This is a call for papers for the above conference, to be held on June
12-13, 2014, at the Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies
(NIOD) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in close cooperation with Kwansei
Gakuin University (KGU), Japan. This conference seeks to go beyond the
static passive/pacifist portrayal of women in the Second World War. We are
interested in recovering the history of women who transgressed normative,
peacetime gender boundaries by choosing to be masters of their own fate in
abetting and perpetrating violence, in collaborating with or resisting
aggression, or in actively furthering or frustrating the war goals of their
own side. We aim to examine the actions and image of strong, active, and/or
violent women in the various theaters of the Second World War, contrasting
European, East Asian, and Southeast Asian cases for greater insights into
the relations between gender, culture, and the Second World War. Please
submit a 300-word abstract and a 100-word biographical note to the
conference coordinators (NIOD: Eveline Buchheim, Ralf Futselaar; KGU:
Timothy Tsu,) at info@niod.knaw.nl and indicating Fighting Women as subject
matter by September 1, 2013. Authors will be notified by November 1, 2013.
Please direct your inquiries to the coordinators at the same e-mail address.