Call for Book Chapters: A Girl Can Do: Recognizing and Representing Girlhood

Vernon Press invites chapter proposals for the volume: A Girl Can Do: Recognizing and Representing Girlhood edited by Tiffany R. Isselhardt (Girl Museum; Western Kentucky University). 

How do scholars research and shed light on marginalized populations - especially those that are rarely recognized as such? Combining girl-centered feminist inquiry and public history, this edited volume reflects on how we research and interpret girls and girlhood for the public. 

This book will reflect on how girls have been marginalized, how our work is bringing their stories to light, and why incorporating girlhood narratives in museums, historic sites, memorials, and other public spaces helps foster intersectional inclusivity and expand our audience base. Together, each chapter will showcase that by addressing girls specifically, we can better engage with youth, advocate for gender equality, and provide new insights into history and culture that expand our view of historical events, people, and places. 

Each chapter should present a case study or theoretical framework for how girlhood can be researched and represented to the public, shedding light on how marginalized populations extend beyond the oft-portrayed boundaries of race/ethnicity and sexuality/gender, thus considering how youth/age increase oppression. It is recommended that each chapter provide an introduction to the work, its relevance to mission and inclusion at their institutions or in their scholarly field, the process of researching and/or engaging girls (i.e., sources and methods), and the impact such work is having on the field and/or communities. 

For this volume, “girls” are defined as “self-identifying females under the age of 21.”

A Girl Can Do: Recognizing and Representing Girlhood will have a multidisciplinary approach. Proposals are welcomed from the fields of public history, museum studies and beyond. Possible topics may include, but are not limited to:

Interpretation of historic sites or objects

Girls’ Studies

Museum exhibitions

Memorials and Commemoration

Academic projects or coursework

Literature Studies

Music Studies

Art History

Public History

Women’s Studies

How to Submit Your Proposal:

Please submit a 300-word abstract and 100 word biography, plus C.V., to Tiffany R. Isselhardt at tiffany@girlmuseum.org by July 30, 2020. 

Chapter drafts will be due by November 30, 2020, for blind peer review.

About the Editor:

Tiffany R. Isselhardt holds a Master’s in Public History from Appalachian State University, with concentrations in museum interpretation and administration. She currently serves as Program Developer for Girl Museum, the first and only museum in the world dedicated to celebrating girls; and as Development and Marketing Manager for the Kentucky Museum at Western Kentucky University. Her work focuses on girls’ identity in history, museums, and material culture, both its representation and formation. She believes that more inclusive representation in history and historical sites (including museums, historic sites, and memorials) is integral to inspiring, and achieving equality for, girls and women. Through a girl-focused lens, she helps reinterpret historical narratives to become more inclusive of girlhood while providing museums and historic sites with ways to engage younger, more diverse audiences.

About the Publisher:

Vernon Press is an independent publisher of scholarly books in the social sciences and humanities. We work closely with authors, academic associations, distributors, and library information specialists to identify and develop high quality, high impact titles.