CSWS Special Projects have emerged through Research Interest Groups or in other ways. They are funded, in part, by CSWS Special Projects Funding, discontinued at the end of AY 2015-16.
Designed to re-imagine academic writing and research, the Fembot Project participates in the ongoing revolution in academic publishing, taking seriously the advice of scholars to democratize our publications by embracing open access, open source publications. The Fembot Project centrally includes a new journal—Ada: Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology—that will be broadly accessible, both in terms of physical access and in terms of its content. The Fembot website comprises two overlapping projects: Ada, and a professional clearinghouse.
In fall 1992, CSWS began its research initiative Women in the Northwest (WNW), originally envisioned as a five-year project to promote and spotlight research on women’s lives in the Pacific Northwest. CSWS received a large private gift in 1997 from Mazie Giustina, specifically endowing more work on women in the Northwest. The Mazie Giustina gift continues to provide funding for research projects related to women in the Northwest.
CSWS was awarded a Ford Foundation grant in March 2008 from the National Council for Research on Women (NCRW). “Diversifying the Leadership of Women’s Research Centers” promotes the leadership of women of color from historically underrepresented groups in the United States within NCRW and within its women’s research, policy, and advocacy member centers. CSWS and the UO Office of the Vice President for Research provided matching funds.
New Special Project for 2015-16
LGBTQ Latina/o Youth Storytelling
Led by Ernesto Javier Martínez, associate professor in the UO Department of Ethnic Studies, this project connects award-winning writers, aspiring writers, and LGBTQ Latina/o youth with the aim of producing literature that challenges the erasure and distortion of LGBTQ Latina/o lives and that inspires future artistic collaborations seeking to make a positive impact on queer Latina/o communities.
Building upon a record of collaboration by UO faculty members and the new Association for Jotería Arts, Activism and Scholarship, this project will include the following activities: 1) produce literature that centers the experiences of LGBTQ Latina/o youth; 2) create workshops where award-winning writers alongside aspiring writers discuss the craft and politics of producing this kind of literature; 3) teach community members and youth the craft of writing in different genres; 4) distribute volumes of literature at an affordable price for community groups and nonprofits; and 5) develop partnerships with schools, nonprofits, and queer Latina/o youth groups around literature and culture.
The first pilot writing workshop will be dedicated to producing queer Latina/o children’s literature and will be led by the award-winning artist and writer Maya González, whose latest book, Call Me Tree, was recently listed as one of the Kirkus Best Picture Books of 2014 that Celebrate Diversity. The bookcover shown is from her Gender Now Coloring Book: A Learning Adventure for Children and Adults, aimed at ages 3+.
