FYI...

Stefanie Rixecker
ECOFEM Coordinator

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Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy is seeking papers for a special
issue on Feminist Philosophies of Love and Work to be guest edited by Paula
England and Julie A. Nelson. We believe that fundamentally new ways of
thinking are necessitated, once we move out of the old dualistic view that
women, love, altruism, and the family are radically separate and opposite
from men, self-interested rationality, work, and market exchange. We invite
contributions from all disciplinary backgrounds, including linguistics,
theology, and the social sciences as well as philosophy, which examine
conceptual issues. Papers may include empirical findings or public policy
debates, but all should be focused on conceptual or theoretical issues.  All
papers should deal in some way with both love and work. Among the topics
contributors might address are the following (provided to give an idea of
the type of topics we are interested in, not to limit contributions to this
particular list):

1. Nursing, the teaching of children and the care of the young, old, or sick
were traditionally female, and low- or unpaid, activities. How do we
adequately understand such "caring labor," when it involves dimensions of
both personal connection and monetary exchange?

2. Freud said the purpose of psychoanalysis was to make people able "to love
and work." What, if anything, is the connection?

3. Religious traditions have sometimes conceptualized work in terms of love
or compassion, for example in the Buddhist concept of "right livelihood" or
the Christian notion of "a calling." How do feminist philosophical analyses
understand these?

4. Is wage labor within capitalist systems inherently alienating, as some
Marxist theories would suggest? Does is make a difference if emotion-laden
labor, and especially traditionally female "caring" labor, is organized by
capitalist firms, non-profit firms, state entities, or private (e.g.,
marital) agreements?

5. Is the rhetoric we use in discussing issues of love and work sufficient
to the task? For example, can we clearly distinguish "work" from "non-work,"
and "altruism" from "self-interest," or do new vocabularies need to be
invented?

6. Sex work and "surrogate motherhood" are particularly complicated--and
gendered--situations in which the issues love and work come to the fore. Do
these activities "commodify" something that would be better left unmarketed?
More generally, what boundaries should we put around what should and should
not be commodified?

7. How does it matter who we love, and what we work for? That is, what are
the ethical and perhaps teleological implications of taking a feminist
approach to the questions of interconnections between love and work?

8. Emotions are sometimes thought of as being the motivating force behind
actions. But what about the reverse? Can our activities as workers change
our emotional make-up? Do the concrete conditions of our work create
specific abilities or opportunities for feeling?

9. Do new conceptions about the relationship between love and work change
the way we think about human interactions with the natural environment? Or
about our conceptions of mastery and control? Or about creativity and
spontaneity? Or about leisure and retirement?

All papers should be submitted in quadruplicate to the Hypatia editorial
office at the Center for the Study of Women in Society, University of
Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1201, and identified as submissions for the Love
and Work issue. Contributors are to follow the Hypatia style guidelines as
found at the Hypatia web site:
www.is.csupomona.edu/~ljshrage/hypatia/index.htm.

Submissions must be received by September 1, 2000. All papers will be peer
reviewed. You may contact the editors at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
to discuss ideas prior to submission.
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Dr. Stefanie S. Rixecker, Senior Lecturer
Environmental Management & Design Division
Lincoln University, Canterbury
PO Box 84
Aotearoa New Zealand
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Fax: 64-03-325-3841
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