Caucuses
Caucuses focus on groups that are historically underrepresented within our larger society and/or in the Association. As a sub-community of NWSA, Caucuses ground community through shared socio-political locations as standpoint epistemologies; we work to honor how the personal is political and how our lived experiences offer rich knowledge as well as ways of knowing. As these spaces are anchored in shared identity, Caucuses are also a space for co-creating, sharing, and engaging scholarly knowledge within the field. Caucuses also sponsor sessions with the Annual Conference, oversee Student Awards, and co-sponsor initiatives within the larger membership. Therefore, select Caucuses require additional membership dues (which run for one calendar year from purchase).
The Association holds four sets on the Board (the Governing Council) for the co-chairs of two foundational Caucus groups - the Lesbian Caucus and the Women of Color Caucus. These Caucus Constituency Groups were established in response to continued homophobia and racism during the early years of the Association. Rather than frame how these systems of oppression impact(ed) members in the past, we remain committed to amplifying these two spaces as we are not precluded from continued homophobic and racist harm. The co-chairs of the Lesbian Caucus and Women of Color Caucus, respectively, thus serve a two-year term on the Board (congruent with the leadership of each Caucus) in order to ensure substantive representation as well as advocacy across the membership.
Caucus Membership Dues
Our active list of Caucus Groups include:
- Aging and Ageism Caucus
- Community College Caucus
- Feminist Mothering Caucus
- Girls and Girl Studies Caucus
- Graduate Student Caucus
- Indigenous Peoples Caucus
- Jewish Caucus
- Lesbian Caucus
- Muslim Caucus
- North American Asian Feminist Collective
- Queer and Trans People of Color Caucus
- South Asian Feminist Caucus
- Trans/Gender Variant Caucus
- Transnational Feminisms Caucus
- Women of Color Caucus
Core Committees
The Association is deeply proud of our two core committees that are vital to the NWSA mission:
- The Program Administration and Development (PAD) Committee focuses on roles that are vital to the NWSA's investments in the field of women's, gender, and sexuality studies; it serves as a space for program chairs and directors to network, coalition build, and share resources aimed at sustaining the work of women's, gender, and sexuality studies academic departments/programs. PAD is led by elected members of the Association and work in partnership with the National Office to coordinate our annual pre-conference and virtual Chair and Directors Meeting each spring.
- The Women's Centers Committee (WCC) is comprised of elected co/chair(s) and members who engage in, lead, and support the work of campus-based women's centers. WCC functions as a community of practice and invites the rich synthesis of scholarship, praxis, and creative programming in its impact on students and faculty alike. It is also a space for community connection among peers - a much needed avenue of support as we navigate escalated attacks and critiques of WGSS-based work in American higher education - and innovation for strategies as well as interventions.
As core committees, the PAD and WCC works in tandem with the National Office to coordinate pre-conferences at the Annual Conference each year.
Interest Groups
As a Constituency Group, Interest Groups focus on areas of scholarly inquiry - this can include identity-based areas of study, interdisciplinary approaches to women's, gender, and sexuality studies, as well as work that engages how we "do" feminist work in and outside of academia. Interest Groups connect over projects, interventions, and invites member-driven resources, collaborative ways of blending experiential knowledge with coalition building, and curating strategies/policies/practices that address pressing issues that impact the field as whole.
Our current offering of Interest Groups include:
- Animal Studies/Animal Ethics Interest Group
- Asexuality Studies Interest Group
- Arts and Performance Interest Group
- Confronting Campus Sexual Assault
- Contingent Faculty Interest Group
- Disability Studies Interest Group
- Distance Education Interest Group
- Early Modern Women Interest Group
- Fat Studies Interest Group
- Feminism and Activism Interest Group
- Feminists for Justice In/For Palestine (F4JP)
- Feminist Media Studies Interest Group
- Feminist Pedagogy Interest Group
- Feminist Spirituality Interest Group
- Gender, Women's, and Feminist Studies (GWFS) PhD Interest Group
- Law and Public Policy Interest Group
- Libraries and Archives Interest Group
- Popular Culture Interest Group
- Publishing Feminisms Interest Group
- Reproductive Justice Interest Group
NWSA Task Forces
The Association supports member-driven Task Forces that focus on issues relevant to the field and/or NWSA that can be addressed through action. Task Forces can be short-term or long-term (and sometimes a length of time that feels in-between) collaborative work that engage call to actions on topics that impact WGSS scholars, activists, students, and feminists in an array of fields. Our current offering of active Task Forces include:
- Anti-White Supremacy Task Force
- International Task Force
- Science and Technology Task Force
- Social Justice Education Task Force
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