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Call for Abstracts
for a collection of essays on
Writing and Speaking the Body: Rhetorical and Feminist Studies
of Reproductive Technologies

Deadline: January 22, 1996

This collection of essays will address the rhetorical construction of
women's bodies and women's reproductive functions.  The essays
will focus on particular cases (historical or current) or theoretical
overviews in which the connection between language and science
or technology illuminates the attitudes, values, and goals of
reproductive science and technology. Three academic presses have
expressed a strong interest in the collection.

We invite scholars and researchers using a variety of
methodologies to submit abstracts. However, we would like the
proposed essays to approach the question of science/technology and
women's bodies, particularly reproductive functions, from the
"lens" of language and rhetoric. We imagine, therefore, that
interested authors will look at texts (for example, medical texts,
scientific articles, and transcripts from public hearings), specific
wording or language choices (for example, metaphors, definitions,
and rules and regulations), rhetorical strategies (for example,
persuasive choices, establishment of credibility, and identification
with discourse communities), or rhetorical situations (for example,
competing values, development of genres, and intersections of
knowledge, power, and discourse).

This collection was inspired by the Gender, Women, and Science
Question conference at the University of Minnesota in May 1995
and will contain a preface by the conference organizers, Sally
Gregory Kohlstedt and Helen Longino. Scholars and researchers,
including conference participants, are invited to submit an abstract
for a proposed paper to be included in the collection. The
sponsoring body for the collection is the Center for Advanced
Feminist Studies at the University of Minnesota. The editorial
collective for the collection consists of Clare Gravon (Administrator
in Center for Advanced Feminist Studies and the Center on
Women and Public Policy, Humphrey Institute); Laura Gurak
(Assistant Professor, Department of Rhetoric);  Mary Lay (Professor,
Department of Rhetoric, and Director, Center for Advanced
Feminist Studies); and Cynthia Mynnti (Co-Director, Center on
Women and Public Policy, Humphrey Institute) from the
University of Minnesota.

Interested authors should submit a two-to-three-page abstract and a
100-200-word biographical sketch by January 22, 1996 to:

                Editorial Collective--Writing and Speaking the Body
                Center for Advanced Feminist Studies
                University of Minnesota   496 Ford Hall
                224 Church Street S.E.    Minneapolis, MN 55455-0110
                FAX: 612-624-3573
                Internet: [log in to unmask]

Submissions may be made via FAX, US mail, or the internet.
Electronic files should be in ASCII or RTF format only; if you wish
to send a compressed file, binhex is the only compression format we
can accommodate.

Authors will be invited to submit papers based on successful
abstracts. Papers will be due in early summer 1996, with revisions
submitted in fall 1996. Please address any specific questions to Mary
Lay, Center for Advanced Feminist Studies at the address above, or
call 612-624-9809, or communicate via internet to
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