CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: CLIMATE JUSTICE, GENDER AND THE ARTS
Contributors are invited to submit manuscripts on the above topic from the point of view either of researchers or activists. Abstracts and contributions must be written in English and in a style accessible to a wide audience. Please submit abstracts to louhaysom@mweb.co.za or admin@agenda.org.za.
EXTENDED DEADLINE: No later than February 13, 2023
ABOUT AGENDA
Agenda has been at the forefront of feminist publishing in South Africa for the past 35 years and raises debate around women’s rights and gender issues. The journal is designed to promote critical thinking and debate and aims to strengthen the capacity of both men and women to challenge gender discrimination and injustice. The Agenda journal is an IBSS/SAPSE accredited and peer reviewed journal.
GUEST EDITORS:
Dr. Lliane Loots, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
Conceptual Rationale:
Climate change has historically been viewed as a scientific issue – a matter of physical, biological and technical systems. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s[i]most recent report, for example, is a vast collection of climate science, threats and solutions. In this paradigm of negotiating the threats of Climate Change, there is a tendency to offer up the development of green technologies as a type of miracle solution panacea for global climate problems. Yet climate change is also a human problem caused by the collective behaviours of people – mostly the wealthy – around the world. Japanese economist Yoichi Kaya summarises this viewpoint in a neat equation known as the Kaya Identity[ii]which offers an understanding that global greenhouse gas emissions are the product not just of energy use and technology, but also human population size and economic activity. As Southern feminists, we understand that both of these – population and the economy – are deeply gendered spheres of operation that speak also to intersections of (amongst other spaces/places that power operates) race, class, sexuality, and disability. So, while science (itself not a gender-neutral terrain) is important for understanding climate change, and technology may be crucial for solving some of the problems, climate activists worry that overemphasis on science may not fully offer effective climate solutions – intersectional solutions- that put women on the agenda. Thiagarajan Jayaraman[iii], working on Indian climate policy, offers,
The realization that it is not just global warming that we are dealing with, but global warming in an unequal and unjust world, has yet to sink in. Without equality and equity – in other words, without peace and security – we cannot effectively fight climate change.
The relationship between climate justice and social justice thus become a key negotiating point in confronting contemporary climate change and thus – of necessity – requires input from social and human sciences. In talking about climate change, climate action, advocacy, adaption and even loss and damages, the interrogations of how these are instigated, mitigated, confronted and engaged, become arenas of interrogating social equality – and thus of intersectional gender equality.
Climate activist, Tatiane Eaves[iv], for example, writes in relation to her own climate activism in the USA,
Climate justice relates to Black liberation because Black communities are disproportionately affected by polluted air from fossil fuel power plants, heat waves, wildfires, and storms. Likewise, climate justice is connected to Indigenous sovereignty because pipeline construction on Indigenous land pollutes the water that Indigenous communities rely on. This is unjust. You cannot have climate justice without social justice or Black liberation or Indigenous sovereignty.
In this special issue of AGENDA, as one arena of Southern feminist and African Feminist ecocritical scholarship and creative practice, interest and intervention into Climate Change, we aim to offer alternate gender mappings, navigations, interrogations, and analyses, as we look into how artists, creatives and the creative industries are responding in words, movement, dance, film, literature, graffiti, poetry, music (etc) to Climate Change and pushing Climate Justice through advocacy around social justice.
Further, understanding arts – and arts-based interventions – as advocacy strategies for addressing climate change and attaining some measure of equitable climate justice, are being used increasingly, but are seldom recognised for their significance. These are not confined to creative practices only in affluent and Northern based urban environments but feature significantly in the cultural expressions and works of indigenous peoples, women’s groups, and rural-based environmental movements. One example of this is gender and climate advocacy done by global network ONEBILLIONRISING (https://www.onebillionrising.org/). This issue of AGENDA is interested in critically tracking some of these processes and gendered arts interventions into Climate Justice.
