ICLA Research Committee on Comparative Gender Studies

The Comparative Gender Studies Research Committee of the International Comparative Literature Association (ICLA) came into existence in 2004.  We work to further the comparative study of gender and sexuality through organising innovative seminar programmes at the ICLA and at other conferences, such as the ACLA. The Committee supports research and publication in the relatively new fields of comparative gender and comparative queer studies. We define ‘comparative’ in its broadest sense as an approach to the study of literature and culture that includes a) traditional comparisons across national and linguistic borders as these relate specifically to gender and/or sexuality; b) comparative work across historical, postcolonial, and transnational contexts focusing on gender and/or sexuality; and c) scholarship using gender and/or sexuality as sites of comparison themselves, or in relation to race, class, ethnicity, national and religious affiliation, and other sites of difference. We also support research and publication on the gender and queer politics of textual and/or cultural translation in all historical periods.  The work from our seminars is published in international peer-reviewed journals and in edited collections with major academic presses.  Anyone with a scholarly interest in comparative gender/queer studies is invited to join the Committee, and we especially welcome graduate students.