Volume 6, Issue 1 (Spring 2027)

Deadline for Abstract Submission: Monday, 29 June 2026

 

Theme: Gender, Sexualities, and Matriculture (Open Call)

 

Broadly understood, matriculture is a Geertzian cultural framework of symbols and meanings pertaining to women, mothers, and the feminine. This system of symbols (this matriculture) creates a shared 'language,' so to speak, to describe, interpret, and reflect social reality - a model of reality - as well as prescribing and shaping social behaviour - a model for reality. This system/framework is constructed in a wide variety of different ways across diverse cultures, just as, according to Judith Butler, cultural frameworks pertaining to gender and sexualities are distinct across cultures.

In this context, then, the relationship of gender and sexuality with matriculture becomes of primary interest, particularly in cultural contexts where there is both an increasing recognition of gender fluidity, gender crossing, multiple gender identities, and non-binary sexualities and an attempt to repress the same.

• Insofar as heterosexual gender norms produce inapproximable ideals, heterosexuality can be said to operate through the regulated production of hyperbolic versions of "man" and "woman." These are for the most part compulsory performances, ones which none of us choose, but which each of us is forced to negotiate. I write "forced to negotiate" because the compulsory character of these norms does not always make them efficacious. Such norms are continually haunted by their own inefficacy; hence, the anxiously repeated effort to install and augment their jurisdiction.

                                                                           - Judith Butler, Bodies That Matter, p. 257

Our next issue of Matrix proposes to explore the relationship among these Geertzian cultural systems: matriculture, gender, and sexuality. We are interested in better understanding how gender and sexualities are positioned in the matriculture of a society (any society). Is the cultural frame relating to gender and sexuality subordinate or dominant to the cultural frame pertaining to women, mothers, and the feminine? That is, is womanhood constructed by sexual behaviour and gender identity or are gender identity and sexuality constructed by the symbols and meanings pertaining to woman and mother? We would like to explore these and other questions.

We are open to a wide, far-ranging conversation in this issue. Authors are encouraged to explore the symbols and meaning relating to women, mothers, and the feminine in a society and how these symbols and meanings shape sexual behaviours and gender identities – or vice versa. We also welcome discussions about the shape of gender identities and sexual behaviours accepted in open matricultures, where women have access to the full range of human expression, as well as or compared with explorations of that relationship in closed matricultures, where women’s social opportunities are largely confined to their reproductive and domestic responsibilities.

In these closed matricultures, for example, do women uphold biologically-based gender identities as fiercely as many patriarchal societies? Is there a correlation between an open matriculture and an acceptance of gender fluidity, cross-genders, multiple gender identities, and non-binary sexualities, or the reverse: is there a correlation between a closed matriculture and a denial of gender fluidity, cross-genders, multiple gender identities and a rejection of non-binary sexualities, where the role of women is reserved for biologically female humans?

Please note that we are not defining terms such as gender or sexuality; we do, however, define the term matriculture and ask authors to define gender and sexuality as they use the terms.

We strongly encourage creative artworks of any media and personal reflections on this theme. Potential research topics may include the following, but don’t be limited by our imaginations!

• What are the differences between sex roles and gender identities in a community? For example, what was the status and role of the man who lives as a woman in Prairie Indigenous cultures or the woman who lives as a man in northern Ghana?

• How are gender, sexuality, and matriculture constructed in cultures where the language is genderless? Is there any correlation between gendered languages and closed matricultures?

• What is ‘femininity’ among cultures which welcome 2SLGBTQIA+ people?

• How is sexuality used in matricultures? For example, the women in Nigeria who exposed their vulvas to shame the men.

• What is the association of gender identity with Female Genital Mutilation?

• How do we examine gender and sexuality from a matricultural heuristic?

Submission via email to: Please submit a 200-word abstract (max) and a 50-word biography to Linnéa Rowlatt, Managing Editor, at lrowlatt@networkonculture.ca, or to the Editorial Collective of Matrix: A Journal for Matricultural Studies at info@networkonculture.ca with the Subject line ‘Matrix 6:1 Abstract Submission.’

Deadline for Abstract Submission: Monday, 29 June 2026