Thanks to Jessica Kingsley Publishers

A big thank you, and a Merry Christmas to Jessica Kingsley Publishers who have sent us some books for our raffle. These include Violence Against Women, which features a chapter by one of our keynote speakers, Nel Whiting of Scottish Women's Aid. It's a wonderful collection and I'm sure it would widen the horizons of anyone who wanted to deepen their awareness of this subject. We particularly appreciate the support of a small publisher like JKP, and one that was founded by a woman. We hope that their wonderful contribution will help us raise even more raffle money for Scottish Women's Aid and WRASAC Tayside.

Transport, Accommodation and the Conference Dinner

I already sent this information out to some people by email, but I thought it would be useful to put it here too so everyone can find it. Hopefully this is helpful, but as always feel free to email us if you have any specific problems or questions that haven't been addressed.

Flying: Dundee does have its own airport but it is small and flights tend to be expensive with limited destinations. You will probably find it more useful to use Edinburgh airport (1 hour 20 mins away by car) or Glasgow (2 hours away by car). Both airports have buses or shuttles that take you into the city centres, from which you can take a train to Dundee. You can also hire a car from the airports. There is also a Megabus from Edinburgh Airport to Dundee that you can book here (just make sure to select 'Edinburgh Airport', rather than simply 'Edinburgh').

Bus: There are good bus services from around the UK that you can book at Megabus, Citylink or National Express.

Train: Dundee train station is right in the centre of town and very convenient for getting to the university. You can book trains here.

Accommodation: I suggest that you look at the Dundee accommodation options listed at Booking.com to see what's on offer. There is also the Aauld Steeple Guest House, which doesn't seem to be listed but is a cheapish option in the centre of the city and a 5-10 minute walk from the university.

Registration and Money Concerns: Unfortunately we only have enough money to cover the costs of our keynote speakers. Speakers are also required to register so that we can pay for catering (lunch, teas and coffees will be provided throughout the conference). We will provide receipts for your registration fees if you require them so that your home institution can reimburse you.

Conference Dinner: The conference dinner will be held at the D'Arcy Thompson Dining Room. There will be a vegetarian option, but if you have more specific needs please make sure you let us know by the 1st of January as we will be agreeing the menu around this time. There is space on the registration form to tell us about any dietary requirements so try and return the form ahead of time if you have specific needs. There will probably be a set menu from which you can choose either 2 or 3 courses and this will hopefully be a little bit cheaper than the meals on offer to the general public! We will send around the menu once it is agreed but this will probably be a few days, maybe a week, before the conference.

Registration Open: And Thanks to Zero Books

It is with great pleasure that I declare registration officially open! We have sent registration forms to all delegates and to those on our mailing list. Please drop us an email at smashingthepatriarchy[at]gmail.com if you haven't received your form - or if you would like to be added to our mailing list.

Also, thanks to Zero Books who have sent us copies of Laurie Penny's Meat Market: Female Flesh Under Capitalism and Nina Power's One Dimensional Woman among others. We are building up quite a collection of books to raffle for Women's Aid and WRASAC. We have also been gifted some Scottish lesbian Victorian poetry, There is Room for Roses in God's World by Bessie Craigmyle.

Thanks to Virago!

I have taken delivery of a beautiful collection of books from Virago who are celebrating their 40th birthday this year. The introduction to their 'Virago is 40' ebook is here and it's quite inspirational. We have a physical copy of 'Virago is 40' for our raffle, as well as titles by Margaret Atwood, Muriel Spark and Sarah Dunant among others.

Charity Raffle - Thanks to Icon Books!

We've been brainstorming ways to integrate activism into our event and one of the ideas we had was to have a raffle for Women's Aid and a local charity, the Women's Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre (WRASAC) Tayside. And how do we make this raffle academic? Well, we're going to raffle off some of the amazing feminist books that have come out in the UK over the last few years.

Thanks go to Icon Books who have very generously sent us copies of Delusions of Gender and Introducing Feminism: A Graphic Guide. We'll let you know some of the other titles that will be included in the raffle as we receive them so that you can start getting excited about the great prizes that we'll have on offer.

In other news, registration will be opening very soon. We will be emailing all delegates about this automatically; if you didn't get an abstract in, but you want to be kept up to date about registration etc. then drop us an email at smashingthepatriarchy[at]gmail.com and we'll add you to our mailing list. That way, you'll be kept in the loop and you won't miss out on what is shaping up to be a great day of sisterhood and books.

