Special Session

Spanish and Portuguese / Gender and Sexuality

Haley Williams (University of California - Davis)
hdwi@****.com (Log-in to reveal)

This session welcomes paper proposals in English, Spanish, and Portuguese that consider any aspect of contemporary feminist activisms and cultural and artistic production in the Latin American context. Topics may include but are not limited to digital and hashtag feminist activisms, transnational feminist activisms, Black and Indigenous feminist activisms, Global South feminisms, street activisms, performance activisms, activisms and affect, and protest and artistic production within a broad conceptualization of “translation in action,” the theme of this year’s conference. What does it mean to “translate” digital and hashtag activisms into street activisms and vice versa? How are hashtag and street activisms “translated” into literature, music, performance art? In what ways are feminist activisms “translated” across space and time, across languages and cultures?

This panel uses Sayak Valencia’s Deleuzian description of feminism’s “movements” as “comparable to a single drop of mercury that bursts and becomes many, yet preserves the ability to multiply, separate and re-attach through alliances” (Gore Capitalism 256) to inform our considerations of the translation, movement, transmutation, transformation, and multiplication of contemporary Latin American feminist activisms across space and time, across languages and cultures, and across mediums.

This session invites papers written in English, Spanish, and Portuguese that examine contemporary feminist activisms and cultural and artistic production in Latin America with consideration for the theme of this year’s conference, “translation in action.” Topics may include but are not limited to digital and hashtag feminist activisms, transnational feminist activisms, Black and Indigenous feminist activisms, Global South feminisms street activisms, performance activisms, activisms and affect, and protest and artistic production within a broad conceptualization of translation. What does it mean to “translate” digital and hashtag activisms into street activisms and vice versa? How are hashtag and street activisms “translated” into literature, music, performance art? In what ways are feminist activisms “translated” across space and time, across languages and cultures? Pertinent theoretical frameworks and analyses of the social and political factors that contributed to the development of contemporary feminist movements such as Ni Una Menos, Vivas nos queremos, #Cuéntalo, etc. are also welcome.