progress (at any stage), questions they’re grappling with, and more — this is truly meant to be a working session in which we can be together and think together.

Each presenting scholar will be asked to prepare an approximately 5-minute contribution, including:

  1. A basic outline of the linguacultural doing of gender beyond binaries in a specific linguacultural context (i.e. what are the language and community upon which you focus?);

  2. A theoretical underpinning or scaffold that informs how they understand this (i.e. how will you describe and interpret linguacultural data pertaining to the doing of gender beyond traditional binaries?);

  3. The central argument or interpretation that they foresee (i.e. what do you believe you will argue based on (1) and (2)?)

  4. A series of questions and any obstacles to pursuing this research (pretty much anything else, including impediments, concerns, confusions…)

In the spirit of Lavender Languages and drawing from the optimism of queer theory, preference will be given to underrepresented communities and to scholars whose host institutions do not afford mentoring in these areas. We are committed to maintaining a “no attitude” policy with regard to work, inquiry, and mutuality.

To participate, please fill out the following interest form: https://forms.gle/oGUMie2vZJdxkkPo6

Participants will be notified of acceptance on a rolling basis.

Should you have any questions, please contact Kris and Eric at knisely@arizona.edu and erussell@ucdavis.edu with the subject line “RLW Workshop.”