Call for Papers – Women and Evil
The Women’s Studies Session of The South Atlantic Modern
Language Association (SAMLA) invites proposals for paper
presentations at the annual meeting of the South Atlantic Modern
Language Association (SAMLA) to be held November 12-14, 2004,
at the Hotel Roanoke and Convention Center in Roanoke, Virginia.
Deadline for abstract submission: 3/31/04
If one subject has fascinated human beings since the
beginning of time—it is sex. But if there are two such topics, evil is
a close runner-up. How people, the very same capable of
experiencing love, loyalty, and beauty, can also rape, torture, and
murder their fellow human beings has intrigued and troubled both
the wise and naïve. Philosophers and theologians have debated
evil—its definition and significance—for millennia. And yet today,
even despite its prolific public appearance in political discourse
after September 11th, we are no closer to understanding this
grave topic. If evil exists, if it is timeless, if it is important, then
surely this conversation should not be left to right-wing ideologues
who might use it as a code word to inspire morally questionable
projects of their own. Nor is it likely in our interest to get rid of the
word altogether, relegating it to the discard pile of culturally-
constructed concepts—would this not leave us morally afloat,
unable to make any significant pronouncements about our ethical
universe?
This panel is interested in the problem of evil from the
perspective of women and feminists: groups intimately affiliated
with evil’s material image, but equally historically silent on the
topic. From Eve, Lilith, Medea, Medusa, and countless fictional
stepmothers, to Mata Hari, New England “witches,” femme fatales,
the developing phenomena of female suicide bombers, and
Aileen Wuornos (a rare example of female serial killers), “evil”
women have fascinated the world. Women in general, and their
bodies in particular, have also been aligned with evil and sin (and
pollution, or in Kristeva’s language, “the abject”).
Proposals should address one or more of the following
topics and questions: What is (or isn’t) feminist evil? What
contributions can feminist theory bring to preexisting arguments
about evil (philosophical, theological, political, etc.)? Can
feminism explain why there isn’t a female Hitler, for example? Or
is there? What is the relationship between feminist icons and
evilness? Why might feminists have an interest (discursive,
rhetorical, activist) in distinguishing evil from, say, wickedness or
weakness? By contrast, why might feminists want to dismantle/
deconstruct the idea of good versus evil, as they have done with
other binaries? Why should feminism care about evil at all? What
historical/materialist circumstances have precluded (or prompted)
evil from women? How are discourses of evil and woman taken
up in literature, film, popular media, politics, theology, and
philosophy? Can evil ever be good or politically radical or
constructive, and if so, should feminism try to reclaim evil for its
own revolutionary/productive aims?
Papers may (and are encouraged to) deal with specific texts
and/or the question of women and evil in general, but they should
also endeavor to offer a feminist definition of evil and/or
specifically challenge this category of inquiry.
Please email a 300-500 word abstract and a brief professional
biography by midnight, March 31, 2004, to:
Eugenie Brinkema, subject line “SAMLA 2004”, at:
brinkema@buffalo.edu; please also cc: Erin Sells at
esells@emory.edu.
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