Art holds up a mirror to society (Artaud 1938) and as such (as mentioned above) there are interesting histories and traditions of various artists whose work intersects with political activisms and social justice allowing for contemporary arts as an accessible dialogical tool for communication, inspiration and raising awareness. Further to this, and very significantly, art – in and of itself – can be a living, breathing embodied manifestation of social justice in action. This special issue of AGENDA is thus further interested in tracing these multifaceted and multidisciplinary relationships of art to/as social justice and how it intersects with the intersectional gendered politics of Climate Justice.
We are interested in critical feminist writing that;
- Theorises contemporary gendered artistic practice/s in relationship to Climate Change and Climate Justice (with a focus on the South and on specific African Feminist ecocritical thinking and practices).
- Offers sound interrogated case studies of artists in various disciplines who work at the interface of gender activism, climate justice and social change.
- Interrogate the gendered connection between Climate Justice and arts practices – with a focus on looking at arts AS social justice.
- Establish new and ongoing connection between Southern based and African feminist eco-feminist practices around Climate Justice and how they intersect and manifest in the art and in creative industries.
- Trace how youth culture – especially as it effects/affect the Southern based girl-child and young women – are impacted by arts advocacy in negotiating Climate Justice.
- Critically interrogate practices in the creative industries that produce profitable enterprises from waste-streams (“waste-to-profit”) through the arts.
- Offers creative and unusual ways – through poetry, visual photography (etc) – to embody this call.
[i]https://www.ipcc.ch/ (accessed 12 February 2022)
[ii]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaya_identity (accessed 12 February 2022)
[iii]https://en.unesco.org/courier/2019-3/climate-and-social-justice (accessed 17 February 2022)
[iv]https://sisterstem.org/2020/09/18/climate-justice-is-social-justice/ (accessed 17 February 2022)
Submission Guidelines for Agenda Journal
The following guidelines are intended to assist authors in preparing their contributions.
General
Agenda invites contributions from feminist and gender scholars, activists, researchers, policy makers, professionals, educators, community workers, students and members of womxn’s organizations and organizations interested in and concerned with gender issues.
Submissions should contribute to developing new thinking and fresh debate on women’s rights and gender equality in Africa and other developing countries.
Writers need to
- Write in an accessible and understandable style;
- Inform, educate or raise debate;
- Provide analysis and an argument;
- Ensure the introduction encapsulates the contents of the piece and that it attracts the reader’s attention by either making a controversial statement, providing a thought-provoking or new insight into the subject;
- Utilize a Black feminist lens.
We publish articles in various formats, which range from 6,000 words for more theorized articles, which form the main reference pieces in an issue, to shorter pieces with a minimum of 1,500 words.
Formats of Contributions
- Article (6 000 words max) should be based on new research and contain analysis and argument.
- Briefing is an adaptable format for writers to write on a wide range of subjects (2 500 – 4 000 words)
- Focus examines an aspect of a chosen theme in detail (4 500 words max)
- Profile looks in detail at an organisation, project or legislation, or a person (2 500 – 3 500 words)
- Report-back covers reports on meetings, conferences workshops etc
- (1 500 – 4 000 words)
- Review typically reviews books or films (1 500 – 3 000 words)
- Interview can record a conversation among a group of people or a one-on-one interview in which the writer asks the interviewee/s questions on a subject (1 500 – 3 000 words)
- Open Forum is a vehicle for debate and argument, or pieces which deal with argument and difference of opinion on a subject/issue (2 500 – 4 000 words)
- Perspective is an adaptable format in which writers are able to use a more personal reflective, narrative style (1 500 – 3 000 words)
- Poetry
Contributions should be submitted in the following format:
File type: Microsoft Word
Font: Arial
Size: 10 pt
Line spacing: single
Justification: left
Referencing: Harvard style
All submissions should have the following:
Abstract: 200 – 300 words
Keywords: approx 5 keywords
Bio: 100 – word author biography, including email address
Bio picture: head-and-shoulders photo in 300 dpi jpeg format
Contributors are encouraged to provide photos and/or graphics to illustrate their submission
Selection and Editing Process
All submissions are peer reviewed. Articles, briefing and focus pieces go through a double blind peer review process, while all other contributions are reviewed by at least one member of Agenda’s Editorial Advisory Group.
