The Joni Lovenduski Ph.D Prize in Gender and Politics
THE Joni Lovenduski PhD Prize in Gender and Politics
The Joni Lovenduski PhD Prize in Gender and Politics is presented by the ECPR and the ECPG Standing Group on Gender and Politics to an outstanding PhD dissertation in the field of gender and politics at the biennial European Conference on Gender and Politics. The Prize was established in 2012 in order to recognize the scholarly excellence and academic contributions made by early career academics in the field of gender and politics.
PRIZE AMOUNT: 500 Euros
PRIZE ANNOUNCEMENT AND DELIVERY: The winner of the prize will be announced one month before the 5th European Conference on Politics and Gender in June 2017. The prize will be presented at the award ceremony during the conference. The winner will be invited to deliver a talk presenting her/his PhD research. Expenses to attend the ceremony will be covered for travel and accommodations (up to a maximum amount of 500 euros, travel within Europe). The prize will be handed out jointly by a representative of the ECPR and the Standing Group co-conveners.
FREQUENCY OF PRIZE: every 2 years. If it is deemed that no PhD dissertation in Gender and Politics reaches an acceptable standard, the committee may decline to award the prize in any given biennium.
RULES FOR THE SUBMISSION: The PhD dissertation must have been examined and deemed to have passed in the two years preceding the European Politics and Gender Conference. However, the PhD needs not to have been officially conferred during this period. For the 2019 prize, all PhD dissertations that have been successfully between 1st October 2016 and 30st September 2018 may be nominated for the prize.
Candidates can only be nominated by their respective ECPR full member institution: self- nomination is not accepted. Only full member institutions can nominate a candidate for the prize and the PhD dissertation must have been submitted at that institution. ECPR full member institutions can nominate no more than one candidate for the prize. The prize is open to both women and men. The nomination must come via the ECPR Official Representative or the Head of Department. The topic of the PhD dissertation should adopt a gender and/or sexuality studies perspective within the broadly conceived fields of political science, international relations, political theory, philosophy, research methods, as well as public policy and public administration.
Article-based dissertations: article-based dissertations are allowed for submission under the following conditions: (1) the dissertation should comprise at least three articles, (2) at least two articles must be single-authored. The submission should state in an explicit and precise way the contribution of the candidate to the co-written piece(s). The submission should state the share of the contribution in percentage, broken down by sections of the article(s). Book chapters are not considered for this prize.
Thesis-based dissertations: thesis-based dissertations are allowed for submission. In the case where the thesis was funded and accomplished within the framework of a collective research project, the submission should state in an explicit and precise way the original contribution of the candidate in terms of methodological framework (data collection, data analysis), theoretical framework and empirics.
The nomination must include (as three separate PDF files):
(1) An enclosed letter from the ECPR Official Representative of the member institution or the Head of the Department at which the PhD dissertation was examined. The letter should emphasize the innovative and outstanding contribution of the PhD dissertation to research on Gender and Politics, as defined above. The letter from the ECPR Official Representative or Head of the Department should be directly addressed to the co-conveners of the ECPR Standing Group on Gender and Politics.
(2) An expanded 15 to 20 page abstract in English outlining the main arguments of the work. The abstract should include:
(i) The subject of the PhD dissertation and how it relates to current research on Gender and Politics
(ii) Its main findings and arguments
(iii) Its principal conclusions and contributions to the field of Gender and Politics
(iv) The author’s original contribution in case of collective work and publication (see requirements stated above regarding article-based dissertation and thesis-based dissertation).
(3) The table of contents of the PhD dissertation, also in English.
SHORT-LIST: The nomination materials will be used to select a short-list of PhD dissertations (usually of not more than five candidates). The authors of the short-listed dissertations will be asked to provide an electronic copy of their complete dissertations.
PUBLICATION: The criterion for this prize is that, with suitable amendments, the dissertation would make an outstanding book, addressing central themes in the relevant subfield(s) of the discipline, and hence would be suitable for inclusion in the ECPR's Monographs series, which is published in English. Although it is hoped that the successful dissertation will be published in the ECPR Press Monograph series, the Press is under no obligation to offer a contract with the book series; and no candidate is under any obligation to accept such a contract if offered. However, the Editors of the Press hope to start discussions as soon as possible with the winner, and indeed with some of the other shortlisted candidates, on the possibility of publishing their dissertation as a book in the Monograph series.
