Call for Abstracts

Association of Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars’ 17th Biennial Conference

Theme: “Global Feminist Leadership in a Time of Crisis: Scholarship, Advocacy, Activism, Creativity, and Pedagogy”

Cayman Islands June 12-14, 2025

The Association of Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars (ACWWS) will meet in the Cayman Islands from June 12-14, 2025 for our Biennial conference that will be hosted by the University College of the Cayman Islands (UCCI) under the theme “Global Feminist Leadership in a Time of Crisis: Scholarship, Advocacy, Activism, Creativity, and Pedagogy.” 

The concerns about the quality of leadership in the Americas and across the globe, have increased substantially in the last decade and have only intensified in recent years. Some major areas under attack include: threats to democracy, freedoms, basic human rights, the safety of marginalized groups, teaching, activism, and scholarship. Given the specific challenges to education, the press, and other sites of knowledge dissemination, the onus on educators and scholars to engage these questions and provide leadership is even more urgent. For its 2025 conference, The Association of Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars invites proposals that address the role and place of feminist leadership in scholarship, advocacy, teaching, and a range of related areas.

We welcome proposals that engage how leadership may be understood or how it manifests in democratic principles, education, literature, and the creative and performing arts. We also invite proposals that address environmental and political justice, sustainability and health for marginalized groups and communities. Participants are encouraged to address and interrogate the strategies employed by feminist scholars globally to alter conventional practices, subvert barriers, and insist upon changes that benefit all peoples with the goal of creating more just societies.     

Suggested Subfields

Gendering politics/gender and politics 

Empowering female leaders

Transformational Feminist Leadership in the Global South

Womanist Spirituality: Modes of Resistance

Allyship & Activism Across Identity Politics

Poetry, Fiction, and Other Creative Modes of Resistance

The Paradoxes of Power and Authority

Leadership in Higher education: Challenges and Opportunities

Global Perspectives on Feminist Leadership 

Women in film and media 

Literary representations of feminist leadership and practices

Black women’s rights

Gender and Environmental justice

Women’s Movements, Activism and Advocacy

Women, Labour, and Advancement

Issues in K-12 education

Youth Activism as a site for leadership 

Gender Identities and Sexual Freedoms

We encourage the submission of full panels (fully constituted panels of 3 or 4 presenters, including titles of presentation of each panelist), individual papers, and creative pieces. In your proposal, please indicate which of the above topic(s) you will address.  All submissions should include an abstract and a brief bio for each presenter.   Please email your abstract to docs.google.com/forms/d/e/…, along with your name, title, email address, and institution.  

To submit a proposal and to present at the conference, your ACWWS membership must be current.  If you have any questions, please contact: acwwsconference@gmail.com. 

The deadline to submit abstracts of 300 words or less is January 31, 2025.  We welcome proposals for panels in English, Spanish and French. 

Important Dates:

• Deadline for submission: January 31, 2025
• Notification of Acceptance: February 28, 2025