Abstract Deadline and Webzine Article

So, the abstract deadline has passed. Thanks so much for all of your contributions. Laura and I are planning to go through them over the next few days and start to put together an exciting day of thinking, speaking and getting to know each other. If you missed our deadline but still want to attend then please drop us an email on smashingthepatriarchy[at]gmail.com, we can always add you to our mailing list and give you all the latest information, including links to register once registration opens.
In other news, there is now an article about the conference online, published at Bad Housekeeping. Bad Housekeeping is a new webzine that covers feminist issues from an academic perspective so many of you might be interested in checking them out, or submitting an article.

Facebook

If your social media platform of choice is facebook then, good news! We are now smashing the patriarchy on facebook too. Just search for 'Smashing the Patriarchy in 100,000 Words?' and you should find us. There are still 11 days to go if you want to submit an abstract and our CfP is available here, or on the facebook page.

Feminist Academics Nottingham

Thanks very much to Feminist Academics Nottingham who have featured our call to papers on their blog. Groups such as these have been an effective way of getting the word out so far - when organising an inter-disciplinary event such as this it can be difficult to make sure you're targeting all the people who will find your CfP of interest. If you know of any other groups we should contact, please tweet or email smashingthepatriarchy[at]gmail[dot]com. We've already had some great advice from people who have come across our CfP, it feels great to be connecting with feminist networks from around the country. Thanks again, sisters!

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Julia Long

It gives us great pleasure to announce our second keynote speaker. Dr. Julia Long is a radical feminist activist working with groups such as OBJECT and the London Feminist Network. She is the author of Anti-Porn: The Resurgence of Anti-Pornography Feminism, described by Professor Gail Dines as 'a book that not only eloquently speaks to the past, but importantly, paves the way for a radical future where the sexual dehumanization of women is no longer normalized, celebrated, or legitimized. This book is a must for every person who is fed up with the objectification of women's bodies, and wants to take back our culture from the pornographers.' Dr. Long achieved degrees in English Literature and Women's Studies before completing her PhD in feminist activism at London South Bank University in 2011. She has made media appearances on This Morning, Newsnight, and Channel 4's 4Thought TV. Dr. Long's position as both an activist and an academic makes her an ideal speaker for our conference and we're so excited to welcome her to Dundee. 

Keynote Speaker: Nel Whiting

It gives us great pleasure to announce the first of our keynote speakers. Nel Whiting is a Learning and Development Coordinator with Scottish Women's Aid. This means that she teaches various professionals (such as police officers) about domestic violence, and how women in such situations can best be supported. Nel has taken this approach to learning into the academy through her teaching on the Gender Justice, Masculinities and Violence module at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh. She studied for a Masters in Women, Culture and Society at the University of Dundee and won the Leah Leneman essay prize 2010 (awarded every two years by Women's History Scotland) for an essay based on her dissertation.

We are very excited to be welcoming Nel back to Dundee. Her work shows such a commitment to the fight for women's safety and happiness, both inside and outside of the academy. We hope that Nel's perspective, as an activist and an academic, will help us to connect the narratives of these two different discourses.

Feminism and Academic 'Giving'

Dr Judy Robertson has written a post for the Thesis Whisperer on academic 'givers and takers'. She writes, 'I'm sorry to say that I attended an ACM Women's Breakfast a month ago where a female speaker recommended only asking powerful male colleagues to be your mentor on the ground that women won't help other women. I think this is complete bollocks. I have been fortunate to have some very helpful women mentors and I try pretty hard to help other women'. 

I very much hope that this isn't a common view among female academics, but perhaps I'm being naive. This is partly why events like ours are important, so that we can help and support each other - and overcome misogynistic views that frame women as incapable of giving each other a leg-up. Hopefully with more networking opportunities, such as the Smashing the Patriarchy conference, we'll be well positioned to show that women can flourish through helping each other and believing in the sisterhood.

Childcare at the Conference

In the last few days we've been thinking about provision of childcare at our event in January. We know that some events are child-friendly and allow kids into the sessions - or, we could also consider using the university creche or taking on a couple of childcare professionals for the day. I've personally never been to a conference where childcare appeared to be in evidence, which must really scupper the chances for mothers (especially single mothers) to get involved with face-to-face academic debate. We want to make sure that we provide the best environment for everyone concerned. If you're thinking about coming, and it would be better for you to bring kids, please email us and let us know. You could also tell us whether you prefer to keep your kids with you or to have them in another room nearby.
If you have concerns about childcare, or anything else that could be helped by a bit of organisation on our part, then please let us know so that we can work towards making this the best experience we can. We might not think of everything ourselves, but we'll work like the dickens to solve problems once we know they're there. Our email is smashingthepatriarchy[at]gmail.com, drop us a line.