2017 Winner - Dr Hila Amit
Dr Hila Amit for her dissertation 'A Queer Way Out: Israeli Emigration and Unheroic Resistance to Zionism'
Hila Amit is a freelance researcher, Hebrew teacher and author. She holds a PhD in Gender Studies from SOAS, University of London, and a Master’s in Gender Studies from the University of Tel-Aviv. Hila also has a BA in creative writing, and recently published her rst short story collection, Moving On from Bliss (Tel-Aviv: Am Oved, 2016). Prior to her academic career, Hila worked for Physicians for Human Rights in Israel/Palestine, where she also took part in several education programmes. In addition to her interest in the Israel-Palestine conflict and the effects of Zionist Ideology on Israel’s gender regime, Hila is committed to the critical approach offered by queer theories on questions of nation, gender and sexuality.In her own words...
‘My dissertation explores the activities of (as well as the discourse used by) queer Israeli emigrants, before, during, and after departure. At the juncture of sexuality, politics and national belonging, my research investigates the connections between the Israeli collective and its outcasts, and between social exclusion and departure. I formulate a framework through which emigration is read as a political activity. The thesis’ argument is that queer Israeli emigrants, in their decision to depart, undermine Zionist ideology, and change the obvious paths of resistance to Zionism. In stepping out of the territory of Israel, they avoid the Zionist demand to perform as strong, masculine Sabras. Likewise, left-wing resistance to the regime demands similar strength: to take part in violent demonstrations and risk physical injury or imprisonment. Emigration is subversive in that it symbolises a refusal to answer Zionism in the currency of heroism and active resistance. I show how emigrants’ decision to leave stems from acknowledgement of their own vulnerability; recognition that they can no longer tolerate the hardship of life offered to them in Israel. The very act of announcing their vulnerability weakens the system, which demands strength of the citizens of Israel, whether obedience to the regime or not. In their passivity and unheroic behaviour, emigrants threaten to undermine the entire Zionist project.
By announcing their vulnerability, by choosing not to be heroes –not to be there – queer emigrants are, in fact, resisting the Zionist project in its essence.’
The Joni Lovenduski PhD Prize in Gender and Politics is presented by the ECPR and the ECPG Standing Group on Gender and Politics to an outstanding PhD dissertation in the field of gender and politics at the biennial European Conference on Gender and Politics. The Prize was established in 2012 in order to recognize the scholarly excellence and academic contributions made by early career academics in the field of gender and politics.
PRIZE AMOUNT: 500 Euros
PRIZE ANNOUNCEMENT AND DELIVERY: The winner of the prize will be announced one month before the 5th European Conference on Politics and Gender in June 2017. The prize will be presented at the award ceremony during the conference. The winner will be invited to deliver a talk presenting her/his PhD research. Expenses to attend the ceremony will be covered for travel and accommodations (up to a maximum amount of 500 euros, travel within Europe). The prize will be handed out jointly by a representative of the ECPR and the Standing Group co-conveners.
FREQUENCY OF PRIZE: every 2 years. If it is deemed that no PhD dissertation in Gender and Politics reaches an acceptable standard, the committee may decline to award the prize in any given biennium.
RULES FOR THE SUBMISSION: The PhD dissertation must have been examined and deemed to have passed in the two years preceding the European Politics and Gender Conference. However, the PhD needs not to have been officially conferred during this period. For the 2019 prize, all PhD dissertations that have been successfully between 1st October 2016 and 30st September 2018 may be nominated for the prize.
Candidates can only be nominated by their respective ECPR full member institution: self- nomination is not accepted. Only full member institutions can nominate a candidate for the prize and the PhD dissertation must have been submitted at that institution. ECPR full member institutions can nominate no more than one candidate for the prize. The prize is open to both women and men. The nomination must come via the ECPR Official Representative or the Head of Department. The topic of the PhD dissertation should adopt a gender and/or sexuality studies perspective within the broadly conceived fields of political science, international relations, political theory, philosophy, research methods, as well as public policy and public administration.
