Gender and Joy in History Symposium

Lilith: A Feminist History Journal

ACU Melbourne, Wednesday 27-Thursday 28 September 2023

Call for Papers

‘Gender and Joy in History’ is a symposium aimed at counterposing the common scholarly focus on catastrophe and crisis of recent years. Lilith now calls for scholars in all areas of gender and feminist history to consider questions about how women, feminists and gender diverse people have found joy, strength, resilience, inspiration, love, happiness and transcendence in the past.

Possible themes of the Lilith 2023 symposium include (not exhaustively): feminist humour of the past, women’s historical empowerment, radical feminine lives of the past, women’s positive influence on the historical profession, the history of women strength athletes, as well as histories concerned with Indigenous women’s resilience, joyful feminist activism, the pleasures of gendered ageing, teen girls’ self-esteem, the joys of motherhood, gender and sexuality in transcendental and religious experience, histories of sexual self-acceptance and exuberance, joy in the lives of gender diverse people, the role of feminine and queer friendships, and historical sources of feminist, queer and transgender inspiration.

The Lilith Editorial Collective invites proposals for 20-minute papers that reflect on and explore these themes and more. We welcome contributions from scholars from any discipline engaging with the historical past, either recent or distant, in Australasia or in any world culture, inclusive of cultural, intellectual, social, political, global, queer, postcolonial and other all other styles of historical inquiry, and inclusive of all forms of gender and feminist frames in history. We particularly encourage postgraduate and early career researchers to submit proposals.

The symposium will be held at the ACU Melbourne campus in Fitzroy over Wednesday 27 and Thursday 28 September 2023, with zoom and in-person presentation options available for both domestic and international speakers.

Keynote Speakers

Dr Yves Rees, Lecturer in History at Latrobe, writer and podcaster

Professor Katie Barclay, Head of Historical and Classical Studies and Director of the Fay Gale Centre in Gender Studies at the University of Adelaide

This event was generously sponsored by the Gender and Women’s History Research Centre at the Australian Catholic University.