Exciting Feminisms and Rhetorics News!

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I am pleased to share news that the Advisory Board of the Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition recently passed the following motion regarding the 2023 Feminisms and Rhetorics Conference:

That the Coalition delay of the re- release of the call for 2023 Feminisms and Rhetorics site hosts until the spring of 2021 and require within this call that potential site hosts front themes of anti-racist activism and center the work of feminists of color.

I also want to make you aware that several members of the Advisory Board and the broader Coalition have started work in two task forces: one that seeks to “fill the gap” left by the cancellation of the 2021 FemRhet Conference, and one that aims to investigate and propose potential structural and procedural changes to the FemRhet Conference.

In the remainder of this post, you will find background information about the timing of the call for FemRhet 2023 site hosts and the decision to front anti-racist activism and the work of feminists of color at that conference. In addition, you will learn more about the task forces. As you read and consider these items, please know that your input is strongly encouraged and most welcome. Please contact me (mailto:president@cfshrc.org) or the coordinators of the task forces (their contact information is below) with any ideas, recommendations, or feedback. Members of the Executive Board are also happy to talk through ideas with you if you are already thinking about submitting a site proposal for the 2023 conference. Please direct communications about possibly hosting the FemRhet 2023 to me or to Tarez Graban, Immediate Past President, at tarez.graban.gmail.com.

Background and Task Forces Details

During its virtual annual business meeting in March 2020, the Coalition Advisory Board voted not to co-host a Feminisms and Rhetorics conference in 2021. At that same meeting, the Board also decided to temporarily suspend site-host proposals for the 2023 Feminisms and Rhetorics conference. These decisions were made in response to ongoing conversations about the workflows, formats, and processes associated with the conference and in light of COVID-related uncertainty regarding the possibility of planning for and holding a large gathering in the near future.

With these decisions and situations in mind, the Coalition established two task forces:

  1. An “Alternative Interactions” (AI) task force that is investigating ways to enable conversations, education, mentoring, and other activities that would have occurred at our CCCC 2020 Wednesday evening action hour and during the FemRhet 2021 conference. Lisa Shaver (lisa_shaver@baylor.edu) is coordinating this task force.
  2. A “Workflow, Process, and Format” (WPF) task force that is reviewing past practices and future possibilities related to these aspects of the Feminisms and Rhetorics conference and building on the work of the Coalition’s FemRhet Policies Task Force from last year. Jessica Enoch (jenoch1@umd.edu) is coordinating this task force.

To ensure that our WPF task force members have time to complete their work and that we can, as desired, incorporate changes that they might recommend, and to allow more time for clarity with regard to how institutions and communities will resume life and business in the wake of the pandemic, it seemed advisable for a revised call for site-hosts for FemRhet 2023 to be released in the spring of 2021.

We also felt that the second part of the motion is an essential part of larger Coalition efforts to amplify voices of scholars of color, interrogate white privilege, and promote anti-racist organizational change. While many members and supporters of the Coalition have critiqued white supremacy and engaged in racial justice work in the past, current events and the enduring, centuries-long oppressions and injustices that inform them make it undeniably clear that this anti-racist emphasis for the next FemRhet gathering is not just reactive but is necessary to promote the Coalition’s mission. There are many ways to accomplish this focus in a conference gathering, and members of the Executive Board, as noted above, are glad to make themselves available to discuss ideas in advance of the re-issued call for site-host proposals.

With gratitude and hope,

Wendy Sharer, President CFSHRC

Feminisms & Rhetorics Conference 2021 and 2023 Updates

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Dear Friends of the Coalition,

In light of the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 and the time at which larger gatherings may again be possible, and in respect for already ongoing conversations regarding future directions for the Feminisms and Rhetorics conference, the CFSHRC Advisory Board, at our meeting late last month, made the decision not to hold a Feminisms and Rhetorics conference in 2021. At the same meeting, the Board agreed to form a task force to explore ways that we might support Coalition members and friends via alternative interactions to help fill in the “conference gap.” Please stay tuned for future engagement opportunities!

As you may be aware, the Coalition sponsors two awards—the Nan Johnson Outstanding Graduate Student Travel Award and the Shirley Wilson Logan Diversity Scholarship Award—that support attendees and presenters at the Feminisms and Rhetorics conference. We are looking into alternative possibilities for implementing these awards for the 2021 cycle.

In addition, we encourage Coalition members to apply for two awards that we would have announced at the 2021 FemRhet conference: the Presidents Dissertation Award and the Lisa Ede Mentoring Award. Winners of these awards for 2021 will be announced via alternative channels. More details about each of these awards, along with information about how to apply, can be found here: https://cfshrc.org/awards/.

