This conference shall bring together experts in the field of Feminist, Women's, and Gender Studies from various countries to discuss differentiations that shape power relations within that very field – and beyond. Relations and tensions between theoretical and empirical research as well as potentials and constraints of local contexts of knowledge production shall be addressed. We are strongly interested to examine and question the notions of "East" and "West" (mainly) in a European context.

The conference focuses on the notion of canon along the following lines

- Is there a canon of Feminist, Women's, and Gender Studies that is valid all over the world? Are there works one needs to have read to join the community? Which theories and approaches does one have to know and apply?

- If such a canon exists, how do theories, concepts or texts become canonical in Feminist, Women's and Gender Studies? Are there any differences to main/malestream canons?
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Are there implicit or explicit leading disciplines within an assumedly interdisciplinary context?

- Are Women's and Gender Studies in need of a canon at all? Can they help developing one?
- How about countries in which - for whatever historical or political reasons - Women's and Gender Studies evolved later than elsewhere (e.g. Austria, compared with the US, post-communist countries compared with "the West")? Can they ever catch up? Do they have to catch up?

- How important is the local context/situatedness of knowledge production? Can the subaltern (cf Gayatri Spivak) or those from the semi-peripheries (cf Marina Blagojevic) speak other than by recapitulating concepts and theories coming from the centre - or in the capacity of providers of raw data?

-How important are different languages? What about English as an academic lingua franca on the one hand and as a hegemonic language on the other?

The conference will comprise 5 - 6 panels of 2 – 3 papers. Presentations should not exceed 20 minutes. Every speaker will be assigned a commentator. To assure dense and focussed discussion, speakers and commentators shall receive all the papers before the conference. The conference language is English.

Participants are invited to submit a proposal (500 words) indicating the scope and approach of their contribution, together with a short CV. We strongly encourage the submission of panels. Proposals in English should be sent to Therese Garstenauer (Therese.Garstenauer@univie.ac.at) by 31 May 2005. Notice will be given by 10 July 2005. Papers are due by 15 October 2005, in order to distribute them in advance. The conference materials are planned to be published in a series of the Centre for Gender Studies at the University of Vienna. Travel expenses and accommodation costs of contributors shall be covered (pending the definite confirmation of funding).