Many Thanks from Immediate Past President

It is a strange and wondrous thing to be stepping down as the Coalition President without our annual meeting at CCCC to mark the occasion.  I would like to thank all of you for your support as I moved into position as the President—I certainly had no idea when I agreed to the task that we would be moving through such politically turbulent times. 

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Coalition Curated Guide to #4C18!

2016 CCCC Annual Conference The Feminists Are coming

As we polish our presentations, print our posters, and pack our bags, CFSHRC has prepared a list of sessions that may be of particular interest to feminists and to CFSHRC members. This is just a sampling of the feminist sessions. Let us know what we should add by commending on facebook or twitter!

Before the conference, follow our facebook and twitter pages for updates and reminders. We will also highlight a few sessions.  During the conference, you can also follow along to the #CFSHRC hashtag on twitter. And after the conference, check our website for summaries of feminist presentations at the conference. We will see you in just a few weeks! #TheFeministsAreComing!

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Call for Nominations for the CFSHRC Advisory Board (2018-2020 Term)

The Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition seeks nominations** for its active Advisory Board for the 2018-2020 term. Both peer- and self-nominations are encouraged and accepted. Founded in 1989, and dedicated to fostering inquiry in feminist histories, theories, and pedagogies of rhetoric and composition, the Coalition promotes intersectionality, collaboration, and communication in several areas:

  • the advancement of feminist research and pedagogy across histories, locales, identities, materialities, and media;
  • the education and mentoring of feminist faculty and graduate students in scholarship, research methods, praxis, and the politics of the profession.

As an organization of dedicated individuals and groups, we seek to cultivate a dynamic, intellectually challenging, and professionally nurturing community. We welcome and sustain all who do feminist work, inclusive of all genders, sexualities, races, classes, nationalities, religions, abilities, and other identities, in their research and/or classrooms.

Most importantly, we are a busy and growing organization, offering many opportunities for involvement. Advisory Board members contribute to the Coalition in the following ways:

  • serving on organizational committees (e.g., book award, article award, research award, ad hoc committees);
  • serving on the editorial board of the peer-edited, semi-annual journal Peitho;
  • liaising with the conference organizers of our biennial Feminisms and Rhetorics conference;
  • facilitating mentoring tables at the Coalition’s annual 4Cs session;
  • and attending scheduled Advisory Board meetings during the 2018-2020 term
among other possible ways to serve!

Please submit all nominations to Tarez Graban (tarez.graban@gmail.com) by March 11, 2018. Initial nominations should include the nominee’s namecurrent institutional affiliation, and e-mail contact information.

With thanks,

Tarez Samra Graban
Vice-President, CFSHRC

**Nominees need not already be members of the Coalition, but they will be asked to join upon accepting their nomination.

CFSHRC & 4C18: Mobilizing in Several Directions

2016 CCCC Annual Conference The Feminists Are coming
 
In advance of 4C18, we would like to acknowledge some of the many ways that CFSHRC members have been responding to the NAACP Travel Advisory, the CCCC Statement about it, and subsequent discussions. We also want to underscore our support for all Coalition members and the various choices they have made in relation to the upcoming convention.

In October, the Advisory Board met and voted to cancel the Coalition’s annual Wednesday SIG. We chose not to call colleagues to meet at 4C18 both in protest of the convention location and to signal our solidarity with colleagues of color under threat in Missouri due to the circumstances that led the NAACP to issue their travel advisory. Simultaneously, we began discussions with and among various ad-hoc committees, the CCCC Task Force on Social Justice and Activism at the Convention, the KC Local Arrangements Committee, and the Coalition membership at large. Throughout, we sought concrete strategies for supporting one another, including ways of mobilizing both on- and off-site in Missouri for the annual convention.

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Peitho Journal Seeks First Web Coordinator

Peitho, the flagship journal of the Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition (CFSHRC), seeks its first web coordinator to serve a 2-year term (May 1, 2018 to April 30, 2020). As part of a highly collaborative editorial team, the web coordinator will work with Peitho’s editors to upload each issue of the journal (currently published twice per year), archive past issues, help remediate the annual 4C Wednesday night SIG into a digital format, and liaise with the Coalition’s general web coordinator as needed. Read more

Small Scholarship Program for Students in Missouri

In response to the NAACP Travel Advisory in effect for the state of Missouri, in response to the Coalition’s decision to cancel its appearance at the 4C18 SIG, and subsidized in part by a generous gift from an anonymous donor, the Coalition would like to announce that there are funds available for a small scholarship program this year.

