Contributors are invited to write on the topic above from either a research or an activism perspective. Abstracts and contributions must be written in English and in a style accessible to a wide audience. Submit abstracts on Scholar One (https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ragn).
Full papers should be submitted by no later than 30 April, 2025
Please submit 150-200 word abstracts by January 31, 2025 to Claudia Mitchell claudia.mitchell@mcgill.ca (and cc Relebohile Moletsane moletsaner@ukzn.ac.za)
GUEST EDITORS: Claudia Mitchell & Relebohile Moletsane
At the heart of this call is the idea of deepening an understanding of the participation of young people as key players in gender-transformation. Gender-transformation sits as a guiding framework for feminist practices in Global North engagement with the Global South. At the same time, it sits as a ‘living concept’ in the everyday lives of young people in many rural contexts particularly in the Global South. However, there remains a paucity of evidence about the ‘how’ of gender-transformation and especially the idea of transformative methodologies in relation to social change. This gap is in spite of the urgency of disrupting gender norms across so many critical areas of human existence, as reflected in the 2030 targets of the Sustainable Development Goals particularly in relation to issues of critical importance to young people (social identities and sexual and reproductive health, climate justice, queer activism, employment, and mental health, to name only a few).
This themed issue of Agenda seeks to draw together stories of working with young people as critical thinkers, change makers, innovators, communicators, and leaders (UN, 2017) in the work of understanding, critiquing, and implementing Gender-Transformation. Organized around the question ‘what counts as gender-transformation?’ this call asks potential contributors to offer both conceptual and empirical studies.
• Is Gender-Transformation a useful concept? For whom?
• How and when does it align with feminist praxis?
• What are its strengths and limitations?
• How does it advance equity agendas?
We are particularly interested in the ways in which participatory visual and arts-based methodologies have been used in youth-focused community-based research. What counts as visual evidence in this work and for whom? How is gender-transformation represented and who can see it? When is ‘seeing believing’ in the world of policy dialogue?
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. Contributions are accepted in any form, prose (both theoretical and practical), poetry, narrative, interviews, and visual arts. Agenda also invites the submission of poems on the topic of womxn’s rights and gender. Submissions should contribute to developing new thinking and fresh debate on womxn’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;
• Try to pin down reasons for contradictions and point out differences of opinion;
• Provide an analysis and an argument;
• Be logical;
• Be sensitive to but not uncritical of how gender, class and race affect the reporting of an event;
• 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 gender or 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 writing 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, 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)
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 editors 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.
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.
