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Call for Proposals
Call for Proposals
The University of South Dakota and its Women, Gender, and Sexualities Studies program aims to build community through imaginative and creative scholarship and expression.
Over the past two years, the American state and other actors have made dramatic interventions in the communities of women, queer and trans people, and other sexual minorities, defunding research, deploying immigration authorities, and chilling conversations. Online, gender and sexuality are central to a vast range of decentralized communities, with a clear potential to inspire social change.
At the same time, algorithmic and AI-driven platforms shape and direct the communities that gather on them in ways that are difficult to see and understand. Though many experience severe isolation and alienation, we still seek out opportunities for local connection and organization. In the midst of these accelerating changes, it can be too easy to forget how our communities are tied to those elsewhere on the globe, and how much we might learn from the communities of the recent and more distant past.
The University of South Dakota invites students and scholars across disciplines to present their work imagining and building community and their research reflecting on and informing those practices.
Deadline for submission is December 15, 2026.
Submitting a Proposal
Submitting a Proposal
Deadline for submission is December 15, 2026. Use the form below to submit your proposal. Email wgss@usd.edu with questions!
The conference welcomes proposals for individual presentations or panels from faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, organizations, professionals, and community members. In addition to academic papers, we welcome posters, readings of creative writing, roundtable or workshop sessions, and music or dramatic performances.
Individual Projects: Submit an abstract of 300-500 words detailing the content and scope of the presentation. Include title, name and affiliations, and contact information. Individual presentations should not exceed 15 minutes.
Panels: Panel proposals should include a 300-500 word abstract that outlines the papers or projects contained therein, the subtheme of the panel, and how it relates to our broader theme of community. Panel proposals should not exceed 75 minutes. We welcome a variety of presentation formats for these panels. Please identify any equipment or space requirements.
All presenters will be notified in January 2027.
Featured Speakers for 2027
Featured Speakers for 2027
Amy E. Elkins, a writer, scholar, and multimedia artist interested in the intersection of literary studies and art/craft history. Her book Crafting Feminism from Literary Modernism to the Multimedia Present examines how writers recover, reposition, and repurpose craft materials and processes from photography and needlework to painting, collage, and digital making. For this year’s conference, Elkins will deliver a keynote lecture and host a workshop focused on collage and process-driven art making. Visit https://amyelkins.net/ to learn more.
Julie Rada, a performance director and prison-based arts practitioner and scholar. Julie is the co-founder of the multi-media performance company Grapefruit Lab, which has worked in the prison system and facilitated new works at prisons around Colorado, as well as Utah and Arizona. Visit julierada.com and grapefruitlab.com/ to learn more.
Meet the conference chair
Meet the conference chair
Sara E. Lampert (she/her) is associate professor of history at the University of South Dakota and has been coordinator of the Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program since 2015. This is the fifth (!) conference that she has chaired, including Cultures of Change (2017), Untold Stories (2019), Care (2022), and Practice and Power (2025). Please reach out if you have questions or ideas for the conference. We want to help you realize your vision, too!
Past Conferences: 2025 "Practice and Power"
Past Conferences: 2025 "Practice and Power"
What does self and community empowerment in our professional and daily practices look like? What are your practices of of empowerment and advocacy? How do you analyze and engage the structures of power that shape our world in relation to gender? Join us as we explore these questions in an interdisciplinary environment.
What does self and community empowerment in our professional and daily practices look like? What are your practices of of empowerment and advocacy? How do you analyze and engage the structures of power that shape our world in relation to gender? Join us as we explore these questions in an interdisciplinary environment.
Lyz Lenz, author
Lyz Lenz, author
Lyz is a New York Times bestselling author, whose writing has appeared in The Washington Post, the Columbia Journalism Review, The New York Times, and others. Her book God Land was published in 2019, through Indiana University Press. Her second book Belabored, was published in 2020 by Bold Type Books. Lyz’s essay “All the Angry Women” was also included in the anthology Not that Bad edited by Roxane Gay. Her third book, This American Ex-Wife, published in 2024, was an instant New York Times best seller. She is also the host of the This American Ex-Wife podcast.
Lyz received her MFA in creative writing from Lesley University. She lives in Iowa with her two kids and two dogs. She writes a regular newsletter, Men Yell At Me, where she explores the intersection of politics and our bodies in red-state America.
Muffie and Felipa have dedicated their lives to education and community activism, building awareness regarding current laws and accepted practices within the tribal nation and state, working with local, county, state, tribal, and national law enforcement to address hate crimes, and developing programs and curriculums for schools and educators to engage our youth on the experiences and challenges of being Native Two-Spirit LGBTQ.
Muffie and Felipa grew up on the Pine Ridge Reservation reservation, but found they could not be married there in 2015. They began petitioning for changes in the reservation’s law, resulting in the passage of same-sex marriage.
Mousseau and De Leon live in Rapid City, but some of their children and grandchildren live on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
2025 Schedule-at-a-Glance
2025 Schedule-at-a-Glance
Daytime events will be held in the Muenster University Center on the 2nd floor.
Tuesday evening, a conference reception and concert will be held in the National Music Museum. Schedule is in Central Standard Time.
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
8:45 A.M. Breakfast and registration opens
9:30-10:45 Paper Session: Historical and Cultural Investigations
11:00-12:15 Workshop: Women, Mental Health and Addiction
12:15-1:00 P.M. Lunch served
1:00-2:00 Keynote: Lyz Lenz, "The Antidote to Despair"
2:00-3:15 Flash Lecture Session
National Music Museum Reception and Concert
5:00-6:00 Reception and Tour the Museum
6:00-7:00 What can we do? Perform Music by Women
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
8:45 A.M. Breakfast and registration opens
9:30-10:45 Paper Session: Advocacy and Activism
11:00-12:15 Flash Lecture Session
12:15-1:00 P.M. Lunch served
1:00-2:00 Keynote: Felipa De Leon and Monique “Muffie” Mousseau, "Standing Up Because of Experience"
2:00-3:15 Paper Session: Social Media and Performance
3:30-4:45 Roundtable: Women's Authorship
Donate to Marty's Closet
Donate to Marty's Closet
Donate to Marty's Closet, which serves gender diverse South Dakotans in Sioux Falls and the surrounding area. Located at the Prism Center in Sioux Falls, Marty's Closet offers in-person and virtual styling and a week's worth of free clothing. We will have donation boxes set up and a QR code for cash donations.
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