Specifically, these funds are available to support undergraduate and graduate students currently enrolled in an English/Composition or Women’s Studies undergraduate or graduate program in the state of Missouri with demonstrated financial need to travel to other conferences in 2018.  Conferences may include (but are not limited to) RSA, WPA, Computers and Writing, Watson, Conference on Community Writing, or Cultural Rhetorics. The Coalition is pleased to offer three (3) travel awards at $300 apiece. 

Nominations for scholarships are due by May 1, 2018 to Lisa Mastrangelo (lmastrangelo919@gmail.com). Undergraduate/graduate students are encouraged to nominate themselves. All nominations should include the following items:

1) A brief cover letter and cv

2) A brief statement of eligibility/support from a current professor or advisor.

4C19 Coalition SIG CFP: Building Out From ‘The Margins’: New Directions in Intersectionality

Twenty-five years ago, in “Mapping the Margins,” Kimberlé Crenshaw provided feminist academics and activists with the critical vocabulary they needed to define identity politics at various intersections of sexism and racism, in turn equipping us with structural, political, and representational “frameworks” for thinking about the fraught or hybrid spaces we occupy. Emphasizing frameworks over “totalizing theor[ies] of identity” (Crenshaw 1244), the Coalition’s 2019 Wednesday evening session dedicates itself to an interrogation and exploration of how those intersections look today, and of where intersectionality has led us as a Coalition, and as a field.

We invite proposals for brief critical talks to form the basis of a roundtable discussion on any of the following questions: Read more

The 2016 and 2017 Coalition Award Recipients

As our coalition expands, we are delighted that the number of our awards have also expanded to celebrate the outstanding work of our members at all stages of their careers. Join us as we celebrate the winners recognized the 2017 Feminisms and Rhetorics Conference. Additionally, we hope that you will consider nominating yourself or someone you know for our upcoming awards: the Winifred Bryan Horner Outstanding Book Award and the Feminist Research GrantRead more

CFSHRC Regarding #4C18

Since we last wrote you to you, the Coalition Advisory Board has met and conducted a thorough and thoughtful discussion regarding concerns surrounding the travel advisory for Kansas City, Missouri. As a result of our discussion, and informed by the decisions made by the Queer Caucus to hold an event virtually and the Latinx Caucus to boycott the conference, the Coalition Advisory Board has voted to officially cancel the Wednesday night SIG for 2018.

This has been a difficult and painful decision for the Coalition. We have a long and engaged relationship with the Cs convention, which will continue in the future.

We encourage members to make their own decisions about attending the larger Cs conference and fully respect individual decisions.

Currently our plans to move forward include:

1. Investigating the possibility of a Coalition presence at RSA in May 2018,

2. Publishing this year’s intended Cs talks as a special edition of Peitho,

3. Identifying actions that we can take to support people of color on the ground in Missouri, specifically graduate students, faculty members, local organizations or workers

We are writing today to not only inform you of this decision, but also to ask for your suggestions, comments, and concerns for moving forward. Responses can be anonymous; if you would like feedback, please leave your contact information. Click here to leave comments: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScOSiJaDZhhDiM8aWK7VLjKlZFiwAisl-sSWfqV6dZQhilLJQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

Yours in solidarity,

The Executive Board, Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition

#FemRhet2017 Recap: Day 1

By Sweta Gyanu Baniya and Rachel Chapman

The 11th Biennial Feminisms and Rhetorics Conference 2017 (#FemRhet2017) with the theme Rhetorics, Rights, and Revolution has kicked off at the University of Dayton (UD), Ohio on Oct 04, 2017. This year also marks the 20th anniversary of the FemRhet conferences. More than 400 scholars from various institutions have gathered at the UD for the #FemRhet2017 conference this year. Read more