Mission Statement of WASN (Women in American Studies Network)
The Women in American Studies Network (WASN) is primarily for and welcoming to all who identify as women and those marginalised along the gender spectrum. The network and network members sponsor events that are open to all. The network exists to offer spaces to discuss the academic labour, challenges and opportunities for women working in American studies; to consider the intersection of race, class, sexuality, and gender in shaping careers in American studies; to facilitate networks of women working in American studies through hosting and promoting training events, workshops, online forums and mentoring; and to promote the work and career opportunities for network members.
Each year the network will host a meeting at the annual BAAS conference and sponsor a panel at one of BAAS’s sister organisations, such the American Politics Group (APG), British Group of Early American Historians (BGEAH), the British Association of Nineteenth-Century Americanists (BrANCA), the British Association of Nineteenth-Century Historians (BrANCH), the British Library’s Eccles Centre for American Studies, Historians of the Twentieth Century United States (HOTCUS), or the Society for the History of American Women (SHAW).
The network was launched at the 2017 annual BAAS conference at Canterbury Christ Church University. There are regular meetings at the annual conferences of different UK Americanist academic organisations. The network has a significant British, European and American membership. In its short lifespan it has created a space for women at major conferences and influenced debate in the field around issues of gender and diversity.
In 2018 it created a steering committee of representatives from the sister organisations listed above to make the network sustainable. The steering committee consists of Kate Dossett of the University of Leeds, Megan Hunt of the University of Edinburgh, Erin Forbes of the University of Bristol, Sinead McEneaney of the Open University, Mara Oliva of the University of Reading, Cara Rodway of the British Library, and Jenny Woodley of Nottingham Trent University.
To contact the network with suggestions or queries, please email womenamericanstudiesnetwork@gmail.com.