Querelles des femmes

or, the Long History of Feminism

April 21 and 22, 2017

Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality

University of Chicago

5733 S University Ave, Chicago, IL 60637

This conference examines feminist and gender thought as manifested across historical, linguistic, cultural, political, and disciplinary boundaries. As our historical point of departure, we aim to explore the medieval roots and long history of the so-called Querelle des femmes, or Quarrel about/among women, often historically situated in the seventeenth century, but with clear antecedents in both legal and literary medieval and early modern texts. The conference will also interrogate modern and contemporary feminist and gender issues and theory, with a particular focus on comparison between French and Anglo-American approaches and paradigms.

Sponsored by the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality, the Franke Institute for the Humanities, the France Chicago Center, the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, and the Visiting Committee to the Division of the Humanities.