Independence and Feminism

We're very excited about the interest in our event and the support we've received so far. Thanks to all who have retweeted, facebooked and shared the blog. The organisers have also been brainstorming ways that we can show off Dundee to our visitors. We will add some details about local accomodation, eating, travel, etc. nearer to the time. At the moment our thoughts are on the culture that Dundee has to offer, and how we can squeeze as much of it as possible into the short time we will have.

This excitement about our local area got us thinking about the Scottish independence debate and how that might affect us as feminist academics. This is an ongoing, interesting, and extremely important conversation for all Scottish people and, indeed, all British people.

While there are many issues related to independence that particularly affect women, it would also be a good idea for Scottish female academics to think about how independence might affect us. The differences in policies with regards to higher education between Westminster and Holyrood have been marked, as have the policies affecting women: the intersections are ripe for discussion. Possibly something else for us to talk about when we meet in January as we soak up Dundee's cultural sights and think about our future.

Smashing the Patriarchy: Call for Papers

We are very excited to unveil our CfP! Please read, share, and get in touch.

Smashing the Patriarchy in 100,000 Words? The Use of Feminism in Academic Theses.

University of Dundee,

Monday 13^th January 2014

CFP

A seeming resurgence of student feminism has become visible over the last couple of years; feminist societies and feminist students have engaged visibly and creatively with the feminist debates facing women and society today; from the No More Page 3 Campaign, to the microaggressions and Everyday Sexism Project, and producing photographs of signs reading ‘I need feminism because...’. Online activism has made the spread of information and campaigns more accessible.

But how does the increasing visibility of student feminism translate into academic work? Does it remain a part-time interest, or does it feed and inform our work? Is the academy a welcoming place for those already involved in activism? How does our academic work contribute to feminist activism?

This day of talks, workshops and networking aims to investigate how postgraduate students who use feminist methods and perspectives, or who identify as feminist activists, feel about the relationship between feminism and their academic work. We hope to create a friendly environment in which to discuss these issues, to offer fellow feminist researchers a springboard for further support and collaboration. We welcome papers which critique feminist methodology and interpretations or aspects thereof.

In association with the Feminist and Women’s Studies Association (http://www.fwsa.org.uk) and the University of Dundee, this event will include keynote lectures from those working within the academy and activism, while creating a space for postgraduate students from across the disciplines to discuss their work and their feminisms.

Abstracts of up to 300 words are requested for talks of 15 minutes, to be delivered as part of a workshop setting. We encourage interdisciplinary work.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

·         How feminism impacts your approach to your subject

·         Towards a feminist methodology

·         Feminism and its relation to identity politics or intersectionality

·         The relationship between your identities as feminist/activist and academic

·         Feminist academia: resurgence or decline?

·         Can feminist research be conducted within the academy?

·         Is feminist research relevant in 2013?

Abstracts should be emailed to smashingthepatriarchy[at]gmail.com by 1^st October 2013 with a short biography (100 words or less).

Twitter

'Smashing the Patriarchy...' now has its own twitter account! You can find us using our handle which is @acafem2014 or search for #acaFEMic. We've seen twitter used for live-tweeting conferences before and we know it can be useful for maintaining a sense of community after an event has come to an end. This is the future we hope to achieve for our little account since one of our goals for the event is to build connections between feminist academics - with communication comes strength, and we hope this will help by acting as one of our virtual living-rooms, an electronic space to share our ideas.
There are, of course, problems with such a public-facing medium. Audra Mitchell posted this report to the London School of Economics blog just yesterday, discussing how female academics face particular problems with online abuse when using the internet to promote their work. Perhaps this is one of the issues we'll be discussing at the 'Smashing the Patriarchy...' conference - hopefully we can find ways of addressing this through discussion and mutual support.
In the meantime, if you're a twitter addict and you want to be up to date with our progress - come and say hi! 

Smashing the Patriarchy in 100,000 Words: Feminism in Academic Theses will be a day of workshops and talks held at the University of Dundee on the 13th of January 2014. The organisers are delighted to have been awarded the Feminist and Women's Studies Association Small Grants Award 2013 which has allowed us to organise this event. You can read the announcement on the FWSA blog here. Keep an eye on this space for news, updates and the CFP which will be coming soon!