CALL FOR PAPERS
GENDER IN THE EUROPEAN TOWN: MEDIEVAL TO MODERN
University of Southern Denmark, Odense,
22-25 May 2013

As places which fostered and disseminated key social, economic,
political and cultural developments, historically towns have been
central to the creation of gendered identities and the transmission of
ideas across local, national and transnational boundaries. The Gender
in the European Town Network invites proposals for papers of 20
minutes, completed panels (3 papers, chair and commentator), and
poster sessions.

The Conference will be organised in three main strands. We encourage
papers that address one of the strands, or proposals that cross the
theme boundaries. They should also explore what influence gender has
on the shape of towns themselves, as a force for change. We welcome
local studies as well as more comparative approaches and encourage
historiographical, theoretical and empirical considerations.

Keynote Speakers
Professor Elisabeth Cohen, York University, Toronto, Canada
Professor Rachel Fuchs, Arizona State University, USA
Professor Hannu Salmi, University of Turku, Finland
Professor Pamela Sharpe, Hobart University, Tasmania, Australia
Professor Amanda Vickery, Queen Mary, University of London, UK

Political culture and Civic Identity
We want to discuss how civic identity and citizenship were negotiated
and used in the urban space and how these were established and
institutionalized. Proposals could include:
• Gendered civic identity in different periods of time
• Gender and different sites of political actions
• Political culture and political actions
• Religion as politics
• Relations between local civic identity and national political development
• Intersectional discussions of how changing social conditions
interacted with gender and citizenship

Space Place Environment: Rethinking Space
The role of gender in shaping, and being shaped by, space and place,
particularly in the urban environment, provides historians and
cultural geographers with the opportunity to look afresh at the
changing nature of the town and its inhabitants over time. Proposals
could include:
• Historiography of spatial studies
• Gendered urban environment in historical process
• Meanings of space
• Urban places as gendered meaning makers
• New directions in the study gendered urban space

Stretching the urban economy
The aim of this strand is to explore the influence of gender on the
economic shape of towns and the ways in which men and women
articulated their relationship to the urban economy. We encourage
papers that stretch the traditional idea of economy by exploring
different types of markets and nexus. Proposals could include:
• Workplace organisation / relationships
• Consumption and production interfaces
• Networks (urban rural links, family businesses …)
• Cosmopolitanism in economic systems
• Influence of econo-political debates
• Gendered illicit economy

Proposals of 200 words for papers or posters should be submitted to
[email protected] by 26 October 2012. For further information and
submission details see: www.sdu.dk/geneton.
Dr Deborah Simonton
University of Southern Denmark
Kolding , Denmark
Phone: (+45) 6550 1342
Email: [email protected]
Visit the website at http://www.sdu.dk/geneton