CFP: Women in science, women of science

4-6 June 2009
Université Stendhal Grenoble III
UFR d'Etudes Anglophones CEMRA 3016

International pluridisciplinary conference

Women in science, Women of science: figures and representations from 18th
century to present.

Scientific knowledge has always been, both empirically and politically, a
masculine stronghold. Since the mid-19th century, however, despite
institutional and cultural resistance, women have progressively gained
access to scientific studies and careers.

The first theme of study will focus on emblematic female scientists of the
18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Papers may concentrate on historical,
social and political analyses of how, why and when women "infiltrated" the
scientific world and (re-) appropriated scientific discourse at different
moments in History. Another possible approach is to analyse the reactions
of the scientific community/ the press… to such women.

The second theme of study will analyse the evolution of (pseudo-)
scientific discourse on women and women's condition (for example medical
or eugenist discourse, etc).

The third theme will be devoted to fictional representations: how does the
popular culture construct and vehicle images of women of science and women
in the world of science? From the famous scientist's wife/daughter to the
androgynous cyborg of feminist science-fiction, to what extent have these
representations evolved over time? What impact did the feminist movement
of the 1970s have on how women are seen and how they see themselves in
relation to the sciences? Papers which include studies of television,
cinema and various genres of pulp-fiction will be welcome.

The conference will be followed by a publication.

Deadline for submissions: November 14th 2008

Please send a 300- to 350- word abstract (in French or in English) to the
co-chairs

Donna.Andreolle@u-grenoble3.fr
Veronique.Molinari@u-grenoble3.fr
And to the research secretary
Agnes.Vere@u-grenoble3.fr with the heading «WS abstract, copy»

BAVS 2008

The call for papers for the 2008 Conference of the British Association for Victorian Studies, which will be held at the University of Leicester from 1-3 September, is available here.

The conference theme is 'Victorian Feeling: Touch, Bodies, Emotion' and plenary speakers include Paul White and Rebecca Stott.

"This interdisciplinary conference seeks to address all aspects of nineteenth-century tactile, emotional and embodied experience. Drawing on three decades of rich attention to Victorian bodies inspired by thinkers as diverse as, for example, Bakhtin, Foucault, and Poovey, this event pursues and endeavours to contribute to new developments in the ways that we can conceive of physical and psychical experience in this period. Alongside attention to personal feeling and its expression in verbal, visual and aural culture, we encourage contributions that address collective and (anti)social experiences, political, philosophical, economic, scientific and religious sensibilities, cultures of feeling and interpersonal relations."

The deadline for paper proposals is 31st March 2008.

3rd March

Join us for our final meeting of term from 7.30-9pm in the upstairs seminar room at Darwin College as we discuss two stories about multiple worlds and uncertainty:

• Jorge Luis Borges, "The garden of forking paths" (1941). Several English translations available, e.g. by Helen Temple and Ruthven Todd in Ficciones, ed. A. Kerrigan. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1962, pp. 89-101.
• Fred Hoyle, "A jury of five". In Element 79. New York: New American Library, 1967, pp. 114-132.

All welcome!

18th February

Our next meeting will take place in the upstairs seminar room of Darwin College from 7.30-9pm on Monday 18th February. We'll be reading some literary uses of the new physics, all of which can be found in the photocopied packs in the Whipple Library boxfile:

• Aldous Huxley, Those Barren Leaves, Part V, Chapter 1. London: Chatto and Windus, 1925, pp. 339-348.
• Robert Frost, "Version" (1962). We will use the complete text of this poem, as published in The Poetry of Robert Frost, ed. E. C. Lathem. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966, p. 427.
• Michael Roberts, "On mechanical hallelujahs, or how not to do it". Poetry Review, Vol. XIX, 1928, pp. 433-8 (esp. pp. 437-8).
• Robert Frost, "Education by Poetry" (1931). In Selected Prose of Robert Frost, ed. H. Cox & E. C. Lathem. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1966, pp. 33-46 (esp. pp. 36-41).

All welcome!

Darwin Day 2008

DARWIN DAY 2008

TUESDAY, 12th FEBRUARY 2008, from 9.00 a.m.

Arthur Thomson Hall, The Medical School, University of Birmingham

Please find the updated programme for the University of Birmingham Darwin Day 2008 here.

Professor Dame Gillian Beer DBE will be participating, giving a repeat performance of her
recent Romanes lecture. In addition, Emma Darwin (novelist and Darwin descendant) will be
contributing a few words.