Special Academy Forum of Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature
The rise of the #MeToo movement has precipitated numerous revelations about the widespread problems of harassment and assault within the academy. In December 2017, for instance, Karen Kelsky of The Professor is In began a crowdsourced document in which people could anonymously report stories of harassment and assault in academia. At the time of this writing, there are over twenty-four hundred entries on Kelsky’s list, detailing everything from microaggressions to assault, the majority perpetuated by male academics upon women at all levels of their scholarly careers. Our awareness of feminist theory clearly does not insulate or exempt us from a broader culture that normalizes harassment and assault and devalues and stifles women’s voices.
In light of these (and other) revelations, Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature invites short manuscripts to be published in an upcoming Academy forum, “Academia in the Age of #MeToo.” Personal essays as well as scholarly pieces are welcome. Of particular interest are essays that consider the following themes:
- The ways in which the revelations of #MeToo have impacted the study of women’s literature or the experience of being a woman in the academy
- Disconnects between feminist theory and practice in academia
- Suggestions to make conferences safer
- Best practices for advising graduate students in the wake of recent revelations
- Ways to confront rather than enable inappropriate behavior in our own departments
- How men can be allies to women and people of color in the academy
Initial queries and abstracts are encouraged though final acceptance will be determined by the completed piece. Essays should be 1,500 words (excluding endnotes), should conform to the 16th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style, and should be submitted in Microsoft Word format. For a description of our Academy section, see the preface to volume 35, issue 2. For an example essay, see volume 37, issue 1. Please submit essays through email by 31 October 2018 to tswl@utulsa.edu.
