Comparative Gender Studies

The Comparative Gender Studies Committee of the International Comparative Literature Association (ICLA) works to further the comparative study of gender and sexuality through organizing innovative seminar programmes at the ICLA's Congresses and at other conferences, such as the ACLA's, and through supporting research and publication in the fields of comparative gender, sexuality, queer and trans* 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 as they intersect with race, class, ethnicity, national and religious affiliation, and other sites of difference. We also support research on the gender, queer and trans* 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, sexuality, queer and trans* studies is invited to join the Committee, and we especially welcome graduate students and post-docs.

Members of the ICLA can participate in seminars and conferences of the committee. They can also welcome to submit work to our publication projects. To join our mailing list, email the Committee's Secretary.

Early-career scholars are welcome to join the Committee.