Article-based dissertations: article-based dissertations are allowed for submission under the following conditions: (1) the dissertation should comprise at least three articles, (2) at least two articles must be single-authored. The submission should state in an explicit and precise way the contribution of the candidate to the co-written piece(s). The submission should state the share of the contribution in percentage, broken down by sections of the article(s). Book chapters are not considered for this prize.
Thesis-based dissertations: thesis-based dissertations are allowed for submission. In the case where the thesis was funded and accomplished within the framework of a collective research project, the submission should state in an explicit and precise way the original contribution of the candidate in terms of methodological framework (data collection, data analysis), theoretical framework and empirics.
The nomination must include (as three separate PDF files):
(1) An enclosed letter from the ECPR Official Representative of the member institution or the Head of the Department at which the PhD dissertation was examined. The letter should emphasize the innovative and outstanding contribution of the PhD dissertation to research on Gender and Politics, as defined above. The letter from the ECPR Official Representative or Head of the Department should be directly addressed to the co-conveners of the ECPR Standing Group on Gender and Politics.
(2) An expanded 15 to 20 page abstract in English outlining the main arguments of the work. The abstract should include:
(i) The subject of the PhD dissertation and how it relates to current research on Gender and Politics
(ii) Its main findings and arguments
(iii) Its principal conclusions and contributions to the field of Gender and Politics
(iv) The author’s original contribution in case of collective work and publication (see requirements stated above regarding article-based dissertation and thesis-based dissertation).
(3) The table of contents of the PhD dissertation, also in English.
SHORT-LIST: The nomination materials will be used to select a short-list of PhD dissertations (usually of not more than five candidates). The authors of the short-listed dissertations will be asked to provide an electronic copy of their complete dissertations.
PUBLICATION: The criterion for this prize is that, with suitable amendments, the dissertation would make an outstanding book, addressing central themes in the relevant subfield(s) of the discipline, and hence would be suitable for inclusion in the ECPR's Monographs series, which is published in English. Although it is hoped that the successful dissertation will be published in the ECPR Press Monograph series, the Press is under no obligation to offer a contract with the book series; and no candidate is under any obligation to accept such a contract if offered. However, the Editors of the Press hope to start discussions as soon as possible with the winner, and indeed with some of the other shortlisted candidates, on the possibility of publishing their dissertation as a book in the Monograph series.
2017 Winner - Dr Hila Amit
Dr Hila Amit for her dissertation 'A Queer Way Out: Israeli Emigration and Unheroic Resistance to Zionism'
Hila Amit is a freelance researcher, Hebrew teacher and author. She holds a PhD in Gender Studies from SOAS, University of London, and a Master’s in Gender Studies from the University of Tel-Aviv. Hila also has a BA in creative writing, and recently published her rst short story collection, Moving On from Bliss (Tel-Aviv: Am Oved, 2016). Prior to her academic career, Hila worked for Physicians for Human Rights in Israel/Palestine, where she also took part in several education programmes. In addition to her interest in the Israel-Palestine conflict and the effects of Zionist Ideology on Israel’s gender regime, Hila is committed to the critical approach offered by queer theories on questions of nation, gender and sexuality.In her own words...
‘My dissertation explores the activities of (as well as the discourse used by) queer Israeli emigrants, before, during, and after departure. At the juncture of sexuality, politics and national belonging, my research investigates the connections between the Israeli collective and its outcasts, and between social exclusion and departure. I formulate a framework through which emigration is read as a political activity. The thesis’ argument is that queer Israeli emigrants, in their decision to depart, undermine Zionist ideology, and change the obvious paths of resistance to Zionism. In stepping out of the territory of Israel, they avoid the Zionist demand to perform as strong, masculine Sabras. Likewise, left-wing resistance to the regime demands similar strength: to take part in violent demonstrations and risk physical injury or imprisonment. Emigration is subversive in that it symbolises a refusal to answer Zionism in the currency of heroism and active resistance. I show how emigrants’ decision to leave stems from acknowledgement of their own vulnerability; recognition that they can no longer tolerate the hardship of life offered to them in Israel. The very act of announcing their vulnerability weakens the system, which demands strength of the citizens of Israel, whether obedience to the regime or not. In their passivity and unheroic behaviour, emigrants threaten to undermine the entire Zionist project.
By announcing their vulnerability, by choosing not to be heroes –not to be there – queer emigrants are, in fact, resisting the Zionist project in its essence.’
