CFP – Disability and Girlhood: Transnational Perspectives

Special Issue of
Girlhood Studies
An Interdisciplinary Journal

For a special issue of Girlhood Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal,
“Disability and Girlhood: Transnational Perspectives” we invite
manuscripts (no longer than 6,500 words including the abstract,
article, bio, acknowledgements and notes (if any), and references)
that explore the critical intersections and tensions between the two contemporary fields, girlhood studies and disability studies; thus far this has been inadequately explored in both theoretical literature and empirical studies. This exploration is necessary because disability studies can actively disrupt normative notions of girlhood in transnational contexts mediated by the intersectional politics of identity and constituted through ableist social, political, and economic hierarchies that have concrete implications for developing transformative social policy.

We encourage the submission of manuscripts that engage the following questions: How does the politics of disability have an impact on and inform the actual conditions/experiences of disabled girls within transnational contexts? How do dominant discourses framing the subjectivities/identities of disabled girls at the intersections of race, class, gender identity, and sexuality become normalized and institutionalized in contemporary transnational contexts? What are the impacts of multinational institutions such as the World Bank, the World Health Organization, UNICEF and Human Rights Watch in shaping the life experiences of disabled girls in the context of various international disability rights movements of the twenty-first century? What are the theoretical and empirical
challenges that inform social constructions of girlhood and disability within the complex web of other intersectional identities?

To transform traditional boundaries between disability studies and girlhood studies within the context of the global North and South, we also invite scholarship that engages the politics of research
in both hemispheres in relation to disabled girls. We are interested in exploring how scholarship that examines the intersection of disability and girlhood can disrupt exclusion in the face of neo-colonial, neo-imperialist, and neo-liberal ideologies. In what ways can a transnational politics of activism trouble the neo-liberal discourse of inclusion for disabled girls? What theoretical and empirical interventions can have an impact on the advancement of social justice for disabled girls in local, national, and transnational contexts? In addition to these theoretical and empirical questions, we also invite the submission of alternative formats/methodologies that expand the fields of both girlhood studies and disability studies such as personal narratives, visual methodologies, poetry, fiction, and artwork.

Contributions to this themed issue may address the following topics:
• Theoretical constructions of identity/subjectivity as constituted at the intersection of girlhood
and disability in the local, national, and transnational contexts
• Alternative formulations of citizenship rights for disabled girls in the context of global neocolonialism,
neo-liberalism, and transnational capitalism
• Violence against disabled girls in the global North and global South
• The politics of educational, social, and sexual access for disabled girls
• Alternative methodologies that include but are not limited to intersectional analyses that
engage the politics of decolonization, race, ethnicity, gender identities, sexuality, and ableism
• Participatory visual methodologies
• Critical policy analyses in relation to social change
• Personal narratives, short stories, poetry, visual essays, and artwork that engage the normative framing of disability and girlhood

GUEST EDITORIAL TEAM
Nirmala Erevelles is Professor of Social and Cultural Studies in Education at the University of Alabama. Her teaching and research interests lie in the areas of disability studies, critical race theory,
transnational feminism, sociology of education, and postcolonial studies. Her book, Disability and Difference in Global Contexts: Towards a Transformative Body Politic was published by Palgrave in
November 2012.

Xuan Thuy Nguyen is an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Education at Mount Saint Vincent University, Canada. Her areas of research and teaching include inclusive education, disability
studies, policy studies, international development and visual methodologies. She is the author of the forthcoming book The Journey to Inclusion, to be published by Sense Publishers.

Please send expressions of interest and abstracts to the
Guest Editors by 15 JANUARY 2015.

DATE FOR SUBMISSIONS OF FULL MANUSCRIPTS:
30 JUNE 2015

Inquiries and submissions may be sent to:

Girlhood Studies (girlhood.studies@mcgill.ca)
Nirmala Erevelles (nerevell@bamaed.ua.edu)
Xuan Thuy Nguyen (xuan.thuy.nguyen@msvu.ca)

Girlhood Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal is published and distributed in print and online by Berghahn Journals. Visit GHS online for further details, including submission guidelines: www.journals.berghahnbooks.com/ghs