For over three decades, The Scholar & Feminist has taken a bold, critical look at the issues that matter most to feminist movements. Over the years, we have welcomed such visionary scholars, artists, and activists as Coco Fusco, Josephine Ho, Staceyann Chin, Majora Carter, Barbara Ehrenreich, Heidi Latsky Dance Company, and Lani Guinier, whose work not only invites us to think, but also challenges us to act. Sometimes controversial, always ambitious, the conference provides a forum for cutting-edge feminist theories, as well as a space for imagining how we might use those theories to effect progressive and lasting social change.
Next year’s conference, “Utopia” will explore the concept of what utopia means for feminists from a variety of angles. Often seen as impossible by definition, utopia nonetheless can be a driving force for social change: despite inevitable disappointments, utopia provides a vision of a future worth working towards and a framework for achieving it. “Utopia” will provide a space to discuss what would be involved in feminist utopias and what actions we can take in our own imperfect world to help us move towards a better existence.
Utopia 2013
In the spirit of practicing more utopian models, we are trying a few exciting things this year:
- Pairing academics with artists/activists to collaborate on presenting visions feminist utopia
- Interactive workshops and working group discussions on creating utopia
- Soliciting suggestions from our community
- Requesting your recommendations for suggested readings and your reflections on feminist utopias for the blog