Call for abstracts
Shaping A More Just Bioethics: A Celebration of the Work of Susan Sherwin
In collaboration with the Canadian Society for Bioethics, the Department of Philosophy at Dalhousie University is hosting a one day workshop celebrating the work of Susan Sherwin on May 26, 2018. The workshop will be held immediately after the annual meeting of the Canadian Bioethics Society (May 23-25, 2018), which is also taking place in Halifax. A special issue of the International Journal for Feminist Approaches to Bioethics is planned for successful submissions (papers submitted to the journal will need to go through a complete anonymous review process).
Susan Sherwin’s career is a career of firsts. She wrote the first philosophy PhD thesis on feminist ethics in North America in 1974 and published the first book length treatment of feminist bioethics almost twenty years later with No Longer Patient (1992). Her treatment of relational autonomy has been taken up by scholars within and beyond feminist communities, and is now regarded as part of the ‘canon’ of bioethics. Those of us who teach her articles in our bioethics classes have seen how conversations change as a result of Sherwin’s efforts to re-orient issues toward the experiences, circumstances, and contexts of people operating within oppressive systems. Sherwin brings a sense of real-world urgency to her work, whether on reproductive justice or looming public health crises, and this is no small part of her influence on the field.
Susan Sherwin has shaped feminist theory, ethics, and bioethics not only through her scholarly contributions, but also through her extraordinary commitment to the professional organizations that shape our discipline, including the Canadian Bioethics Society, the Canadian Society for Women in Philosophy, the Canadian Philosophical Association, and the International Network for Feminist Approaches to Bioethics as well as her intellectual home, the Department of Philosophy and the Gender and Women’s Studies Programme at Dalhousie University. It is thus fitting that this celebration of her work is part of the celebrations for the 200th anniversary of the founding of Dalhousie University.
The format of the workshop:
Six abstracts will be accepted for the program on the basis of both their quality and their representation and extension of Sherwin’s work. Authors will be asked to share drafts of their papers with commentators six weeks before the workshop. The goal is not only to help authors prepare papers for publication and have a rigorous and wide-ranging conversation focusing on Sherwin’s work, but also to encourage participation from a wide range of people (as commentators, for instance). Registration for this one-day event will be open to all who want to celebrate Sherwin’s work. We hope to publish papers and commentaries in a special issue of a journal. Discussions are currently underway with the International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics (IJFAB).
Submission:
We invite abstract submissions of 500 words that engage with Sherwin’s scholarship in bioethics, broadly construed. Please note that although Sherwin’s work has been housed in philosophy, her approach is interdisciplinary; abstracts are welcome from an array of disciplines and approaches. Abstracts should be submitted as word, rft or pdf files to SueFest2018@gmail.com by September 15, 2017.
Planned Timeline:
Abstracts of 500 words due: September 15, 2017
Abstract Acceptance notification: October 1, 2017
Paper drafts or detailed presentation notes due: April 15, 2018
Workshop date: May 26, 2018 (immediately following CBS)
Submission of final papers for review in special issue: September 1, 2018
Anticipated publication date: Fall 2020
People who would like to be considered as commentators (including people who submit abstracts) should submit their names, with an attached or linked cv and brief (one or two sentence) description of their knowledge of and interest in Sue’s work to SueFest2018@gmail.com (by September 15, 2017).
We plan to apply for a SSHRC Connections Grant to assist speakers (both authors and commentators) with their travel, but currently cannot guarantee funding.
Contact:
Letitia Meynell (Letitia.Meynell@dal.ca) and Kirstin Borgerson (Kirstin.Borgerson@dal.ca). Abstracts should be sent to: SueFest2018@gmail.com.