The Women’s March on Washington is counted as one of the largest demonstrations in U.S. history. The day spotlighted the considerable capacities of women’s movements (including women and allies of all genders and sexualities), including their powers of fertility and creativity, and their capacities to organize and unite globally around both common concerns (e.g., Trumpish policies) and diverse objectives (from animal rights to anti-xenophobia). This capacity for organization and unity was clearly displayed in the coordination of the “One@one,” whereby women’s marches around the world held a simultaneous minute of silence at 1:00 p.m. As we bowed our heads to remember all who will bear the brunt of Trump’s policies, it was noted from the mic at more than one gathering that this would be our last moment of silence, as we would henceforth be unceasing in raising our voices and gathering our peaceful powers against all injustices and attempts to divide and conquer people and the planet.
The ecofeminist editorial collective of Capitalism Nature Socialism (CNS) invites contributions to a Special Issue on the theme “Power, Peace and Protest: Ecosocialist-Ecofeminist Action, Vision, Alternatives,” to be published in March 2018. This ecofeminist Special Issue will examine diverse global networks, movements, histories, cooperative activities and artistic expressions that constitute and illustrate the shape of the 21st century’s ‘all-gendered’ women’s movement. Where there is peaceful protest, there are women. Where there are public actions against violence and stands for just relations with nature, you will find women. Whether in the foreground or the background, with pink pussy hats or with subtle, or even unspoken, ecofeminist undertones, grassroots women are prime organizers within most (if not all) transformational social and environmental movements today. Women’s socially diverse and geographically dispersed ‘movement of social movements’ increasingly converges in peaceful, coordinated, global direct action to actualize alternatives to the problems they confront, from racism to climate change. This is accomplished through efforts to democratize protests, policy processes, programs and projects and in practice replace hierarchical capitalist industries and neoliberal public policies with horizontal commoning practices (e.g., community arts, agroecology and cooperative renewable energy systems).
A movement of social movements is burgeoning within the United States and globally against fascism and, increasingly, against all aspects of the system of capitalist exploitation. Not all individuals and groups within this web or ‘matrix’ of movements self-identify as ‘ecofeminist.’ But this Special Issue examines the extent to which the creative, inclusive, action-oriented global outpouring of progressive public engagement and activism that is evident today actually prefigures key elements of an ecofeminist future, that is, a society and economy in harmony with itself and with nature, that serve and support the needs of all. Women’s diverse actions to defend humanity and nature against all depredations, their visions of a planet at peace with itself, and their practical powers to create and mediate, constitute ecofeminists’ key contributions to humanity’s epic task of turning the current crises into the making of a world transformed.
Papers
We invite contributions of the following types: long or short scholarly papers (1,000-8,000 words), reports of field research, brief arguments, full-length analyses, poems; book, video and music reviews; letters to the editors and other written contributions. We welcome written pieces addressing topics including (but not limited to):
- Stories and histories of actions, campaigns and practical initiatives for a world beyond capitalism and its extractive and war industries;
- Reports and analyses of multi-ethnic women’s (and allies’) participation in the January 21, 2017 women’s march and subsequent actions in which women were prominent;
- Ecofeminist theoretical discussions that extend the framework through examination of concepts or cases of commoning, social reconstruction, ethnicized, racialized and gendered forms of power, resilience and related;
- Strategies for self-care, community care, defending the defenders and avoiding activist burn-out, deportation, incarceration and cooptation/NGO-ization;
- Constructive critiques of any aspects of transformational (revolutionary) ecofeminist praxis (theory, art and action).
Pictures
The ecofeminist Special Issue intends to broaden readers’ exposure beyond narrative text formats to embrace visual expression and art-based analyses. We very much welcome submission of print-ready pictures, including photographs of events (e.g., protests, performance art, theatre, workshops, public meetings) and of artwork (e.g., comics, banners, placards from marches, 3 dimensional artistic works). Images should illustrate and creatively explore themes of ecofeminist action, vision or forms of social and ecological power and resilience. They should be accompanied by brief (under 500 words) captions or explanations, along with the title of the work and name(s) of creator(s).
Participation
We also seek scholars and activists interested in participating in the Capitalism Nature Socialism journal’s ongoing editorial efforts to foreground the influence of ecofeminism within 21st century social movements, everyday life and world historic socio-ecological transformations. Send us a letter of interest, especially if you are a young or emerging scholar or organic intellectual, who wishes to continue to deepen your association with the journal beyond your submission to the ecofeminist Special Issue. This engagement might involve:
- publishing ecofeminist-themed artwork or papers in other CNS issues;
- becoming a peer reviewer for articles on ecofeminism (and related areas of expertise);
- contributing ecofeminist articles and other works to CNSWeb;
- participating in CNS conference panels;
- proposing and organizing future ecofeminist special issues.
Send in your contributions (papers, pictures, letters of interest) before the deadline of August 15, 2017. Please clearly indicate that your piece is being submitted specifically to the Ecofeminist Special Issue. Author submission instructions can be found at: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?journalCode=rcns20&page=instructions.
Word limit for manuscripts is 8,000 words. Figures should be high quality (1200 dpi for line art, 600 dpi for grayscale and 300 dpi for color, at the correct size). Figures should be saved as TIFF, PostScript or EPS files. For more information on how to prepare artwork: http://authorservices.taylorandfrancis.com/submission-of-electronic-artwork