Call for Proposals: Special Issue of American Journalism: Women's Suffrage and the Media

A special issue of American Journalism

American Journalism: A Journal of Media History announces a call for proposals for a special issue to be published in April 2019 to commemorate the adoption of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution that granted the women of all states the right to vote. We seek original research on the role of media in and about the suffrage movement, work that illuminates lasting cultural, political, economic, ideological, and social problems. Research could center on movement, mainstream, ethnic or alternative media; strategic communication, visual culture, or closely related themes.

Much can be gleaned from examining pro- and anti-suffrage media strategies and the public responses they elicited. For the past forty years, an important body of scholarship has emerged about the movement and media. For the occasion of this centennial anniversary, our goal is to build on this foundation with work that asks new questions and presents new theoretical and methodological approaches, insights, and arguments.

The proposal should be five to ten pages, including a title or a two-sentence summary, a 250-word abstract, and a narrative that explains the scope of the project, its theme or argument, and its importance. It should demonstrate familiarity with the relevant literature and historical context, provide examples of primary sources, and address how the author plans to develop and structure the work.

Topics may include, but are not limited to, studies of: iconography and visual culture; constructions of womanhood and sexuality; the business and economics of the suffrage media;publicity and strategic communications; the politics of race and racial tensions;suffrage and the media within the broader women’s rights agenda; audiences and reception of suffrage media;popular culture representations and media interpretations of this history; intersection of suffrage with the mainstream media; the recalibrated movement media image in the Amendment’s aftermath; audiences and reception of suffrage and anti-suffrage media.

Submission Schedule

July 1, 2017: Proposals are due.

September 1, 2017: Invitations to submit the full article will be delivered.

April 1, 2018: First drafts of articles are due, with final decisions, edits, and requests for revisions to follow.

Please send your title/description, 250-word abstract, and five- to ten-page proposal to:

https://suffrageandthemedia.submittable.com/submit

Prospective authors should feel free to contact members of the editorial board listed below.

The Editorial Board

American Journalism’s Special Issue on Women’s Suffrage and the Media

Maurine Beasley mbeasley@umd.edu

Jinx Broussard jinxy@lsu.edu

Kathy Roberts Forde kforde@journ.umass.edu

Carolyn Kitch ckitch@temple.edu

Brooke Kroeger brooke.kroeger@nyu.edu

Linda Lumsden lumsden@email.arizona.edu

Jane Marcellus jane.marcellus@mtsu.edu

Jane Rhodes rhodesj@uic.edu

Linda Steiner lsteiner@umd.edu