Call for Papers
McGill Institute of Islamic Studies Student Council
12th Annual Symposium
April 24, 2025

Call for Papers
McGill Institute of Islamic Studies Student Council
12th Annual Graduate Symposium
April 24, 2025
LEA 232, Leacock Building, McGill University

Gender, Knowledge, and Borders

The McGill Institute of Islamic Studies Student Council (MIISSC) invites submissions for its 12th Annual Graduate Symposium, taking place on April 24, 2025, in Montreal. This year’s theme, Gender, Knowledge, and Borders, seeks to foster interdisciplinary dialogue, encouraging bold inquiries into the ways these three elements intersect in diverse contexts.

We invite graduate students, early-career academics, and independent scholars to reflect on how borders—conceptual, geographical, linguistic, and disciplinary—shape our understanding of gender and knowledge. This symposium aims to move beyond universal notions of gender to examine its diverse performances, constructions, and negotiations, while interrogating how boundaries influence these processes. Submissions are encouraged to challenge conventions, amplify overlooked voices, and critically reimagine Islamic Studies.

Suggested Topics

We welcome innovative approaches to the symposium’s theme, including but not limited to:

•       Gender and the production of knowledge

•       Masculinity and its implications in Islamic contexts

•       Masculinity and its role in defining boundaries

•       Gendered dimensions of voice, silence, and storytelling

•       Intersections of sexuality, gender, and translation

•       Embodied experiences: gender, the body, and borders

•       Material culture and the construction of gendered identities

•       Sonic and performative aspects of gendered practices

•       Echoes across Borders: Narratives of displacement and their gendered implications

•       The politics of trauma, pain, and resistance

•       Gender and migration: crossing and redefining boundaries

•       Reading, writing, and storytelling as gendered practices

•       Imagination, truth, and the construction of gender in Islamic contexts

•       The unknown and unknowable: exploring the boundaries of understanding gender

We invite interdisciplinary contributions from fields such as Islamic studies, history, gender and queer studies, literature, education, and cultural studies, drawing on historical, textual, theoretical, ethnographic, and artistic approaches. Panel proposals are also welcomed to explore these themes in cohesive and collaborative ways.

Submission Guidelines

• Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words and include a title and keywords.

• Please provide your name, academic affiliation, and a brief bio (max 100 words).

• Submit formal abstracts by February 10, 2025, here:
  bit.ly/MIISSC12

A limited number of travel grants are available to support selected graduate student participants. Details will be shared with accepted presenters.

Logistics

• Presentations should not exceed 15 minutes.

• Presenters will be informed of their acceptance by March 1, 2025.

• Panel proposals should include a 300-word summary of the panel theme and abstracts for all proposed papers.

• The symposium will be conducted in a hybrid format, accommodating both in-person and online presentations.

Join us as we explore the shifting landscapes of Gender, Knowledge, and Borders, interrogating enduring legacies while imagining new futures.

For inquiries, please contact miissc.symposium@mcgill.ca