2015 Winner - Dr. Ana Miškovska Kajevska
Dr. Ana Miškovska Kajevska for her dissertation “Taking a stand in times of violent societal changes: Belgrade and Zagreb feminists’ positionings on the (post-) Yugoslav wars and each other (1991–2000)”.
Ana Miškovska Kajevska is a freelance researcher, translator and activist. She holds a PhD degree in Social Sciences and a MSc degree (cum laude) in Sociology and Gender Studies from the University of Amsterdam. She has also finished the programmes in Women’s Studies and Peace Studies at the Zagreb-based Centre for Women’s Studies and Centre for Peace Studies, respectively, and has an extensive activist experience in inter alia human rights and environmental protection. In addition to her interest in the (post-)Yugoslav wars and sustainable postwar recovery and reconciliation, she is committed to the critical examination of the established (scholarly) classifications and ideas, especially those regarding gender and sexuality.
The dissertation explores the positionings (discourses and activities) of the Belgrade and Zagreb feminists vis-à-vis the (post-)Yugoslav wars and one another between 1991 and 2000. Primarily applying a Bourdieuian framework and based on a comprehensive literature review, extensive semi-structured qualitative interviews, and a thorough examination of organisational documents and printed media articles, this socio-historical analysis attends to a number of biases, lacunae and incorrect or insufficiently precise (recurring) information in the scholarship. Thereby, The thesis enriches the existing knowledge on the war-related feminist activism in Belgrade and Zagreb in the 1990s, and raises pressing epistemological questions about this knowledge.
In short, the dissertation challenges the common suggestion that the outbreak of the war violence in 1991 led to the same reorganisation of the Belgrade and Zagreb feminist fields: The activists in each city, who had up until then worked together without tensions, divided into antinationalists and nationalists and began clashing with each other because of the different war-related positionings. The thesis shows that there were significant differences between Belgrade and Zagreb in the contents of those positionings and in the intra-feminist dynamics, due to which these two cities should not be considered interchangeable locations. Furthermore, the dissertation demonstrates that the designations ‘antinationalist’ and ‘nationalist’ were not completely value-free, objective descriptions. They were instead an essential part of the local and international efforts to stop the (sexual) war violence, and of the struggle for legitimacy among the feminists in each city – endeavours in which many Western (feminist) academics, activists, and funders were involved, too.
Slides of the presentation "A Time to Re-Examine the Common Narrative: A Critical Analysis of the Scholarship of the war-related Feminist Activism in Belgrade and Zagreb in the 1990's.
Laudation by Dr. Mieke Verloo (Radboud University):
"At the heart of much of our work in the Gender and Politics community is studying what happens to feminism as a political project for changing gender inequality.
We are very happy that this year’s PhD Prize goes to a young scholar who addressed this last question head on; who dared to ask the difficult question: what happens to feminism under conditions of war, under conditions were several political projects clash bloodily? Does feminism get crushed in all this violence? What happens exactly? What are the stories told about this? And are they true?
Research done on such big questions is very demanding for a researcher. One needs courage and stamina, dedication and skills and patience. Ana Miškovska Kajevska has shown all this and more in her splendid analysis of “Belgrade and Zagreb feminists’ positionings on the (post) Yugoslav wars and each other” for the period 1991 till 2000.
She impressed the jury with her careful debunking of the “truth about Yugoslavian feminism”, incorporating the best traditions of political history research in her work.
We congratulate Ana Miškovska Kajevska for engaging with one of our most difficult undertakings: to study the movements carrying our joint gender equality projects and analyse how they can get lost in internal competitions for legitimacy, for political space. To show how feminism does not escape overall politics, never, but at times can deal with this and survive.
Ana Miškovska Kajevska is really exploring new grounds in this dissertation. Studying a part of Europe that is too often seen as lagging behind, she shows how we can all learn from it to better understand our common feminist struggles.
The European Gender and Politics Community is a large community with many, many dedicated and talented researchers. This year again, the nominations for the Prize were of very high quality. Yet, only one can win.
Ana Miškovska Kajevska, on behalf of all of us, please accept and enjoy your well deserved PhD Prize!"
