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Call for Papers

Submission Guidelines

Original Teaching Activities (1,500-2,500 words, not including references): Instructional activities, assignments, projects or assessment techniques for a single class; unit, module, or semester-long projects; or approaches to an entire course

Submissions should be applicable to a wide range of classes across disciplines and forefront feminist pedagogy by focusing on strategies related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and access.

Each submission must include the following information:

  • Title
  • Introduction and Rationale
  • Learning Objectives
  • Explanation
  • Debriefing
  • Assessment
  • References

Here's an example of an excellent OTA: What’s the Word on the Street?: Witnessing/Performing Theory

Critical Commentaries (1,000-1,200 words, not including references): Thoughtful reflections on teaching practices and processes. Short editorials offer a first person perspective on feminist pedagogy as a method or philosophy. Narrative expositions allow contributors to share insights and ideas without focusing on a specific classroom activity or assignment.

Here's an example of an excellent CC: The Threat of Returning to “Normal”: Resisting Ableism in the Post-COVID Classroom

Social Justice Strategies (1,000-1,750 words, not including references): Practices and resources for the classroom or campus community that advocate for social justice, human rights, and/or the inclusion of marginalized people. Specific texts, thematic compilations, organized events, and strategies for engagement are welcomed.

Each submission must include the following information:

  • Title
  • Overview of Strategy, including Target Audience
  • Rationale
  • Analysis of Effectiveness
  • References

Book and Media Reviews (500-1,000 words):

Book reviews of pedagogical approaches, theories, and methods. No textbook reviews.

Media reviews of educational resources and documentaries useful for teaching.

We ask that book and media criticism is constructive in nature and largely positive. Reviews should note the scope and purpose of the work and its usefulness to educators, although other information may certainly be included.

Please email the Book and Media Review Editor, Dr. Aubrey Huber, at aubreyahuber@usf.edu with any questions. No unsolicited reviews are accepted.

Call for Special Issue Proposals

Feminist Pedagogy invites scholars to submit proposals for special issues in line with the journal’s focus on higher education teaching strategies and approaches. The purpose of the special issue is to provide a collection of articles on a specific topic of feminist pedagogy that the journal has not covered substantially and has the potential to be of high interest to the readers. We will consider proposals for special issues throughout the year.

If you have further questions, or are ready to submit a proposal, please contact us at .

Special issue proposals may take three forms:

  • revised and extended papers, previously presented at a conference, that focus on areas within the scope of the journal.
  • special issues with a specific theme and an open call for papers. We are happy to post open calls on our journal website.
  • collections that span a single discipline. We are happy to post open calls on our journal website.

Information to be provided in a proposal:

  • 500 word rationale explaining the significance, novelty, and adherence to the scope of the journal of the proposed theme.
  • a list of suggested topics within the theme.
  • a plan for obtaining quality papers.
  • a condensed CV of the proposed Guest Editor(s).
  • list of potential reviewers.
  • a proposed call-for-papers (if needed).
  • a proposed timeline , including submission deadlines and completion of the editorial process.

Selection of proposals based on:

  • overall quality of the proposal.
  • theme is within the scope of the journal.
  • provides significant novelty and complements previously published issues of the journal.
  • focus on intersectionality.
  • likelihood of delivering the final product within the proposed deadline.

CFP: When Resistance Seems Futile: Teaching Under Ideological Threat

Since 2017, US News & World Report has ranked Florida #1 in higher education. While there are several metrics that could be considered in higher education rankings, US News & World Report takes into account graduation and retention rates, resources for faculty and students, student selectivity, alumni giving, and incurrence of debt for graduates (Morse & Brooks, 2022). Since taking office in 2019, Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, has made significant reforms to higher education in Florida. According to his website, DeSantis intends to “further solidify Florida’s position as the number one state for higher education (FL.gov, 2023b).