Reviewers comment on the suitability of a text for publication in the Agenda journal, as well as provide comments to help develop the piece further for publication if required. Contributors will be asked to rework the paper accordingly.
On resubmission, the piece will be assessed by the Agenda editor and a final decision made regarding its publication in the journal.
Please note that Agenda reserves the right to edit contributions with regard to length and accessibility or reject contributions that are not suitable or of poor standard.
Agenda also invites the submission of poems on the topic of women’s rights and gender.
Please note, as per Agenda’s policy, writers who have published in the journal within the last two years
WILL NOT BE ALLOWED to publish – to allow new writers to publish in Agenda.
Agenda Feminist Media Sec. 21 Company
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Postal: P O Box 61163, Bishopsgate, 4008
Telephone: +27 (0)834275737: Website: www.agenda.org.za
Board Members: Board Members: Lee Stone (Chair), Dr. Barbara Boswell, Prof. Grace A Musila, Dr.Gabisile Mkhize,
Prof. Sibusiso Moyo, Asha Moodley (EAC), Prof. Relebohile Moletsane (EAC
s.
References
Boxenbaum, E, Jones, C, Meyer, Renate E & Svejenova, S 2018, ‘Towards an articulation of the material and visual turn in organization studies’, Organization Studies, no. 39, pp. 597–616. Buckingham, S 2000, Gender and Environment, 2nd edition, Routledge, London and New York.
Castellanos, O, Sachs, CE & Tickamyer, AR (eds.) 2022, Gender, Food and COVID-19: Global Stories of Harm and Hope, Routledge, London and New York.
Chernilo, D 2017, ‘The question of the human in the Anthropocene debate’, European Journal of Social Theory, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 44–60.
Counihan, C 1999, The Anthropology of Food and Body: Gender, Meaning, and Power, Routledge, New York and London.
Crutzen, PJ & Stoermer, EF 2000, ‘The Anthropocene’, IGBP Newsletter, vol. 41, no.17, pp. 17-18.
Dalby, S 2007, ‘Anthropocene geopolitics: Globalisation, empire, environment and critique’, Geography Compass, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 103 – 118.
DeSoucey, M2016, Contested tastes: Foie gras and the politics of food, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
De Waal, A 2018, Mass starvation: The history and future of famine, Polity Press, Cambridge.
Inness, SA 2001, Cooking Lessons: The Politics of Gender and Food, Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, MD.
Lawrance, BN & de la Peña, C 2012, Local Foods Meet Global Foodways: Tasting History, Routledge, London.
Lewis, D 2015, ‘Gender, feminism and Food Studies’, African Security Review, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 414– 29.
Maathai, W 2009, The Challenge for Africa, Anchor Books, New York.
Meyers, M 2001, A Bite off Mama’s Plate: Mothers’ and Daughters’ Connections through Food, Bergin and Garvey, New York, NY.
Moore, JW (ed.) 2016, Anthropocene or Capitalocene? Nature, History, and the Crisis of Capitalism. PM Press, Oakland, CA.
Moser, C, Reinecke, J, den Hond, F, Svejenova, S & Croidieu, G 2021, ‘Biomateriality and organizing: Towards an organizational perspective on food, Organization Studies, vol. 42, no. 2, pp. 175 – 193.
Poulain, J-P 2017, The sociology of food: Eating and the place of food in society. Bloomsbury, London.
Raj, P 2008, Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System, Potobello Books, Edinburgh, UK.
Riley, KC & Paugh AL 2019, Food and Language: Discourses and Foodways Across Cultures, Routledge, New York, NY.
Ritzer, G 1993, The McDonaldization of society. An investigation into the changing character of contemporary social life Newbury Park, CA:
Schenker, J 2020, The Future of Food and Agriculture after COVID: Disruptive trends and technology that will shape the post-pandemic world, Prestige Professional Publishing, Austin, Texas.
Seager, J 1993, Earth Follies: Feminism, Politics and the Environment, Earthscan Publications, London, UK.
