DOING QUEER STUDIES NOW

A Graduate Conference - October 21-23, 2010
Abstracts Due June 15th, 2010

Confirmed Speakers: Paul Amar (Law & Society Program, Global Studies, Feminist Studies, UC-Santa Barbara), Adam Green (Sociology, U. of Toronto), Joon Lee (English, Rhode Island School of Design), Heather Love (English, U. of Pennsylvania).

With the Participation of: Ross Chambers, David Halperin, Nadine Hubbs, Holly Hughes, Esther Newton, Gayle Rubin, Valerie Traub, and more to be announced.

What is queer about queer studies? Does queer refer to a set of topics or a mode of inquiry? What is the role of theory in queer studies? How is new scholarship bridging the social sciences and the humanities? What is the relationship between actual queer practices and queer studies? What is the relationship between scholarship and activism? How are radical sex critique and queer studies related? What are the limitations of queer?

These are some of the questions we are interested in twenty years after the emergence of queer theory. The purpose of this conference is to take stock of and provide a showcase for innovative practices and pursuits in queer studies, both in the humanities and social sciences, as well as emerging fields that bridge the two.

We are not calling for papers that engage these questions at a meta-level, but rather for work that is conditioned by them.

While we welcome a range of topics, some of the topics we are interested in include:

• the role of historical, political and economic forces in shaping queerness
• governmentality, state and biopolitics
• transnational flows of capital and migrations
• queer intersections with race, gender, class, ability, age, etc.
• queer subjectivities, experiences and identities
• queer historiography, phenomenology and temporality
• visual culture, new media

Paper abstracts of 250 to 300 words should be sent by June 15, 2010 to . We wish to notify presenters by Monday, June 21. We will ask for the completed paper for respondents by October 1, 2010.