Rural Women's Studies Association

09/30/2026

Submission deadline for our 2027 conference extended to October 31.

2027 Agricultural History Society & Rural Women’s Studies Association
Joint Conference Call For Proposals
Theme: Identities, Landscape, Boundaries
June 1-5, 2027
Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA

For their joint 2027 conference, the Rural Women’s Studies Association and the Agricultural History Society invite scholars and students, artists and scientists, and community practitioners to explore the theme “Identities, Landscape, Boundaries.” Boundaries—whether physical, political, social, cultural, or ecological—shape how people define themselves and their communities. They mark divisions between places, professions, and identities, while also creating dynamic spaces of exchange, negotiation, and transformation. This theme invites participants to examine how boundaries are made and remade, crossed and contested, and how those processes affect rural lives, landscapes, and livelihoods across time and place.

We welcome papers and panels that engage with literal and figurative boundaries, including but not limited to topics such as transnational and regional borders; farm and town relationships; environmental and ecological change, the borders of race, gender, class, and sexuality; and the boundaries of ownership, belonging, and representation. By bringing together the insights of agricultural, environmental, and rural women’s history, this conference aims to illuminate the shifting identities, power dynamics, and connections that emerge where people, ideas, and environments meet at the borders.

Possible theme-related proposals might include—but are not limited to—the following topics:

Life on the border, i.e., trans-national borders, state borders, community borders, reservation borders
Life between borders, i.e., farm/town relationships
Relationships between professions, i.e., sustainable vs conventional farmers
Explorations of “big” boundaries of race, religion, politics, gender, sexuality
Contesting and negotiating borders
Climate change and shifting ecological borders
The boundaries of ownership — exploring land use, ownership, and dispossession
Q***r ruralities and reimagined borderlands
Agricultural practices, policies, and trade as boundary-making
Digital borders and rural connectivity
Land, water, and ecological boundaries
Seasonal, temporary, and invisible borders of labor
The borderlands of belonging
Imagining and representing rural borders
Boundaries of memory and storytelling
While both organizations urge scholars to submit papers, panels, and presentations that relate to the conference theme, submissions on other topics are also welcome.

https://ruralwomensstudies.org/conferences-2/rwsa-2027-conference/

08/26/2026

Here's a taste of the wonderful archival collections you can access when you join us at our 2027 joint conference in Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA.

Conference proposals due September 15.

People from across the nation and beyond have reached out, hoping to learn from the materials in the archive.
Link in the comments 👇

07/13/2026

Inter-School Storytelling Competition 23 July 2026

07/12/2026

RWSA African & Nigerian Chapters are partnering with Gender Development Initiative (GenDi) and relevant government stakeholders to host an Inter-School Storytelling Competition on Thursday, 23rd July 2026.

06/12/2026

Priority Submission Deadline is June 15!

Submissions received by June 15 will receive a response by August 15. Submit now if you will need conference acceptance to apply for a visa or travel funding to attend.

2027 Agricultural History Society & Rural Women’s Studies Association  Joint Conference Call For Proposals Theme: Identities, Landscape, Boundaries For their joint 2027 conference, the Rural Women’s Studies Association and the Agricultural History Society invite scholars and students, artists ...

04/01/2026

Call for Proposals now available for 2027 Joint Conference of the Agricultural History Society and Rural Women's Studies Association. Priority submission deadline (15 June 2026) for those needing extra time to apply for visas or request travel funding.

Theme: Identities, Landscape, Boundaries For their joint 2027 conference, the Rural Women’s Studies Association and the Agricultural History Society invite scholars and students, artists and scientists, and community practitioners to explore the theme “Identities, Landscape, Boundaries.” Bo...

03/20/2026

Call for Proposals
Special Issue of Montana the Magazine of Western History: “Women and the American West”
Dear historians of Women in the American West
Tracy Hanshew and Renee Laegreid are seeking proposals for a special issue of Montana: the Magazine of Western History to showcase current scholarship on the richness and diversity of women’s experiences in the West. Anticipated publication Winter 2027.
We welcome proposals or essays on individual women, groups of women, and/or areas of intersectionality. Examples of topics could include, for example, activism, business, family, medicine, religion, etc. Essays will be limited to 5500 words.
If interested, please submit a proposal by April 1, 2026, to Tracey Hanshew at thanshew (at) eou (dot) edu.
Proposals need to include your topic, tentative title, a one paragraph abstract (250 words), and a one-page C.v.
If you have questions, please contact either Tracey Hanshew at [email protected] or Renee Laegreid at [email protected]

05/22/2025

We're planning a tour stop at the largest--and only state-owned--flour mill in the United States during our next conference in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Mark your calendars: June 2-5, 2027!

01/27/2025

It's time to build community. Although we won't be hosting virtual craft hours anymore, we're still here to help. We're taking proposals for virtual presentations about rural women's history beyond North America

01/14/2025