Haitian Studies Association

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Call for Papers: ‘Writing the Francophone Caribbean Woman: Memory, Resistance, Imagination’

CALL FOR PAPERS

Special Bilingual Issue (English/French)

Writing the Francophone Caribbean Woman: Memory, Resistance, Imagination

Écrire la femme caribéenne francophone : mémoire, résistance et imagination

Note: This is not an HSA Call for Papers. We are sharing the word as a service. 

Read original Call for Papers here (https://acwws.org/)

Following the success of our previous bilingual issue of MaComère which was dedicated to the Hispanophone Caribbean, this peer-reviewed journal by the Association of Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars (ACWWS) invites submissions for a special bilingual issue focused on women’s writing in the Francophone Caribbean.

This issue seeks to explore the literary, cultural, political, linguistic, religious and imaginative worlds shaped by Francophone Caribbean women writers across genres, generations, and diasporic spaces. We welcome scholarly and creative engagements with voices emerging from Haiti, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Saint Martin, French Guyana, and the wider Francophone Caribbean diaspora.

Submissions may be written in English or French.

This next issue of MaComère aims to foster critical dialogue around how Francophone Caribbean women writers negotiate identity, memory, language, gender, history, migration, resistance, spirituality, ecology, and creative expression within local and global contexts.

We invite contributions from established scholars, as well as emerging researchers (especially graduate students), poets, critics, translators, and independent scholars.

Suggested Subthemes

Contributors may engage with, but are not limited to, the following themes:

  1. Women’s Voices and Literary Authority

Explorations of how Francophone Caribbean women writers claim narrative authority, challenge literary canons, redefine authorship, and create spaces for women-centered storytelling.

  1. Memory, Trauma, and Historical Reconstruction

Studies examining how literature revisits slavery, colonialism, dictatorship, displacement, political violence, and intergenerational trauma through acts of remembrance and reimagining.

  1. Feminist and Decolonial Imaginings

Contributions addressing feminist resistance, decolonial thought, gendered power structures, and the ways women’s writing contests colonial and patriarchal systems.

  1. Creole Identity, Language, and Translation

Discussions of multilingualism, Creole languages, code-switching, translation, linguistic hybridity, and the politics of writing and living in Creole, French, and English.

  1. Migration, Exile, and Diasporic Belonging

Examinations of migration, exile, transnational identity, border-crossing, return narratives, and the emotional and cultural complexities of diaspora.

  1. Spirituality, Folklore, and Ancestral Knowledge

Analyses of spirituality, oral traditions, folklore, myth, Vodou as a religious and cultural practice, ancestral memory, and indigenous or African-derived epistemologies in literary and creative works.

  1. Ecology, Landscape, and Environmental Consciousness

Studies focused on environmental crises, hurricanes, climate vulnerability, land, sea, ecology, and the relationship between Caribbean women and natural landscapes.

  1. Sexuality, Embodiment, and Gender Politics

Contributions exploring the body, desire, motherhood, queer identities, reproductive politics, sexuality, and gendered experiences in Francophone Caribbean writing.

  1. Resistance, Revolution, and Political Engagement

Discussions of activism, revolution, political resistance, anti-colonial struggles, and the role of women writers as public intellectuals and cultural critics.

  1. Oral Traditions and Storytelling Practices

Research on oral histories, storytelling traditions, performance, music, proverbs, and the transformation of oral forms into literary expression.

  1. Experimental Forms and Genre Innovation

Studies examining literary experimentation, hybrid genres, fragmented narratives, speculative fiction, performance poetry, digital writing, and alternative aesthetics.

  1. Motherhood, Kinship, and Intergenerational Narratives

Explorations of family structures, matrilineal histories, caregiving, inheritance, memory transmission, and relationships among generations of women.

  1. Caribbean Futurisms and Speculative Writing

Contributions examining speculative fiction, futurisms, magical realism, dystopian narratives, and imaginative reconfigurations of Caribbean futures.

  1. Comparative and Cross-Caribbean Perspectives

Comparative studies connecting Francophone Caribbean women’s writing with Anglophone, Hispanophone, Dutch Caribbean, African, or diasporic literary traditions.

Types of Submissions Invited

Critical Essays

Original scholarly essays addressing Francophone Caribbean women’s writing, literary criticism, cultural studies, gender studies, postcolonial studies, translation studies, or related interdisciplinary approaches (see subthemes).

Poetry

Original poems in English or French engaging the themes of the special issue.

Book Reviews

Reviews of recent publications relevant to Francophone Caribbean women’s writing, literary criticism, or cultural production.

Submission Guidelines

  • Submissions must be original and unpublished.
  • Languages accepted: English or French.
  • Manuscripts should be submitted in Microsoft Word. Critical articles should not exceed 20 pages, and book reviews should be approximately 3,000 to 4,000 words in length.
  • Authors should follow the most recent edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers.
  • All articles are refereed blind by at least two readers; consequently, the name(s) of the author(s) should appear only on a separate title page, which should also include the title(s) of work(s) submitted, street address, telephone, and email information, and a brief biographical statement of no more than 100 words.
  • The journal does not accept unsolicited material that has been previously published.
  • The editors reserve the right to amend phrasing and punctuation in manuscripts accepted for publication.

Timeline for publication

  • Abstracts of no more than 300 words should be submitted by September 30, 2026.
  • Notification of Abstract Acceptance: 1 October 2026.
  • Full Manuscript Submission Deadline: 31 January 2027.
  • Peer Review Period: 1 February 2027 to 30 April 2027.
  • Author Revisions Due: 31 May 2027.
  • Anticipated Publication: 1 October 2027.

Guest Editors: Cecile Accilien, PhD & Philippa Jabouin

All submissions and editorial correspondence should be sent to:

Dr Stephanie Fullerton-Cooper, Publications Editor, MaComère

University College of the Cayman Islands

Telephone: (345) 623-0532

Email: SCooper@ucci.edu.ky

Fair Use

Please be directed by the “Fair Use” guidelines outlined at: https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/copyrightinfo/fairuse.html

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Usage

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies should only be used to enhance readability and language, with human oversight and careful review to correct any errors or biases. AI should not be considered or used as an author or co-author. Authors must disclose their use of AI in a new section in their article(s), taking full responsibility for the content. Basic grammar and spelling tools do not require disclosure. When relevant, the statement below should be inserted into a section labelled ‘Acknowledgement of the Use of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies in the Writing Process’ at the end of the article but before the References section: Statement: Throughout the preparation of this work, the author(s) employed [NAME OF TOOL / SERVICE] to [PURPOSE]. Following the utilization of this tool/service, the author(s) thoroughly reviewed and edited the content as necessary, assuming full responsibility for the publication’s content.

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