Men and Masculinities (no deadline noted; encyclopedia)

Dear Colleagues:

We are writing to invite you take part in an exciting project. We have agreed to edit the first comprehensive reference Encyclopedia on Men and Masculinities for ABC-Clio Press, one of the world's premier publishers of encyclopedias for university, high school and library reference. We intend to edit what will be, at least for its time, the definitive encyclopedia on the subject, at least for North American and English-speaking readers.

We are inviting you to be the author of one (or more) of the entries in this two-volume work.

In our statement to the press we wrote:

In recent years, the study of GENDER has mushroomed both in the United States and abroad. In the biological sciences, research into the biological bases of gender identity and gender differences has yielded important insights. In the social sciences, cross-cultural, historical, psychological, and sociological research on has enabled us to understand the very different ways in which the genders act, think, and feel. And research in the humanities has exploded with recent efforts to understand literature, art , and music as gendered representations.

In academic and professional associations, those attuned to gender are among the fastest growing sub-sections. In the American Sociological Association, for example, the "Sex and Gender" section is the largest section of the association, surpassing "Medical Sociology" in 1998. In university publishing, gender studies, gay and lesbian studies and women's studies lists continue to sell well.

The overwhelming majority of gender research has been, naturally, on women. Women are the "second sex," the "other," and as such, it has been women who have begun to make gender visible to contemporary scholars and lay people alike. This is, of course, politically as it should be: the marginalized always understand first the mechanisms of their marginalization; it remains for them to convince the center that the processes of marginalization are in fact both real and remediable.

Part of that process has been "making masculinity visible:" to explore the origins, structures and dynamics of masculinity as a way of decentering it as the unexamined norm. This process has now been in full swing for about two decades, and has produced a prodigious and interesting body of work.

The time has come to assemble what is known about men and masculinities into one single reference that would make the fruits of this research available to scholars, students, and lay readers alike. The purpose of this Encyclopedia is to accomplish precisely this assembly. We therefore propose to edit a two-volume Encyclopedia of Studies on Men and Masculinities.

So much for the justification to the press. Here's where you come in:

The Encyclopedia would bring together many of the world's premier scholars and writers who would write original, short essays that would provide a reader with a brief guide to the issue and some suggestions for further reading. We will cover biological, cross-cultural, psychological, sociological research, as well as representations from the arts and humanities. Our authors will be the best-known scholars in the field, invited because of both their command of the material and their ability to convey it in a manner that is immediate and accessible.

That means you!

What we are asking is that you consider undertaking one (or more) of the entries to this project. Each entry, regardless of length, should be fluidly written, both authoritative and accessible. Each entry will conclude with a brief guide to further readings on that topic.

I hope you will join us in this exciting project.

Thanks very much.

Yours,

Michael Kimmel
Amy Aronson

Please contact Michael S. Kimmel (michaelskimmel@compuserve.com) if you are interested in the following CFP. Also, please pass on this CFP to other colleagues who might be interested.