CFP: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Law and the Development of the American State

Via H-Law, we've received word of the following call for papers:

Call for Papers: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Law and the Development of the American State

The Center for Law, Justice & Culture at Ohio University invites proposals for a workshop, “Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Law and the Development of the American State” to be held May 20 - 21, 2011. This two-day meeting will bring together scholars in politics, history and law to address emerging ideas about race, gender and sexuality in the development of governmental institutions.

Work on the intersection of identity and politics began by examining how race, gender, and sexuality inform the political and civic status of citizens. Increasingly, scholars are now demonstrating that race, gender, and sexuality are central to the development of legal and political institutions and their capacity to carry out administrative and regulatory policies. Through the legal rules of marriage, political access, and crime--to name a few--the categories of race, gender, and sexuality become entrenched in formal institutions of the state. Race, gender, and sexuality thus remain available for the establishment, operation, and legitimation of institutions.

We welcome proposals from scholars of American political development and related fields to directly explore and question the role of race, gender, and sexuality in institutional development and to further discuss the impact this trend on our scholarship and the disciplines of political science, law and history more broadly. Please submit a proposal of no more than 500 words describing a past or current project that addresses the following questions: How does a focus on identity or identities shift our understanding and interpretation of legal and political development? How does a focus on law and political development change our understandings of identity? What role does race, gender and sexuality play in conceptualizing change or continuity? What mechanisms or processes can we illuminate? What role do political actors play in the relationship between institutions and identity?

For the workshop, participants will prepare a draft article- or chapter-length essay either building on work they have already done or from a new research project that they believe can shed light on these issues. Workshop participants will circulate their drafts a few weeks in advance of the workshop. We will ask all to contribute to the discussion at the workshop and respond to the written work of fellow participants in a round-robin system of commenting that we will organize in advance. The workshop is sponsored by a grant from the Law and Social Sciences Division of the National Science Foundation, which will cover the costs of travel, lodging, and meals for participants.

Please submit your proposal, along with contact information, to sullivak@ohio.edu by December 22, 2010.

Please direct any questions to the workshop organizers:

Julie Novkov
Professor and Director of Graduate Studies
Departments of Political Science and Women’s Studies
University at Albany, SUNY
jnovkov@albany.edu

Kathleen Sullivan
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science
Ohio University
sullivak@ohio.edu

Priscilla Yamin
Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science
University of Oregon
pyamin@uoregon.edu