Menstrual Health and Gender Justice Working Group Call For Submissions

NYC Interdisciplinary Workshop:
Multifaceted Menstruation

Deadline for abstracts: August 30, 2019
Date of workshop: November 22, 2019

The current momentum around menstruation has drawn together scholars, activists, policymakers, health practitioners, and corporations--each differently invested in menstrual health. Over the past year, the Menstrual Health and Gender Justice Working Group has brought together Columbia University researchers across different departments interested in menstruation, encouraging individual and collaborative research that crosses disciplinary boundaries to address complex questions. This workshop hopes to broaden that reach and support, and to facilitate further interdisciplinary collaboration and networking beyond the Columbia University community.

Information for Contributors:

This one-day workshop seeks to critically evaluate the current state of research on menstruation, with interest in examining whose voices are being represented, which actors shape the dominant narrative, whose voices are marginalized, what gaps in data, research, and policy exist, and how interdisciplinary collaboration may help remedy some of these gaps. The workshop also hopes to serve as an opportunity to make connections with menstrual health researchers in the Greater New York area.

Submissions may address research in any area of Critical Menstruation Studies that engages:

  • Historical, socio-cultural, religious and political economic perspectives

  • Feminist, queer, and post-colonial theory

  • Science, technology, biomedical informatics, and clinical approaches

  • Policy and programmatic interventions

and/or explores the following topics (list is not exhaustive):

  • Menstrual hygiene management initiatives

  • The emergence and implications of FemTech

  • De-gendering menstruation/queering menstruation

  • Menstruators of diverse identities and experiences

  • Menstruation across the lifespan (puberty, menarche, menopause, etc)

  • Menstrual disorders

  • Menstrual health education

  • Menstrual activism

  • Data on menstruation

Submission Guidelines:

Researchers are invited to submit proposals for flash presentations (5 minutes, 3 power-point slides max.) on any of the above or other topics related to menstruation. We welcome submissions from all different disciplines, career levels, and stages of research. Please submit an abstract (300 words max.) and a brief bio (150 words max.) at this link. For any questions regarding submission guidelines, please email michelle.chouinard@columbia.edu.

We welcome submissions from all researchers in the Greater New York area. Please feel free to share this call with interested colleagues. Please note that we cannot provide travel support for the workshop.

For further information please visit the Menstrual Health and Gender Justice Working Group website and blog (https://periodsatcolumbia.com/) or contact Michelle Chouinard, Coordinator of the Menstrual Health and Gender Justice Working Group (michelle.chouinard@columbia.edu).