Call for Papers: Godmother(s) – Exploring Gendered Kinship and Care (19th–21st Centuries)

The National Institute of Demographic Studies (INED) is organizing a major international and multidisciplinary conference, “Godmother(s): Gendered Practices of Elective Kinship and Care (19th–21st Centuries),” to be held at Campus Condorcet (Aubervilliers) in June 2026. This event is a crucial part of the research group on elective friendships and kinship, founded within INED’s gender studies unit (UR4).

This symposium aims to re-establish godmothering practices—a fascinating type of elective kinship and relational intimacy—within a long and transnational history. The First World War was a pivotal moment, as the socio-cultural model of the war godmother, established in 1915, crystallized and institutionalized this figure, marking the beginning of a long-term practice. The research is fundamentally rooted in the socio-history of gender and sexuality.

The Scope of the Research

The conference goes beyond the war godmother-soldier couple to consider the norms, practices, and transgressions of godparenthood across various socio-historical contexts, both before and after 1915.

The concept of ‘godmother’ has flexible and blurred boundaries, overlapping with figures like correspondents, mentors in communities (feminist collectives, social networks), and even being repurposed in humanitarian practices like child sponsorship, which Save the Children launched in 1921. This model, rooted in the wartime “marraines,” highlights the durability and plasticity of this relational form.

The godparenthood relationship is often structurally asymmetrical, embodying and crystallizing power relations based on gender, class, race, and age. Participants are invited to critically examine how gendered kinship and care define forms of godmotherhood, how masculinities are shaped, and the political/colonial uses of these practices. Crucially, the symposium also encourages incorporating non-heteronormative practices into the discussion, such as chosen families, “intimate alliances,” and “houses” built around voguing and ballrooms.

Key Thematic Axes for Contributions

The organizing committee invites papers from history, gender studies, literature, sociology, and anthropology, among others, to address the following themes (non-exhaustive list):

• Topic 1 – Godmother(s): Cultural Construction of a Gendered Stereotype
  • Focus: Representations (novels, films, etc.), continuity of the imagery forged in 1915, and non-heteronormative variations.
• Topic 2 – Godmothering Practices: Definitions, Acts, Networks
  • Focus: Vocabulary issues, practicalities (letters, parcels, visits), and social roles and care practices.
• Topic 3 – Long-distance Contact: Forms, Mediums, Scales
  • Focus: Networking, circulations (epistolary, material), the role of institutions, and geographies of care and social distances.
• Topic 4 – Godparenting in Colonial Context
  • Focus: Godmothers and soldiers in colonial territories, race and gender issues, and the participation of white women in colonization.

Submission Guidelines and Deadlines

Proposals must be limited to 4,000 characters (including spaces) and must contain a title, a detailed abstract, the materials/corpus discussed, and a short bibliography.

The working languages of the conference are French, English, and Spanish.

• Submission Deadline: Proposals must be sent to the organizers before 30 November 2025.
• Encouragement: Young researchers, independent researchers, and those working in feminist, gender, queer, and intersectional studies are particularly encouraged to submit.
• Support: The organizing committee may cover travel and accommodation expenses in Paris/Aubervilliers for accepted participants.

Please submit your proposal and any queries to the organizing committee’s email address.

Organising committee

Claire-Lise Gaillard, Research Fellow, INED

Aliénor Gandanger, PhD student, University of Caen and University of Luxembourg

Irène Gimenez, postdoctoral researcher, Sorbonne University (SOUND)

Marie Leyder, postdoctoral researcher, University of Geneva / La Source Institute and University
of Health Sciences