Lastly, the Advisory Board decided to temporarily suspend the submission process for site host applications for the Feminisms and Rhetorics 2023 conference. Although the unknowns with regard to meeting regulations, travel, and the like are still many, we hope to reopen the call for hosts by no later than September 15, 2020. In the meantime, if you have questions regarding conference hosting, either in advance of submitting a proposal or otherwise, please reach out to Wendy Sharer, CFSHRC President, at president@cfshrc.org. You are also welcome to view our recently updated conference-hosting FAQs at https://cfshrc.org/femrhet-conference-call-for-hosts/.

Be safe and stay well,

Wendy Sharer, President

Announcing the Shirley Wilson Logan Diversity Scholarship

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We are pleased to announce a new award in honor of one Dr. Shirley Wilson Logan, a mentor to us all from whom we continue to learn.

The purpose of the Shirley Wilson Logan Diversity Scholarship award is to encourage feminist scholarship (particularly historical in nature) by graduate scholars from diverse and historically un or underrepresented groups. The award will be given to first-time presenters at the Feminisms and Rhetorics conference. The award includes both a monetary award ($500 each for up to 6 awardees) and participation in a specially designated session at the Feminisms and Rhetorics conference.  Applicants should have an already-accepted presentation for the conference.  

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2019 Coalition Awards

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We are pleased to recognize the following feminist scholars for their outstanding work. We thank these scholars for the care, honestly, and commitment they show to feminists in history and present of our fields and professions. Thank you to the many many people who served on awards committees, and to Lisa Mastrangelo for leading the expanding and important awards committees. The following awards announcements were composed by Lisa Mastrangelo:

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2019 James Madison University

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Call for FemRhet Archives!

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Dear Coalition Friends,

As we prepare for the upcoming Feminisms and Rhetorics Conferences, I would like to put out a call for some images and videos you have reflecting key moments in the history of the organization (such as documents from the Wednesday night SIGs, Coalition member meet-ups) and the Feminisms and Rhetorics Conference.

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Post FemRhet musings

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Greetings all,

Now that we’ve had a few days at home to recover from yet another fabulous Feminisms and Rhetorics, I wanted to write to you as the President to address some comments and concerns that came up before the conference started, including the registration cost.  Many of you commented that you are concerned with the registration cost and wondered where your money might really been going. Read more

#FemRhet2017 Recap: Day 4

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Last Day of FemRhet 2017!

By Karrieann Soto Vega and Patricia Fancher

The close knit community that the Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Writing is stronger than ever. Throughout the day you could see people collaborating in dynamic and interactive panels, which contributed to building new relationships and strengthening old ones. Conference goers were able to learn about Publishing an Edited Collection as a Process Approach, and Approaches to Feminist Research in Technical Communication, for example. They also had opportunities to work through the complexity of asking for a Consent to Discomfort, and engage in critical conversations about asking students to acknowledge and question their own privilege. This last day, most folks seemed to be full of appreciation for a job well-done by the organizers and staff at the University of Dayton. Read more

#FemRhet2017 Recap: Day 3

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By Jennifer Burgess

#Day 3 of #FemRhet2017 started off with another fantastic session of #FemRhetYoga.

At 8 am, morning meetings and a workshop kicked off, offering attendees ample opportunity to engage with the conference theme of rhetorics rights(r)evolutions. Brenda Brueggeman, Jane Detweiler and Patti Wojahn led the Feminist Leadership Workshop (8 am – 11:15 am), while many others led engaging morning meetings around the topic of “Organizing for Activism.” The “Organizing for Activism” were “devoted to envisioning, strategizing, and planning activism that bridges feminist academic work to activist work outside the academy.

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#FemRhet 2017 Recap: Day 2

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By Sherita Roundtree and Laura Tetreault

Day two of the 11th Biennial Feminisms and Rhetorics invited conference goers to begin their day with an early morning #FemRhetYoga session led by Sara Moseley, where “everybody & everybody” was welcome. A series of concurrent sessions in the morning led to three plenary sessions during lunch. The plenaries centralized one aspect from the conference theme (“Rhetorics, Rights, (R)evolutions”) by recognizing Berkenkotter, Enos, and Swearingen as feminist rhetorical studies foremothers; understanding “the intersection of academic and public feminist rhetorical practices”; and revisiting the history of the relationship between the Coalition and the conference while imagining its future. After an afternoon of more concurrent sessions and a meet and greet sponsored by the Medical Rhetoric community, the evening ended with a beautiful evening reception at the Dayton Art Institute. We look forward to an exciting day three of the conference and continuing to follow the conversations on social media. #FemRhet2017

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