Criminalization and Sexuality

The journal Social Justice invites contributions for the December 2009
issue, which will be devoted to the theme of Criminalization and
Sexuality.

Over the past three decades, the U.S. has increasingly relied on
criminalization as a strategy for managing social problems. As a result,
over 2.3 million people are presently incarcerated, or 1 in every 100
adults, excluding those held in immigration detention, juvenile justice,
or military facilities. Additionally, in the post-9/11 political
context, new technologies of surveillance and detention have emerged,
resulting in the criminalization and deportation of thousands of
immigrants from the U.S., and the indefinite detention and abuse of
prisoners of war around the globe.  For this issue, we define
criminalization to include de jure and de facto processes, so as to
address law as it exists “on the books” and as it manifests in everyday
life.

We approach sexuality with a particular focus on non-normative
identities and communities, and with particular interest in its
intersections with gender, race, class and citizenship.  We invite
articles that examine how legal institutions criminalize and punish
marginalized communities for non-normative, non-conforming sexualities
and genders as well as articles that explore how the criminal justice
system manages sexuality, particularly within detention facilities. We
encourage submissions from social scientists and humanities scholars,
and we welcome articles that use a wide-range of methodologies,
including qualitative, quantitative, historical, cultural, and
transnational analyses.

We are interested in selecting papers that address at least one of the
following themes:
1.    Intimate and State Sexual Violence Against Women.
2.    Sexuality and Gender in the Racialized Carceral Landscape.
3.    Law, Sexuality and the Post-Colonial State.
4.    Queer Politics, Heteronormativity and Criminalization.
5.    Sexual and Gender Violence in Prisons and Jails.
6.    Sexual Politics of the Prison Industrial Complex.
7.    Sexuality, Citizenship and Immigration Control.
8.    State Regulation and the Global Sex Trade.
9.    Surveillance and Harassment of Marginalized Communities.
10.    Disciplining of Black Masculinity and Heterosexuality.

Please submit a proposal that briefly outlines the scope of the paper (1
– 2 pages) and a current C.V.  Notification of invitation to submit a
full paper will be made by February 13th, 2009.

Send proposals in electronic format to Clare Sears and Alexis Martinez:
clares@sfsu.edu, alexisnm@sfsu.edu. Each manuscript should include the
following contact information:  author(s) name(s), institutions,
telephone number(s), and email address(es) for all authors, and work
address for the corresponding author.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF PAPER PROPOSAL:  January 9th, 2009
Authors of accepted paper proposals will be invited to submit a full
paper by April 3rd, 2009

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