Newsletter No 36 November 2003
News From National Committees
The Netherlands
CURRENT AFFAIRS
Feminist magazine in trouble
The Dutch journal
LOVER, a top magazine in the field of feminism and women’s studies,
is urgently campaigning to get new members. Its publisher, the International
Information Centre and Archives for the Women’s movement (IIAV) in Amsterdam fears for the journal’s future if the
number of subscriptions will not rise considerably soon. LOVER, a successful
mixture of a specialist and a popular journal, is one of the last magazines
of its kind in the Netherlands as M/V Zorg (from the Transact center)
was discontinued last June and Nemesis, the journal of the Clara Wichmann
Institute, will be soon. Subscriptions can be obtained at http://www.tijdschriftlover.nl.
New initiative: feminist cafe
A recent initiative
is the organization of a monthly feminist café in Nijmegen. On Wednesday October 22nd at
20:00 the fifth evening will be organized. The
debate of this night is on the initiative itself and the topicality of feminism
nowadays as opposed to its importance in history. The ‘femcafe’
can be reached at femcafenijmegen@hotmail.com
CONFERENCES AND LECTURES
Early Modern Women’s History
Friday November 28 2003, the Foundation for Early Modern Women’s
History organizes a workshop on women and work in the early modern age at
the International Institute of Social History (IISG) in Amsterdam. This workshop will make an inventory on
current research on women’s labor in the Netherlands in the early modern a, will offer the possibility
to present studies and exchange research experiences. Information at
http://www.iisg.nl/research/vrouwenwerk.html or mail mde@iisg.nl.
The organization of the workshop is part of the 2002 IISG research project
of the same name.
Socialism and Sexuality
The conference
"Past and Present of Radical Sexual Politics" at the University
of Amsterdam, 3-4 October 2003 is already the fifth meeting in the series
of meetings on "Socialism and Sexuality". The Mosse Foundation,
Gay and Lesbian Studies and the Master Club Gender, Sexuality and Culture
organize the conference.
In the past, radical
sexual politics have most often been closely connected to leftist movements:
from utopian socialism and anarchism to Marxist feminism. And most movements
for sex reform, homosexual rights or birth control were closely linked to
progressive ideologies. Notwithstanding major changes in the field of sexuality,
many of them engineered by socialist governments, the seduction of the left
for sexual politics has disappeared. The radical left has become marginalized
while the successes of sex reform and gay and lesbian emancipation have loosened
the links between their demands and particular political currents. New social
movements against global capitalism have not included sexual issues in their
platform. The change from the old to the 'New Left' did not mean a breakthrough
because the New Left is reluctant to deal with controversial issues like child
sexuality, public expressions of sexual pleasure, sexual citizenship, new
reproductive technologies or societal heterosexism, or is even reviving old
moralistic discourses for example on prostitution. The conference will deal
with the histories of radical sexual ideals, their survival and their renewal
in contemporary culture. Among the speakers are Judy Greenway (University of East
London), J. Edgar Bauer (Heidelberg), Maria Kyriakidou (American College of Thessaloniki), David Berry (Loughborough University, UK), Saskia Poldervaart (University of Amsterdam) and Mark Blasius (City University of New
York). For participation and information, please contact Gert Hekma, Gay and
Lesbian Studies, Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Amsterdam, Oudezijds Achterburgwal 185
1012 DK Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Email: G.Hekma@uva.nl
Truth
or Dare? Celebrating
15 years of Women's Studies in Utrecht
On November 2003
13 and 14, 15 years of Women’s Studies is celebrated at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
The
conference aims at an international comparison of theoretical development
in gender research in an interdisciplinary perspective within the humanities.
It highlights recent developments in the field, especially in new media, epistemology
and issues related to ethnicity and cultural diversity. It is also an opportunity
to celebrate fifteen years of academic success. Women's Studies Utrecht offers the only MA currently available in
the Netherlands.
This
includes a one year professional Master curriculum and also a two-year research
Master's degree. Utrecht also coordinates the European Thematic Network
of Women's Studies, Athena, supported by the Socrates program of the European
Commission, which has a membership of 106 universities in 30 European countries.
Utrecht has been officially granted by the European
Commission a pluri-annual grant to host the NOISE summer school in multicultural
Women's Studies. Panel topics are Gender, Culture and Technology; New Media;
Women, Science and Epistemology; Gender, Ethnicity and Cultural Diversity
at the Crossroads; Gender and Multiculturalism and South Africa. There are three different registration fees
for the conference: Full-fee paying participants: € 100,-
(2 days) or € 60,- (one day), Official Alumnae Women's Studies Utrecht: €
50,- (2 days) or € 30,- (one day) and Students: € 25,- (2 days) or € 15,-
(one day). Registration forms are available at: truthordare@let.uu.nl.
Conference location: Educatorium, Megaronzaal, Leuvenlaan 19, Utrecht. More information at www.let.uu.nl/womensstudies.
A
second activity around the celebration is Fifteen years of Women's Studies
at Utrecht University written by Jeannette van der Sanden. The
main activity of the Lustrum is the production of a brief history of the making
of the Women's Studies curricula at Utrecht University. In its young history the department has
created a cutting edge program of education and research with an international
reputation. Women's Studies in Utrecht have constantly been on the move and are
still in full advance. Through a series of interviews this booklet offers
the opportunity to reflect on the extraordinary adventure of the program,
the efforts of its team, and the conditions that allowed it to grow. You can
purchase the booklet at the conference for € 15.
