Activism, Change, and Feminist Futures: Remembering the Past to Reimagine the Future, is a two-day joint conference from: The LEX Network, Violence Against Women and Girls Research Network (VAWGRN), Feminist Legal Research and Action Network (FRAN), and the Centre for the Study of Emotion and Law (CSEL).
Date: 7 - 8 November 2024
Location: School of Law and Social Justice Building, University of Liverpool
The conference will showcase work which is feminist and transdisciplinary in orientation, and that offers innovations in theory, research, and activism relative to thinking through change and working towards more ethical, inclusive and feminist futures. This is a two-day in-person conference.
The international feminist movement has undoubtedly made significant advances over the past few decades and improved the lives and rights of (some) women. We cannot, however, claim that we live in a post-feminist world when women’s rights and lives are under threat globally. The evidence speaks for itself. Violence against women is at epidemic proportions and people are subjected to gender-based violence based on who they love. Today, we live in a ‘political moment’ in which women’s hard-fought reproductive rights and choices around their bodies are constantly under attack or have been rolled back entirely. The need for a critical feminist politics to intervene when the laws and policies that are intended to ‘protect’ us perpetuate other forms of dehumanisation and re-traumatise us is timely. To the extent that institutions such as the state, law and the police have the power to determine ‘whose life matters’, there is good reason for us to tackle how categories of ‘race’, ethnicity, class, sexuality, and gender delimit our access to forms of justice that permit a feminist ethic of flourishing of women’s lives. Hence, it is vital that feminist spaces for the work of critique, contestation and challenge to injustice and inequality remain open and expand. In the spirit of ‘good trouble’ we invite you to join us to ‘think’ how we can continue to challenge these injustices and reflect upon the suffering of the past in order to reimagine an inclusive feminist future.
The challenge, then, for feminist informed research and activism is to continue to push the intellectual, philosophical, political, legal, social, and cultural boundaries in the pursuit of knowledge and to explore innovative paths to more productive, ethical and inclusive futures. We need to strengthen our connections and build networks across geographical, political, cultural, and ideological divides. This need is even more acute at a time in which society contests the very meaning of the terms gender, sexuality, identity, equality, and justice.
The conference will comprise papers that aim to contribute to new approaches to feminist theory, research, activism, and practice that advance knowledge and inform the development, and implementation, of inclusive feminist futures.
Conference fee
PhD researcher: £25.00
Part-time or fixed-term posts: £50.00
Full-time permanent posts: £90.00
Registration
Agenda
Day One
13:00 - 14:00 Early Career Researcher Working Lunch
14:00 – 14:15 Welcome
14:15 - 16:15 Panel Session 1 & 2
16:30 - 18:00 Keynote Address
18:00 - 19:30 Drinks Reception
Day Two
09:30 – 10:00 Teas & Coffee
10:00 - 11:30 Panel Sessions 3 & 4
11:30 - 12:00 Break
12:00 - 13:30 Panel Sessions 5 & 6
13:30 - 14:30 Lunch
14:30 - 16:00 Panel Sessions 7 & 8
16:00 - 16:15 Conference close
* The conference is being convened by and brings members together from:
• The Law, Gender & Sexuality Research Network (LEX) (admin@lexnetwork.org)
• The Violence Against Women and Girls Network (vawgrn@uos.ac.uk)
• The Feminist Legal Research and Action Network (Sarah.Singh@liverpool.ac.uk)
• The Centre for the Study of Emotion and Law (CSEL@rhul.ac.uk)
Back to: Liverpool Law School