Announcement from SWS President, Josephine Beoku-Betts
Call for Manuscripts
SWS Global Concerns Autoethnography Project
Dear SWS Colleagues, Global Partners and Associates:
SWS and its Global Partners and Associates are requesting submissions for a co-edited autoethnography publication examining global portrayals of our lives as academics and practitioners in our particular social contexts during this traumatic period of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In seeking autoethnographies, we are looking for pieces that are biographical with thick description and which incorporate both self-reflection and critical analysis of one’s experiences during this period. We welcome essays that are feminist, global, and/or intersectional in analytical approach. We welcome submissions from individuals at all career stages.
Questions for consideration may include but not be limited to:
- How has COVID-19 affected your life and work as a feminist scholar/activist/practitioner? What challenges have you faced (e.g., the “new normal” of working remotely and participation in virtual meetings) and how have you navigated these experiences?
- In what ways are you contributing as a feminist activist/scholar/practitioner to public discussions and debates about responses to COVID-19 in your particular context?
- In what ways have current trends in digital activism impacted your engagement in feminist and social justice issues in your social environment?
- What are the political and economic trends of this pandemic and how have they impacted the institution in which you work and its expectations of you?
- What challenges have your students had to face (graduate) and (undergraduate) and how has your institution provided support to you as a faculty member?
- What challenges have you as a student had to face and how has your institution provided support?
- How have you navigated the present challenges in your retirement and how have you found support?
- Given the infrastructure and resources of your place of work and social environment, what new demands have been put on you and what sort of support has been provided to meet these demands? To what extent were you able to challenge these demands and what was the response?
- What best practices can you share about teaching online courses or courses converted from face-to-face to online during the COVID-19 pandemic?
- If you work in an administrative capacity, what challenges have you faced in budgetary decisions that may affect faculty lines, promotion and tenure schedules, hiring, student recruitment, and program development over the next few years?
- What impact has the pandemic had on your work/life balance?
This publication project will target an academic and professional audience and all manuscripts should include scholarly references and follow APA Style. Manuscripts should be between 10-15 double-spaced pages and 12 font size. Please send along with your manuscript (1) a short bio of 100 words, including your current or most recent institutional affiliation and e-mail address, and (2) an abstract of 150 words.
Submissions should be in the English language and should be sent to Bandana Purkayastha (bandana.purkayastha@uconn.edu ) as a Microsoft Word Document no later than August 28th, 2020. Please title your submission as Autoethnography.
Co-Editors of this project representing SWS and its Global Partners and Associates are: Josephine Beoku-Betts (Florida Atlantic University), Akosua Darkwah (University of Ghana), Melanie Heath (McMaster University), and Bandana Purkayastha (University of Connecticut).
We welcome your submissions and invite you to share this call for manuscripts among your professional networks.