Furthermore Studium
Generale of Utrecht University organizes a series of lectures by younger
feminists and gender researchers to assess the progress made and review the
agenda of Women's Studies today. Topics include 'Migrations', 'New European
Spaces' and 'Gender and Technologies'. The lectures will take place on November
5, 19 and 26 in the Academiegebouw (Domplein 29) in Utrecht from 8 p.m. The entrance is free. For more information: www.sg.uu.nl
During
the 15th anniversary of the Department, the new website of Women's Studies
Utrecht will be launched with a clear outline containing
all the new information on the changes in the Women's Studies program and
the complexity of activities Women's Studies undertakes. Custom made for the
festivities by a team of cyber-feminists (Erna Kotkamp, Marinka Copier and
Misja van Laatum) is the interactive part of the website. A variety of games
will be offered in which knowledge, speed and insight will be tested in the
field of Women's Studies. The aim of the game is to make people compete for
an academic Women's Studies title within the new Bachelor/Master/Ph.D structure.
Information at www.let.uu.nl/womensstudies
IIAV Lectures
The IIAV has wished
for a lectures cycle every year for some time now and this year the institute
and archive in Amsterdam indeed offered some interesting lectures
on various topics. The last lectures of the 2003 program of the IIAV lectures
are:
October 8, 2003, 20:00 Mineke Bosch on Aletta Jacobs;
December 3, 2003, 20:00 Gloria Wekker on the construction
of subjectivity and sexuality among Creole women. Location: Obiplein 4, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
CALL FOR PAPERS
Marriage Patterns and Social Class
The International
Review of Social History Supplement will publish issue 13 (2005) on Marriage
Patterns and Social Class, edited by Marco van Leeuwen, Ineke Maas and Andrew
Miles.
Among the most
longstanding of historical assumptions is the idea that in past societies
the constraints impeding free choice of a partner acted much more forcefully
than they do in the present. Modern industrial societies, it is argued, are
both premised upon and characterized by their openness. It is the claim of
increasing openness of social classes to marriage partners from outside that
this supplement sets out to scrutinize. By bringing together historical datasets
and a range of conceptual approaches this supplement seeks to expose core
dynamics in the making of modern society.
The
Supplement will consist of individual papers each covering a certain region,
time span and focus of attention, as well as an introduction. In the introduction
to the supplement an attempt will be made to compare marriage patterns according
to social class over time and between regions. We will try to use the same
occupational classification system (HISCO) which should yield results that
are much more comparable than in older studies.
The
editors invite papers on homogamy - that is who marries who - by social class.
Preference will be given to papers covering all social classes for a long
period. Expected is that most papers
will deal with the nineteenth century, but some may start earlier or end later.
They must be thoroughly embedded in the historical literature on who marries
whom in the respective region, and pay attention to (changes in) determinants
of homogamy according to social class. These determinants include economic
and demographic changes which affect the size and shape of the marriage 'market',
personal preferences, the notion of 'romantic love', chances to meet marriage
candidates (e.g. at school or church, and during public celebrations or leisure
activities), the changing size and nature of the geographical marriage horizon
over time (due to improved transport and communication techniques), pressure
by parents, peers and the community, and the availability of personal resources.
Abstracts (1 page)
can be sent to Marco van Leeuwen <mle@iisg.nl>
PUBLICATIONS
Historica
The most recent
periodical of the Dutch Association for Women's History (VVG) Historica
focuses on a range of interesting topics. Female Dutch beer brewers in the
late middle ages; a new digital educational application by the IIAV on the
second feminist movement; a biography of Cobi Schreijer, troubadour of the
second feminist movement; female soldiers in Surinam during the second world
war and the effects of their labor participation on the after-war society
and many other subjects are discussed. Orders at VVG, p/a
IIAV, Obiplein 4, 1094 RB Amsterdam, the Netherlands. More information at www.vrouwengeschiedenis.nl
.
The women’s compartment
The ‘women’s
compartment’, a successful online effort to draw attention to female
writers of the former Dutch
East Indies (now
Indonesia), exists for three years now. In September
the ‘compartment’ highlighted a mysterious novel written in 1884
by Melati from Java; in October Annie Romein-Verschoor. More
infornation at http://www.damescompartiment.nl/biblio.htm.
FUNDS
Fund for doctorate
in the Social History of Europe and the Mediterranean
The University of Venice is coordinating a European Doctorate in the
Social History of Europe and the Mediterranean. The doctorate is funded by the EU as a Marie Curie
Training Sites and allows current doctoral students in history and related
fields, in the EU and the associated States,
access to a training program offered by a network of six Universities in different
European countries.
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen is the Dutch member and Dirk Jan Wolffram is the
academic responsible. The program funds fellows at a rate of 1200 Euro per
month for a period between 3 and 12 months. The essential condition is that
the fellow pursues his/her research in another European country where they
will be supervised and have full facilities and assistance at the host institution
in that country.
Further details can be obtained on http://www.unive.it/eurodoct.
The closing date for applications is 15 March 2004.
EXHIBITIONS
Headscarf
An exhibition on
the headscarf in the Netherlands runs from 23 September until 22 Octobers 2003 in Rotterdam. Information at http://www.rks.nl
Women in art: muses, models and lovers
The painter Jan Sluijters (1881-1957) is the subject of a new exhibition
in the Kunsthal Rotterdam - or rather his muses, models and lovers
that inspired his art. More information at www.kunsthal.nl
Women in posters
‘Happy Women’
is the title of an exhibition at the Museum Het Schielandshuis in Rotterdam that runs from October 10th 2003 until
February 8th 2004. Exhibited are advertisements
posters from the 50s and 60s. More information at
http://www.hmr.rotterdam.nl. Another exhibition at the Museum Het Schielandshuis in Rotterdam focuses on ‘the happy housewife’:
the temptations of advertisements versus the harsh reality of housekeeping.
This exhibition runs from July 6 2003 until May
31 2004.
Compiled by Marloes Schoonheim
