Conference Registration here  (must be submitted by all participants, also Ph.D students)

NOTE: PHD-students must in addition also register here for the Conference

Deadlines: 

Conference registration for all participants: December 15th

Ph.D registration: December 15th

Abstract submission: December 15th

Paper submission: January 10th

The Centre for Women and Gender Research (KVINNFORSK) invites researchers and students to a combined research symposium and PhD course on issues related to gender, poverty and social transformation/development. We invite you to take part in a much needed exchange of knowledge and [other] network activities among researchers, students and research institutions nationally and internationally.

This combined symposium and Phd course has as its point of departure a long standing interest in gender and women studies in North Norway as well as in African, Asian and Latin American countries. Researchers from UiT have, since 1992, been engaged in collaboration with Southern universities through the Norwegian Programme for Development, Research and Education (NUFU). In 2006 Kvinnforsk and Centre for Women studies, Makerere University, Uganda succeeded to get support for a 5 years programme including PhD grants and research projects on Gender, Poverty and Social Transformation in Uganda. The general topics are however global and the symposium welcomes programme participants as well as gender and development researcher from other parts of the world. Our experience through the years has revealed a need for stronger focus on gender in a globalised world that “hits” women and men differently, depending on our living conditions, policies, etc.

The aim of this event is to exchange empirical knowledge and analytical approaches on the matter based on contributions from researchers with experience from Africa, Asia, Latin-America and Scandinavia.

Target group

Aiming to gather researchers and PhD-students nationally and internationally, the PhD-course and symposium will be a meeting-place for established researchers as well as students who are working on, or have an interest in, feminist perspectives on poverty alleviation and social change in the SOUTH as well as in the NORTH. The symposium and PhD course will try to present the state of the art in empirical, theoretical and methodological challenges. Since differences in consultancy work and PhD-work can be a challenge, such differences will also be discussed.

PhD-students and others are welcome to register for paper delivery 

We welcome participants to give papers at the symposium. The PhD-course will make up an integral part of the symposium, and a strong emphasis on exchange between established scholars and recruits/students will be pursued.

 Please add the title of your contribution when submitting your registration. All papers will be discussed in group sessions.

Academic objective

Aiming to assess recent theoretical positions as well as empirical findings, a main goal is to address how poverty and social transformation is “gendered”, and in different ways connected with global and local processes.  These will be explored through empirical studies of localities, geographical regions, organisations – state and NGO’s, households, local communities and public sectors; i.e. health, tourism, export, agriculture etc. Research on ways out of poverty will also be presented.  Special attention will be given to how these local-global and micro-macro dynamics point towards methodological challenges in gendered poverty and development research. 

A typical trait in much current research on these matters is frequent reference to central international policy documents. For example, the UNDP Development report, UN resolution 1325 etc. We furthermore observe that IMF and the World Bank with their “mainstreamed gender profile” are central references in research.

On the one hand, it is important to scrutinize effects of these proposed gendered and non-gendered measures. On the other hand, we think it is of importance to consider more closely if and how what can be described as ‘gendered rhetoric’ plays an important role both in the selection of themes and in designing research projects, as well as well as how these concepts are employed in rather pragmatic ways. 

Research Topics and Challenges

Lecturers, researchers, and PhD-students at the symposium in Tromsø will come from different disciplines and carry out research in research geographical contexts. The seminar topics will, of this reason try to demonstrate and apply different approaches in understanding the gendered character of poverty. Emphasis on methodology questions will be central, as well as possible strategies out of poverty. The symposium will also focus on the strength and weaknesses in different feminist approaches in understanding social transformation.

Emphasising and valuing multidisciplinary approaches, the symposium faces some challenges. However, we have experienced that perspectives from different fields and theoretical backgrounds do lead to more fruitful and interesting debates, entailing that the benefits of multidisciplinary seminars far outweigh the problems related to academic differences.

The symposium is initiated for all researchers and PhD-students to benefit from assessing gender dynamics within the poverty/development complex, into which ethnic, class and age perspectives are included. It will be well suited for PhD-students and researchers from NUFU-funded cooperation projects as well as for other PhD-students and scholars.

NB Specificities about researchers’ and PHD-students’ papers

The PhD-course participants and other paper presenters are required to send in an abstract of their papers before December 15^th 2007 and a paper of 12-20 pages’ paper before January the 10^th 2008. Time for presentation and comments are dependent on the number of papers that will be delivered. Information about this will be given when we know the exact number of papers. Information about this will be given when we know the exact number of papers that will be delivered. The PhD-students’ papers will be commented upon by keynote speaker and other resource persons. Approved papers will be given 10 ECTs in the Tromsø system and may be converted towards the fulfilment of the students’ PhD degrees at their home universities (if these universities accept credits earned at other universities).

PhD-students register for the PhD-Course by filling in, and sending us, a standard application form (Application for admission to PhD courses at the University of Tromsø (See above PhD-course registration). Additionally, they need to attach a copy of their PhD admission paper at their home university (Document showing that they are accepted as PhD-students).

Conference Registration here

NOTE: PHD-students must in addition also register here for the Conference

PROGRAM

Reading List (tentative - final version app. November 10th)

Practical Information