Open Rivers: Rethinking Water, Place & Community invites submissions for our Spring 2022 issue on Women & Water. In myriad ways, women are connected with water—as scientists, as activists and water protectors, as policymakers, as providers, as researchers, and as artists and storytellers. In the contemporary moment, climate change and disasters affect already compromised water conditions, making these entanglements with water both more complicated and more critical.
For the Spring 2022 issue of Open Rivers we seek contributions that foreground the complex roles women have in shaping relationships with water based on critical, thoughtful, and challenging research and engaged practices. We invite submissions from scholars, activists, artists, professionals, policymakers, community members, and practitioners who offer insight on women’s engagement with water broadly conceived. We encourage prospective authors to share work that furthers our understandings of the important work and role of women in shaping our water futures. We also welcome work that challenges this framing of women and water and presses for more inclusive, more expansive ways of conceiving of the intersections of gender, sexuality, and water. We are looking for a collection of articles that will provoke meaningful action and inspire ongoing discussion.
Possible themes for submissions may include:
- Gendered water practices and challenges related to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH)
- The gendered politics of water
- UN Sustainable Development Goals connected to women and water
- Feminist, ecofeminist, and black feminist analyses of water issues, practices, and crises
- Women in water sciences and critiques of gendered STEM practices
- Disproportionate impact of water crises on women
- Women as water activists and protectors
- Critiques of gender-binary framings of relationships with water
- Policymaking work and practices led by women
- Environmental histories of women’s entanglements with water
- Art and artistic expressions informed by and informing women’s relationships with water
- Women as storytellers of water stories
- Community initiatives around water led by or for women
Submission Process
To submit a proposal for consideration for this issue of Open Rivers, please prepare a short abstract (250 words or fewer) and complete the form at z.umn.edu/ORWomenandWater. A committee will review the submissions and we will be in touch with you within four weeks of the submission deadline with more information. Before submitting, please review our submission guidelines at https://libpubsdss.lib.umn.edu/openrivers/guidelines/.
Deadlines for Abstract Submissions
For authors interested in peer review: Friday, August 20th, 2021
For all other articles: Friday, September 17th, 2021
If you have any questions, please contact us at openrvrs@umn.edu.