Fatima Sadiqi, (www.fatimasadiqi.on.ma) President of the National Union of Women’s Organizations (nuwo.org) sends word of a summer 2012 course, Gender and Society in North Africa, 6/25 – 7/10/2012.

The course seeks to acquaint students with Morocco from both a historical and a contemporary perspective and train graduate and undergraduate students, professionals, civil society activists, and civil servants in gender mainstreaming and cultural awareness raising, support and upgrade their gender-sensitive skills and competences, and deepen their knowledge of Muslim culture and gender issues and challenges in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

The course includes two modules.  Professor Fatima Sadiqi teaches Women and Gender in Fez and Morocco; Moha Ennaji teaches Contemporary Issues in North Africa.  Knowledge of Arabic is optional but recommended; the unviersity also provides classes in Moroccan colloquial Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic to beginners, intermediate and advanced students.
Cultural Activities available include a guided tour of the Medina of Fez; and excursion to Meknès and Volubilis and an excursion to Ifrane.

Application Deadline: April 29, 2012. For more information about the course and admission go to the web site http://www.inlac.net or write info@inlac.net

The institute recommends homestays for economy and for linguistic and cultural immersion.  It can help with arrangements.

Amber Kinser of East Tennessee State University has issued a call for chapters in Performing Motherhood to be published by Demeter Press.  The following link provides details: http://www.amberkinser.com/perf-mhood-cfp.html

John Perlich sends a call for chapters in a book, Modern Mythology in Popular Culture, with a deadline of  March 1, 2012. In 2010 McFarland Publishing issued a follow-up volume to Sith, Slayers, Stargates, and Cyborgs by Perlich and Whitt titled Millennial Mythmaking. This third collection seeks to bring together scholars and cultural critics from a variety of fields to examine various texts from mythic and rhetorical perspectives, including but not limited to feminist, ideological, metaphoric, narrative, and generative.  Science fiction and fantasy texts are logical subjects, but editors encourage a broad range of mythic applications such as sport, religion, history, reality television, music, toys, games, nature. Obvious issues for analysis include ethnicity, sex and gender.
Proposals should include (1) title page with contact information for authors, (2) biographical page (a brief biographical statement for all authors), (3) a proposal (maximum of 5 pages excluding references) following the current APA Publication Manual.  Final chapters will be limited to 30 pages.  First drafts of chapters selected for inclusion must be submitted by June 15, 2012.

Direct questions and proposals to either co-editors: David Whitt, Nebraska Wesleyan University at dfw@nebrwesleyan.edu or John Perlich at jperlich@hastings.edu

Intersections: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Gender and Sexuality is a Georgia Gwinnett College conference on Saturday, April 7 featuring student, faculty, and student/faculty collaborative projects relating to gender and sexuality across all disciplines and historical periods. The conference will include concurrent panels throughout the day and a dinner reception. We invite submissions for individual 20 minute-presentations or pre-constituted panels. All work (i.e. creative, academic, professional) touching upon on the subject of gender is welcome.

Suggested topics include, but are not limited to, gender/sexuality in relation to: Campus Life, Sexuality and Relationships, Film/Drama; Literature; Popular Culture; The Arts; Health/Medicine; Politics and Activism; Religion/Spirituality; Cross(ing) Cultures; Regional Issues; Topical Issues; Current Events

250 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday, February 24, 2012. Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to both Organizing Chairs. Abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, PDF or RTF formats with the following information, in this order: a) author(s), b) email address, c) title of abstract, d) body of abstract. E-mails should use the following as subject line: Intersections Conference Submission. We will acknowledge receipt of all proposals submitted for review. Please email proposals to rflynn1@ggc.edu and rbowser@ggc.edu

Special thanks to Pride Alliance and Science and History Club for contributions and support.

Alena Amato Ruggerio of South Oregon University has a call out for a book on media depictions of women as brides, wives, and in other roles. Papers already under consideration  for this edited book  include topics such as Desperate Housewives, Bridezillas, Sarah Palin, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, and A Baby Story.  The goal is to complement these with more chapters on women in film, blogs/websites, and news coverage. The scholarship should be previously unpublished, and can use any rhetorical or critical/cultural approach.  Pieces that productively complicate the topic categories are especially welcome.

Submitters are asked submit name, professional title, institutional affiliation, abridged curriculum vitae, and manuscript in Word or RTF format to Alena Ruggerio at Alena.Ruggerio@sou.edu by January 30, 2012. Ruggerio notes that January 30 involves a tight turnaround, but she has space to add chapters and hopes to interest scholars willing to revise an existing conference paper or to develop an idea quickly to contribute to an exciting prospective anthology.