CFP: “Marriage Rites and Wrongs: Feminist Thinking on Marriage during the Long Eighteenth Century” (ASECS 2019, 9/15/18; 3/21-3/24/19)

by Jessica C. Murphy

DUE to anhunter@ualr.edu by Sept. 15, 2018

“Marriage Rites and Wrongs: Feminist Thinking on Marriage during the Long Eighteenth Century” 
Convener: Angela Hunter, University of Arkansas-Little Rock;  anhunter@ualr.edu

From François Poulain de la Barre and Gabrielle Suchon to Olympe de Gouges and Mary Wollstonecraft, feminist authors identified the institution of marriage as a crucial obstacle to equality and rights. Marriage was not just a time-worn analogy through which theorists of absolutism such as Jean Bodin or Robert Filmer had described the relation of sovereign to subject, it was the primary mechanism for consolidating assets and juridical power in the hands of men. This panel welcomes papers that showcase the diversity of feminist approaches to marriage over the course of the long eighteenth century; emphasis on the political character of feminist critique of marriage encouraged.