The dissertation explores the positionings (discourses and activities) of the Belgrade and Zagreb feminists vis-à-vis the (post-)Yugoslav wars and one another between 1991 and 2000. Primarily applying a Bourdieuian framework and based on a comprehensive literature review, extensive semi-structured qualitative interviews, and a thorough examination of organisational documents and printed media articles, this socio-historical analysis attends to a number of biases, lacunae and incorrect or insufficiently precise (recurring) information in the scholarship. Thereby, The thesis enriches the existing knowledge on the war-related feminist activism in Belgrade and Zagreb in the 1990s, and raises pressing epistemological questions about this knowledge.
In short, the dissertation challenges the common suggestion that the outbreak of the war violence in 1991 led to the same reorganisation of the Belgrade and Zagreb feminist fields: The activists in each city, who had up until then worked together without tensions, divided into antinationalists and nationalists and began clashing with each other because of the different war-related positionings. The thesis shows that there were significant differences between Belgrade and Zagreb in the contents of those positionings and in the intra-feminist dynamics, due to which these two cities should not be considered interchangeable locations. Furthermore, the dissertation demonstrates that the designations ‘antinationalist’ and ‘nationalist’ were not completely value-free, objective descriptions. They were instead an essential part of the local and international efforts to stop the (sexual) war violence, and of the struggle for legitimacy among the feminists in each city – endeavours in which many Western (feminist) academics, activists, and funders were involved, too.
Slides of the presentation "A Time to Re-Examine the Common Narrative: A Critical Analysis of the Scholarship of the war-related Feminist Activism in Belgrade and Zagreb in the 1990's.
Laudation by Dr. Mieke Verloo (Radboud University):
"At the heart of much of our work in the Gender and Politics community is studying what happens to feminism as a political project for changing gender inequality.
We are very happy that this year’s PhD Prize goes to a young scholar who addressed this last question head on; who dared to ask the difficult question: what happens to feminism under conditions of war, under conditions were several political projects clash bloodily? Does feminism get crushed in all this violence? What happens exactly? What are the stories told about this? And are they true?
Research done on such big questions is very demanding for a researcher. One needs courage and stamina, dedication and skills and patience. Ana Miškovska Kajevska has shown all this and more in her splendid analysis of “Belgrade and Zagreb feminists’ positionings on the (post) Yugoslav wars and each other” for the period 1991 till 2000.
She impressed the jury with her careful debunking of the “truth about Yugoslavian feminism”, incorporating the best traditions of political history research in her work.
We congratulate Ana Miškovska Kajevska for engaging with one of our most difficult undertakings: to study the movements carrying our joint gender equality projects and analyse how they can get lost in internal competitions for legitimacy, for political space. To show how feminism does not escape overall politics, never, but at times can deal with this and survive.
Ana Miškovska Kajevska is really exploring new grounds in this dissertation. Studying a part of Europe that is too often seen as lagging behind, she shows how we can all learn from it to better understand our common feminist struggles.
The European Gender and Politics Community is a large community with many, many dedicated and talented researchers. This year again, the nominations for the Prize were of very high quality. Yet, only one can win.
Ana Miškovska Kajevska, on behalf of all of us, please accept and enjoy your well deserved PhD Prize!"
2013 Winner - Dr. Rosalind Cavaghan, University of Edinburgh
Rosalind Cavaghan studied at the Universities of Edinburgh and Leipzig and started a Marie Curie Intra European Fellowship at Radboud University in September 2013.
Her thesis sought to tackle a conundrum many of us will be familiar with. Most of us think we’re pro gender equality but can’t understand what we, or our organisation, have to do with it. This is one of the biggest barriers to the implementation of Gender Mainstreaming (GM) – the UN’s best practice model for the achievement of gender equality and the EU’s flagship gender equality policy. Rosalind’s thesis developed a new methodology combining the sociology of knowledge and interpretative policy analysis, to unpick this problem. These methods view all policy as the attempt to coordinate activity around shared policy assumptions, and provide methodological tools to show how collective ways of thinking and acting can be maintained by state organisations. Using these methods, Rosalind’s thesis showed how structured implementation and policy development processes in the EU Commission sustain gender blind thinking and activity on a grand scale, and how GM can disrupt these habits. As such, her thesis seeks to increase our understanding of both the mechanisms through which (supra national) state policies maintain and depoliticise gender inequality and the prospects for change. |
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