Now that DeSantis has announced his bid for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election, the educational reforms he has and continues to enact in Florida are of even more concern to feminist pedagogues. In January 2023, DeSantis disclosed a bill that would change the face of higher education in Florida in a number of significant and concerning ways. DeSantis claims that this legislation ensures “Florida’s institutions encourage diversity of thought, civil discourse, and the pursuit of truth for generations to come” (FL.gov, 2023b). One piece of this legislation, SB 266, is described as follows:

SB takes several steps to prevent woke ideologies from continuing to coopt our state universities and state colleges. The bill prohibits higher education institutions from spending public dollars on initiatives that promote dangerous political and social activism, such as DEI initiatives. This bill prohibits programs, majors, minors, curriculum, and general education core courses that violate Florida law regarding prohibited discrimination or that are based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political, and economic inequities. Additionally, this bill will require that our university presidents renew their ownership of and accountability for hiring, promoting, and when necessary, disciplining faculty.

SB 266, HB 999, and several other orders issued by DeSantis in 2023 include (among others) the following measures:

  • Reviewing general education courses to ensure courses are historically accurate, “career relevant,” and “foundational” (FLGov, 2023a)
  • Prohibiting instruction that addresses “identity politics,” critical race theory, and “other discriminatory initiatives” (FLGov, 2023a)
  • Threatening current tenure systems by requiring post-tenure review (FLgov, 2023a)
  • Requesting personal medical information from universities that provide gender-affirming health care (Cineas, 2023)
  • Restructuring the public liberal arts college New College by appointing a conservative Board of Trustees, drastically reducing course and program offerings, and denying tenure to multiple faculty members (Alonso, 2023)

Feminism is, in and of itself, an act of a resistance – but what does it mean to enact feminist pedagogies in a state where the government views feminism as dangerous and discriminatory? What do students lose when pedagogy and student support services are determined by politicians rather than educators and student services professionals? What does it mean when bureaucrats, rather than educators and students themselves, make decisions about what students should and can learn?

We invite submissions for Original Teaching Activities (1,500-2,500 words), Critical Commentaries (1,000-1,200 words), and Social Justice Strategies (1,000-1,750 words), which may explore topics such as:

  • Changing (or resisting changes to) your teaching practice and/or instructional content in response to recent Florida legislation/institutional mandates
  • Practicing feminist pedagogy in Florida classrooms
  • Engaging with feminist practices on Florida campuses
  • Supporting marginalized students who are impacted by Florida’s educational reforms and/or cultural practices
  • Teaching about Florida’s cultural and historical influence on education

We are also interested in Media and Book Reviews of texts, educational resources and documentaries useful for teaching on these subjects (500-1,000 words). We ask that criticism is constructive in nature and largely positive. Reviews should note the scope and purpose of the work and its usefulness to educators. We are particularly interested in reviews that detail ways to use the media as a teaching tool.

Submissions must follow the journal’s style and requirements. See Instructions for Authors for more information.

Authors with accepted proposals will be required to complete blind reviews of two other accepted articles. Please only submit a proposal if you can commit to this term.

The full timeline for the special issue is as follows:

  • 200-300 word Abstracts due: November 1, 2023
  • Notice of acceptance: November 15, 2023
  • Full drafts due: March 1, 2024
  • 2Peer-reviews due: May 15, 2024
  • Revised drafts due: June 30, 2024

    Please send all inquiries and/or submissions to Sandy Branham (branhac1@erau.edu or cassandrabranham@gmail.com) with “Feminist Pedagogy Special Issue” in the subject heading.

