Connecting Circles of Knowledge & Action: Coalitions, Dissents, Faultlines and Fusions

Tamaya calls!  As you deal with the daily demands of your workplaces, set your sites on a place of peace and tranquility, where we will gather from February 7-10, 2013.  SWS has gone through significant transitions this year. Let’s get together in Tamaya to regroup and renew ourselves. 

We are preparing for an intellectual feast.   The theme for next year is Connecting Circles: Research/Activist Knowledge in the 21^st century.  We are now aware of the ways that knowledge travels through our transnational networks.  Most of us connect to these global circles of knowledge through virtual networks; others rely on international conferences and publications to keep abreast of knowledge generated in different parts of the world.  

There are many such global, regional, local circles of knowledge; many emphasize themes that are not foremost on our minds. Researchers and activists organize knowledge in diverse ways to express and address gendered/racialized social realities.  We will continue our efforts to connect to such circles of knowledge in Tamaya and reflect on the current fissures and fusions.  Three renowned scholar activists—Jane Bennett (South Africa), Amina Mama (South Africa, US) and Margaret Abraham (US)—have agreed to be our plenary speakers.  I hope you will look through Feminist Africa and the Africa Gender Institute website (http://agi.ac.za/journals) to learn about Professor Mama and Professor Bennett’s and foundational work. Their current foci on gender, social and sexual violence, security and human rights will open up many conversations.  We will also hear from Professor Margaret Abraham, Vice President for Research, International Sociological Association, and learn about her perspective on democratization and social justice.  There will be many opportunities for conversations and exchanges of ideas.  

We will also focus on circles closer to home.  We continue to deal with significant discrimination in our workplaces, especially as universities rapidly embrace profit-making initiatives.  Do we face similar challenges?  Can we share strategies across worksites?  How can we be proactive in creating more feminist spaces in our lives?   Come and hear about battles and successes.