Transformations without Revolutions? How Feminist and Lgbtqi Movements Changed the World

Call for Articles: Transformations without Revolutions? How Feminist and Lgbtqi Movements Changed the World. A special issue of Zapruder World: Transnational Journal for the History of Social Conflicts edited by Sabrina Marchetti, Vincenza Perilli and Elena Petricola // Zapruder World is a new online open-access journal run by the network of activists and scholars, both academic and independent, that has gathered since 2002 in an organization called SIM-Storie in Movimento and publishes the Italian journal Zapruder. This new editorial project stems from our desire to broaden, at a global level, the scope of the organization and of its publications. It is guided by the same principles that have inspired SIM so far, namely direct participation, self-funding, and horizontal decision-making. The aim of Zapruder World is to create a wide arena in which to exchange critical knowledge based on both individual research and collective elaboration. The journal focuses on social conflict paying particular attention to conflicts as movements rather than focusing on their resolutions, so as to better connect the history of social conflicts with current transnational cycles of protest. It therefore uses ‘social conflict’ as an interpretative category rather than simply an object of analysis, exploring it through concepts and methodologies that address the complex interaction between the “local” and the “global”. Zapruder World is animated by an aspiration towards “global history” but intentionally leaves its actual definition, contents, and methods open for discussion. Along these lines, this second issue entitled “Transformations without Revolutions” wants to discuss the kind of politics that feminist and lgbtqi movements have created from the 1960s to the present, in their critical approaches to the private/public dichotomy, embodiment and sexuality, as well as to power relations. In doing so, these movements have transformed the everyday lives of many people, as well as political imaginaries, cultures and practices. Most importantly, in the view of this special issue, these movements have in common the attempt to reinterpret, negotiate, and give expression to the notion of Revolution, in new critical ways. Yet the contribution brought by feminist and lgbtqi movements to a new understanding of the category of Revolution needs to be further explored. What is the relationship between these movements and the political, ideological and organizational traditions that more firmly refer to the notion of Revolution? How have these movements eventually conceived of an alternative politics, without losing their transformative dimension? How are they positioned within the dialectic of normalization and transformation? In order to answer to these questions, our issue wants to explore the contradictions, challenges and choices experienced by people and organizations belonging to these kinds of movements. We invite contributions that especially address the transformations brought about by feminist and/or lgbtqi movements and their relationship with the notion of Revolution, with regard to one or more of the following fields: (paid) sexual practices, reproduction, family and parenting, affects, relationships and solidarity, cities and urban spaces, science and technology, labour and economics, languages, education. The geographical scope of the issue includes feminist and/or lgbtqi movements that have developed in Western as well as formerly colonized and migratory contexts. Although history is the main focus of this journal, contributions that merge an historical perspective with other disciplines are highly appreciated. Intersectional approaches to gender and sexuality are also particularly welcomed. Submissions: Full articles (6,000-9,000 words) shall be sent by 15 of April 2014 to info@zapruderworld.org. All contributors will be informed about the selection by May. Final drafts, after reviews and comments, are expected by the 1st of September 2014 in order to have the issue published in Fall 2014. The Manifesto of Zapruder World, the first issue of the journal (on the global history of anarchism), and guidelines for authors can be found at: www.zapruderworld.org