    Abstract Submission Deadline: November 1, 2023

    References

    Alonso, J. (2023, August 16). Chaos at New College in Florida. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/students/academics/2023/08/16/chaos-reigns-new-college-florida-fall-semester-nears

    Cineas, F. (2023, April 20). Ron DeSantis’s war on woke in Florida schools, explained. Vox. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23593369/ron-desantis-florida-schools-higher-education-woke

    Flgov. (2023a, January 31). Governor DeSantis elevates civil discourse and intellectual freedom in higher education. Flgov. https://www.flgov.com/2023/01/31/governor-desantis-elevates-civil-discourse-and-intellectual-freedom-in-higher-education/

    FLgov. (2023b, May 15). Governor Ron DeSantis signs legislation to strengthen Florida’s position a national leader in higher education. Flgov. https://www.flgov.com/2023/05/15/governor-ron-desantis-signs-legislation-to-strengthen-floridas-position-as-national-leader-in-higher-education/

    Morse, R. & Brooks, E. (2022, September 11). How U.S. News calculated the 2022-2023 Best Colleges rankings. U.S. News & World Report. https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/how-us-news-calculated-the-rankings

CFP: The Vessels in Which We Teach and Learn: Exploring Body Neutrality as a Practice of Feminist Pedagogy

Though it may sound like a simple observation, in a post(?)-pandemic era, it seems that students and instructors are more aware than ever of the fact that in-person learning requires the presence of their bodies in a classroom—exposure to others, observation by others, and—for teachers—the presentation of oneself to students, sometimes as a point of focus (i.e., in a lecture-style course where one stands at a lectern). In hybrid and online courses, students and instructors’ familiarity with Zoom fatigue (Nesher Shoshan & Wehrt, 2021) and Zoom dysmorphia (Jabali et al., 2022) effectively illustrated the involvement of our bodies in the virtual classroom even when we are not physically together. These pressures to be aware of our corporeal classroom experiences do not occur in a vacuum devoid of societal contexts that are unkind to our bodies, either. Not only is constant evaluation of appearance normalized through mainstream conversations idealizing thinness (Tiggemann, 2004; Myers, 2022), whiteness (see Mady et al., 2023), youthfulness (Kenalemang-Palm, 2023), typicality (Rodgers et al., 2023) and so on, but studies have even demonstrated that attraction can play a role in how instructors are evaluated (Wolbring & Riordan, 2016) as well as how students are graded (Hernández-Julián & Peters, 2017). In short, the classroom is not a place wherein societal pressures to look and be a certain way simply melt away. Rather, trauma-informed, justice-minded perspectives on existing in a body can serve as an effective tool for combatting appearance-based challenges in the classroom and beyond: enter, body neutrality.

Though definitions of body neutrality vary, in most cases, it refers to a mindset in which “our feelings about our bod[ies] change constantly so [our vessels] are best mindfully observed without judgement; a central focus on what our bod[ies] allo[w] us to do and appreciating this will lead us to respect and care for our bod[ies]; and acknowledgement that ... self-worth encompasses both intrinsic qualities and extrinsic passions and de-emphasi[z]es our appearance” (Pellizzer & Wade, 2023, p. 439). To practice body neutrality is to engage in no harm toward one's physical body or one’s sense of self based on how one’s body appears, and does not require the full, often appearance-based acceptance many body positivity messages insist upon. Certainly, meaningful connections to instructor and/or student experiences in the classroom can be drawn from body neutrality, disability studies, fat liberation studies, and/or feminist literature. Further, there are many ways in which teaching activities about body neutrality may advance timely conversations in and about the classroom.

Accordingly, Feminist Pedagogy invites submissions for Critical Commentaries (1000-1,200 words) on approaches to teaching these topics, Original Teaching Activities (1,500-2,500 words) or Social Justice Strategies (1,000-1,750 words, not including references) that may address topics such as:

