Call for Papers: Sexuality & Solidarity

Theme

How is the relation between sexuality and solidarity conceptualized in Queer and Transgender Studies, practiced by queer and trans movements historically and in the present, and recorded by LGBTQ+ and other specialized archives? Does the sexual dimension of queer and trans identities and communities facilitate and/or limit solidarity across differences and different regimes of (in)equality, including between queer and trans themselves? Is sexuality inherently social or anti-social, or both? And how do sexuality and solidarity appear in the archive? How can specialized archives and heritage institutions, such as LGBTQ+ archives, record and foreground relations among heterogeneous subjects dispersed across a larger archival field?

Call for Papers

  • Submission deadline: May 30, 2024 
  • Notification of acceptance: June 20, 2024

We welcome proposals for 20-minute paper presentations addressing one or more of the following topics (the list is not exhaustive):

  • Conceptualizations of solidarity emerging from contemporary Queer and Transgender Studies (e.g., queer and trans Marxisms, queer and trans of color critiques, queer and trans postcolonial studies, queer and trans crip theories); Conceptualizations of solidarity emerging from the debates between relational and anti-relational currents in Queer Studies;
  • Analyses of queer and trans political practices of solidarity (e.g., in the domains of antiracism, migrant rights activism, feminism, decolonization, labor movements, climate justice activism, disability justice activism);
  • Histories of solidarity between queer and trans communities and movements; The limits and failures of solidarity;
  • Queer and trans critiques of solidarity;
  • Methods and strategies for researching the histories of queer and trans solidarity dispersed across multiple specialized archives;
  • Practices of solidarity between researchers, activists, and archivists.

Proposals should include: 

  • Name and affiliation
  • Short bio (100 words)
  • Title and abstract (300 words)

Please submit your proposal at: g.colpani@uu.nl and w.g.s.j.isenia@uva.nl

Collaboration

This one-day symposium is organized by Dr. Gianmaria Colpani (Utrecht University) and Dr. Wigbertson Julian Isenia (University of Amsterdam) in collaboration with IHLIA – LGBTI Heritage and with the support of Institutions for Open Societies (IOS) - platform (In)Equality at Utrecht University and the Amsterdam Research Centre for Gender and Sexuality (ARC-GS) at University of Amsterdam. The symposium also forms part of Dr. Colpani’s research project ‘Digging Against the Grain: The Political Moment of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, 1984-85’ (VI.Veni.201C.057).