CALL FOR PAPERS

 

eGirls, eCitizens:  Putting Technology Theory, Policy & Education into Dialogue with Girls’ and Young Women’s Voices

Deadline:  31 December 2013

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Online connectivity is rapidly becoming essential to social, cultural, economic and political participation, especially among girls and young women who are leading producers of online content.   Interestingly, initially utopic predictions from policymakers about the pot of gold sitting at the end of the information superhighway and from critical scholars about the emancipatory potential of participation in digital media are increasingly interlaced with dystopic concerns associated with the mass uptake of networked technologies by youth, particularly girls and young women.  Policymakers have tended to focus upon issues such as online child pornography, online luring, cyberbullying, and non-consensual disclosure of intimate images.  Critical scholars, in turn, have raised concerns about misuse of personal information, online misogyny, racism and homophobia, poor digital literacy skills, and underlying economic models that shape users into consumers, rather than citizens.  And yet, all too often, girls’ voices are left out of theoretical, policy and educational dialogue about online issues that directly affect them.

 

The goal of this collection is to reframe the discussion in ways that make space for more equitable and empathetic responses, rather than polarized utopic/dystopic debate.  We aim to bring together cutting edge interdisciplinary insights that:  explore the first hand wisdom of girls about their online existences (including new empirical findings); critically analyse the equality, privacy and gender performativity implications of the digital environment and its impacts on girls’ online participation; critically assess the ways in which stakeholders construct girls in theoretical, policy and educational discourses; and suggest future approaches and best practices that are premised on girls’ own understandings of their needs and aspirations in an increasingly digitized society.

 

This call for papers seeks innovative, emancipatory scholarship for an interdisciplinary edited collection of original works.  We welcome submissions from a variety of perspectives and academic disciplines, including:  law, communication studies, criminology, sociology, education, public and administrative studies, politics, women’s studies and media studies.  We encourage authors to consider the impact/importance of interdisciplinary collaborative efforts to better ensure opportunities for girls and young women to meaningfully participate in digital society and in public life more generally.

 

Topics may include (but are not limited to):

• Gender and online citizenship
• Gender and commercialism
• Gender implications of online surveillance
• Media stereotypes, sexualization and online content
• Gender and online safety
• The performance of gender in online environments
• Discriminatory online harassment
• Cyberbullying
• Non-consensual disclosure of sexual images

 

Abstract submission:

Interested contributors should send a 300-500 word abstract describing the paper they would propose to present at the workshop, along with a 200 word bio to jbailey@uottawa.ca no later than 31 December 2013.

 

Those invited to contribute to the collection will be notified by 15 January 2014 and full papers will be due 1 May 2014.

 

Please direct questions to collection editors:

Jane Bailey, jbailey@uottawa.ca Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, Canada.

Valerie Steeves, vsteeves@uottawa.ca Department of Criminology, University of Ottawa, Canada.