  • Teaching about body neutrality (and/or/vs. body positivity, in conjunction with antiracist pedagogy, anti-fatphobic pedagogy, etc.) in the classroom, especially as it pertains to classroom diversity, equity, and inclusion.
  • Teaching, mentoring, and researching while body neutral; how is this challenged or supported by norms of academe? What lessons must students learn to break down understandings of appearance as an infallible indicator of morals and/or health?
  • Encouraging students to query/trouble/expand what they know (and/or have been taught) about bodies, self-awareness, self-esteem, self-worth, identity, etc., and how those ideas may mesh or be at odds with body neutrality.
  • Addressing accessibility perspectives on body neutrality in curriculum design, classroom management, evaluation design, and holistic wellbeing for teachers and/or students.
  • Establishing a body-neutral community for students, staff, and faculty at your institution. What would that look like?
  • Discussing potential overlaps/points of tension/assemblages between embodiment perspectives and body neutrality perspectives on teaching/studying.
  • Any other approaches that explore the role of body neutrality (or body neutrality in combination with other feminist efforts such as fat studies or disability studies, for example) in feminist pedagogy.

We are also interested in Media and Book Reviews of texts, educational resources and documentaries useful for teaching on these subjects (500-1,000 words). We ask that criticism is constructive in nature and largely positive. Reviews should note the scope and purpose of the work and its usefulness to educators. We are particularly interested in reviews that detail ways to use the media as a teaching tool.

Submissions must follow the journal’s style and requirements. See Instructions for Authors for more information.

Authors with accepted proposals will be required to complete blind reviews of two other accepted articles. Please only submit a proposal if you can commit to this term.

The full timeline for the special issue is as follows:

  • 200-300 word Abstracts due: November 20th, 2023
  • Notice of acceptance: December 18th, 2023
  • Full drafts due: February 5th, 2024
  • Peer-reviews due: March 11th, 2024
  • Revised drafts due: April 15th, 2024

    Please send all inquiries and/or submissions to Sydney Brammer (sydney.brammer@unf.edu) with “Feminist Pedagogy Special Issue” in the subject heading.

Abstract Submission Deadline: November 20th, 2023

References

Hernández-Julián, R., & Peters, C. (2017). Student appearance and academic performance. Journal of Human Capital, 11(2), 247-262. https://doi.org/10.1086/691698

Jabali, O., Saeedi, M., Rabayaa, M., & Othman, N. (2023). Zoom dysmorphia in e-teaching: shifting the value from attributes to appearance. Education and Information Technologies, 28(6), 6781-6799. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11470-1

Kenalemang-Palm, L. M. (2022). ‘It takes a long time to become young’: A critical feminist intersectional study of Vogue’s Non-Issue. European Journal of Cultural Studies (online first). https://doi.org/10.1177/13675494231173658

Mady, S., Biswas, D., Dadzie, C. A., Hill, R. P., & Paul, R. (2023). “A Whiter Shade of Pale”: Whiteness, female beauty standards, and ethical engagement across three cultures. Journal of International Marketing, 31(1), 69-89. https://doi.org/10.1177/1069031X221112642

Myers, T. A. (2022). What about being a feminist is protective? An examination of constructs related to feminist beliefs as moderators of the relationship between media awareness and thin-ideal internalization. Body Image, 41, 248-261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.03.001

Nesher Shoshan, H., & Wehrt, W. (2022). Understanding “Zoom fatigue”: A mixed‐method approach. Applied Psychology, 71(3), 827-852. https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.12360

Pellizzer, M. L., & Wade, T. D. (2023). Developing a definition of body neutrality and strategies for an intervention. Body Image, 46, 434-442. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2023.07.006

Rodgers, J., Thorneycroft, R., Cook, P. S., Humphrys, E., Asquith, N. L., Yaghi, S. A., & Foulstone, A. (2023). Ableism in higher education: the negation of crip temporalities within the neoliberal academy. Higher Education Research & Development, 42(6), 1482-1495. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2022.2138277

Tiggemann, M. (2004). Body image across the adult life span: Stability and change. Body Image, 1(1), 29-41. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1740-1445(03)00002-0

Wolbring, T., & Riordan, P. (2016). How beauty works. Theoretical mechanisms and two empirical applications on students' evaluation of teaching. Social Science Research, 57, 253-272. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2015.12.009