CFS: Global South Feminist Scholar Award

Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso Discussion
Feminist Theory and Gender Studies Section (FTGS) of the ISA
Global South Feminist Scholar Award
Deadline for Nominations: 18 October 2021

About the Award

This award is conceived to recognise the significant contributions of mid-career to senior scholars in and from the Global South to feminist and gender scholarship in IR broadly defined. Hegemonic Euro- and West-centrism often renders the important work of this category of scholars invisible as study after study from within and without the ISA has shown. Because their subjects, methods, sources, resources, theories and frameworks are evaluated according to standards of scholarship set by the Global North academy, this work is often devalued and invisibilized. At the same time, scholars from the North, feminist or not, draw upon these and other indigenous knowledges, often without acknowledgement, to better situate their own research on those contexts.

Thus, this award addresses the acknowledged tendency for epistemologies of the Global South to be marginalised and unaccounted for both in IR specifically, and global knowledge production in general, and for feminist scholarship to be diminished within the various disciplines. It aims to decentre whiteness, recognise other universes of knowledge, acknowledge the contributions of Global South studies to the global academy, and engender the decolonisation of the field of feminist and gender studies, and of international studies itself.

In doing these, the proposed award enhances the ongoing efforts at inclusion and transformation within the FTGS, complementing existing awards which recognise excellence in feminist research, while at the same time filling a gap in redefining excellence in more global and inclusive terms.

Eligibility

  • Scholars in the area of feminist theory and gender studies whose scholarship have extended the frontiers of the discipline and advanced our understanding about Global South contexts in particular

  • Must be from the Global South and based at institutions located there 

  • Must have made significant and demonstrable impact (locally or internationally) on the fields of feminism, gender and international studies, broadly defined, either through scholarship and teaching, mentoring, leadership, policy-relevant work, or any combination of these

  • Targets mid-career to senior scholars specifically

  • Nominees need not be members of ISA and FTGS at the time of nomination, but awardees are expected to become members of ISA and FTGS upon conferment of the award

Nominations

The award committee eagerly solicits nominations from all across the globe of individuals who meet the above criteria. Given the structural barriers already identified above, the newly-constituted award committee will also actively reach out to individuals, institutions and networks in the Global South for nominations.

  • Nominators may submit (a) a nomination letter highlighting the fitness of the nominee for this award (b) nominee’s abridged CV, no more than 5 pages long, and (c) supporting letters (if available) from persons familiar with the nominee’s scholarship and work.

  • Nomination and supporting letters should not exceed two pages each.

  • Self-nominations are welcome.

Prize

The recipient will receive a certificate and a cash prize of $800.

How to apply

Submit all documents by email to the chair of the award committee, Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso, yacob-halisoo@babcock.edu.ng. The deadline for nomination this year is October 18, 2021.

About the FTGS

The Feminist Theory and Gender Studies section of the International Studies Association brings together scholars who apply feminist theory to International Relations or look at the field through a gender lens. For more information, visit: https://www.isanet.org/ISA/Sections/FTGS.