CFP Combahee at 40: New Conversations and Debates in Black Feminism

CALL FOR PAPERS

COMBAHEE AT 40: NEW CONVERSATIONS AND DEBATES IN BLACK FEMINISM

Co-editors:

Barbara Ransby, Editor of Souls and President of the National Women’s Studies Association

Barbara Smith, co-author of the 1977 Combahee River Collective statement

Margo Okazawa-Rey, Elihu Root Visiting Professor in Women's and Gender Studies, Hamilton College, and member of the Combahee River Collective

We are pleased to announce a special issue of Souls to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Black feminist manifesto, The Combahee River Collective (CRC) statement. Drafted by Black lesbian activists, Barbara Smith, Demita Frazier and Beverly Smith, and published in 1977, the document is seen as a foundational text for U.S.-based Black feminism. The group took its name in honor of Harriet Tubman’s 1863 military action against Confederate troops at the Combahee River in South Carolina. The CRC statement foreshadowed the framework of intersectionality, a term later coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, building on the work of Angela Davis, Frances Beal, Audre Lorde, Barbara Smith and others. The CRC statement not only indicted patriarchy and homophobia but also articulated a sharp critique of capitalism, war and imperialism. Grounded in their own lived experience, the authors of the CRC statement outlined a vision for political movement work that recognized the intimate and reinforcing nature of different systems of oppression. The CRC statement is a part of a larger Black Left and American feminist tradition and archive.

Souls encourages the submission of papers that address the legacy and impact of the CRC statement on late 20th and 21stcentury feminist, Black, and Left politics. We also encourage the submission of papers that take up any of the following themes addressed in the document:

• Black internationalism 
• Race and sexuality
• Anti-black violence
• The Black Left
• Intersectionality
• Identity politics
• Black anti-capitalism
• Black women’s political organization
• Opposition to imperialism
• Black women’s reproductive and sexual freedom
• The role of Black LGBTQIA people in political leadership in the Black freedom movement and/or other movements and campaigns

Scholarly articles with full citations will be peer reviewed.

***Final Submission Deadline: Midnight PST March 31, 2017***

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

SOULS only accepts manuscripts by electronic submission. Manuscripts are peer-reviewed by members of our Editorial Working Group (EWG) and our Editorial Advisory Board (EAB), as well as other affiliated scholars.

All submissions must indicate that the manuscript contains original content, has not previously been published, and is not under review by another publication. Authors are responsible for securing permission to use copyrighted images, tables, or materials from a copyrighted work in excess of 500 words. Authors must contact original authors or copyright holders to request the use of such materials in their articles.

Upload submissions here:

http://www.editorialmanager.com/souls/

CONTENT

DCP: In the pattern of the critical black intellectual tradition of W.E.B. DuBois, Souls articles should include the elements of "description," "correction," and/or "prescription": thickly, richly detailed descriptions of contemporary black life and culture; corrective and analytical engagements with theories and concepts that reproduce racial inequality in all of its forms; and/or an analysis that presents clear alternatives or possibilities for social change.

Originality: Articles should make an original contribution to the literature. We do not consider manuscripts that are under review elsewhere.

FORM OF ARTICLES:

Length: Articles published in Souls generally are a minimum of 2,500 words in length, but not longer than 8,500 words, excluding endnotes and scholarly references.

CMS and Clarity: All articles should conform to the Chicago Manual of Style. Scholarly references and citations usually should not be embedded in the text of the article, but arranged as endnotes in CMS form. Souls favors clearly written articles free of excessive academic jargon and readily accessible to a broad audience.

Critical: Souls aspires to produce scholarship representing a critical black studies – analytical and theoretical works in the living tradition of scholar/activist W.E.B. Du Bois. Souls is an intellectual intervention that seeks to inform and transform black life and history.

Please address questions to: Marco Roc, Souls Managing Editor, mroc2@uic.edu