Shattuck, A, Holt-Giménez, E & Patel, R 2009, Food rebellions: Crisis and the hunger for justice, Fahumu Books and Grassroots International, Tallahassee, FL.
Shiva, V 2016, Stolen harvest: The hijacking of the global food supply (Culture of the land), University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, US.
Steffen W, Persson, A, Deutsch L, et al. 2011, ‘The Anthropocene: From global change to planetary stewardship’, Ambio, vol. 40, pp. 739-761.
Stuart, T 2009, Waste: Uncovering the global food scandal, London, WW Norton Co., UK.
Sutton, D & Hernandez M 2007, ‘Voices in the kitchen: Cooking tools as inalienable possessions’, Oral History, no. 35, pp. 67–76.
Theophano, J 2003, Eat My Words: Reading Women’s Lives through the Cookbooks They Wrote. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, NY.
Warren, KJ (ed.) 1997, Ecofeminism: Women, Culture, Nature, Indiana University Press, Bloomington & Indianapolis.
Submission Guidelines for Agenda Journal
The following guidelines are intended to assist authors in preparing their contributions. General Agenda invites contributions from feminist and gender scholars, activists, researchers, policymakers, professionals, educators, community workers, students and members of womxn’s organizations and organizations interested in and concerned with gender issues. Submissions should contribute to developing new thinking and fresh debate on women’s rights and gender equality in Africa and other developing countries.
Writers need to
• Write in an accessible and understandable style;
• Inform, educate or raise debate;
• Provide analysis and an argument;
• Ensure the introduction encapsulates the contents of the piece and that it attracts the reader’s attention by either making a controversial statement, providing a thought-provoking or a new insight into the subject;
• Utilize a Black feminist lens.
We publish articles in various formats, which range from 6,000 words for more theorized articles, which form the main reference pieces in an issue, to shorter pieces with a minimum of 1,500 words.
Formats of Contributions:
▪ Article (6 000 words max) should be based on new research and contain analysis and argument.
▪ Briefing is an adaptable format for writers to write on a wide range of subjects (2 500 – 4 000 words)
▪ Focus examines an aspect of a chosen theme in detail (4 500 words max)
▪ Profile looks in detail at an organisation, project or legislation, or a person (2 500 – 3 500 words)
▪ Report-back covers reports on meetings, conferences workshops etc. (1 500 – 4 000 words)
▪ Review typically reviews books or films (1 500 – 3 000 words)
▪ Interview can record a conversation among a group of people or a one-on-one interview in which the writer asks the interviewee/s questions on a subject (1 500 – 3 000 words)
▪ Open Forum is a vehicle for debate and argument or pieces which deal with argument and difference of opinion on a subject/issue (2 500 – 4 000 words)
▪ Perspective is an adaptable format in which writers are able to use a more personal reflective, narrative style (1 500 – 3 000 words)
▪ Poetry
Contributions should be submitted in the following format:
File type: Microsoft Word
Font: Arial
Size: 10 pt
Line spacing: single
Justification: left
Referencing: Harvard style
All submissions should have the following:
Abstract: 200 – 300 words
Keywords: approx 5 keywords
Bio: 100 – word author biography, including email address
Bio picture: head-and-shoulders photo in 300 dpi jpeg format
Contributors are encouraged to provide photos and/or graphics to illustrate their submission
Selection and Editing Process
All submissions are peer-reviewed. Articles, briefing and focus pieces go through a double-blind peer-review process, while all other contributions are reviewed by at least one member of Agenda’s Editorial Advisory Group.
Reviewers comment on the suitability of a text for publication in the Agenda journal, as well as provide comments to help develop the piece further for publication if required. Contributors will be asked to rework the paper accordingly. On resubmission, the piece will be assessed by the Agenda editor and a final decision made regarding its publication in the journal. Please note that Agenda reserves the right to edit contributions with regard to length and accessibility or reject contributions that are not suitable or of poor standard. Agenda also invites the submission of poems on the topic of women’s rights and gender. Please note, as per Agenda’s policy, writers who have published in the journal within the last two years WILL NOT BE ALLOWED to publish – to allow new writers to publish in Agenda.
