Call for papers: Queer Tentacles – Theory, Arts, Activism
SQS Seminar, University of Jyväskylä (Finland), 23.–24.9.2022
The Society for Queer Studies in Finland (SQS) invites research contributions to a seminar on queer tentacles, planned to take place onsite in Jyväskylä (Finland). We welcome suggestions for sessions/workshops AND individual papers. Deadline for submissions: May 31, 2022.
The figure of a tentacle suggests three interrelated ideas. First, we think of the lengthy and sustained reach of queer concepts, ideas and works over cultural, national and temporal borders, including the exchanges between arts, theory and activism. Second, we want to focus on the affective complexity of “feeling” these connections and their grasp. These include different, potentially new forms of embodiment or intimacy – as suggested not only by queer, trans, feminist, posthumanist and critical race theories but also by, for instance, speculative fictions, poetry and experimental artworks in different media. Third, we cherish the resilience, relentlessness and elasticity of queerness and queer themes and subjects: as a squid manages to grow a fresh tentacle to take the place of a severed one, queer is always returning in new forms. While queer theory has often focused on loss, grief and death, we would also like to reflect on the possibilities of (re)imagining new forms of queer lives and queer survival.
Keynote speakers:
Jericho Brown (Charles Howard Candler Professor of English and Creative Writing, Emory University, Atlanta. Author of The Tradition, Winner of The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, 2020.)
Sam McBean (Senior Lecturer in Gender, Sexuality, and Contemporary Culture, Queen Mary University of London. Author of Feminism’s Queer Temporalities, 2015)
We are looking for papers that address, but are not limited to, the following topics:
- The queerness or the queering of tradition, transmission and/or transformation
- Relevance of queer theory and queer studies for contemporary artistic practices
- (Re)imagining queer subjectivity and corporeality in the arts (e.g. comics, literature, film and television, theatre, music, performance, dance, mixed genres)
- Trans theory, trans poetics and their relations to queer
- Queer intimacies
- Queer (and) decolonization
- Queering feminisms, then and now: queer work in “shadow feminisms”
- How queer as a verb or an adjective relates to LGBTQIA+ activism
- Emerging and growing areas of queer research: queer narrative studies, queer death studies, queer life studies, queer animal studies, queer posthumanities, etc.
- Rethinking queer methods and methodologies
If you are proposing an individual paper:
Please provide the title and a 200-word abstract for the proposed presentation. Include your name, affiliation and email address. We hope you will add a short bio (100 words) with information about your publications, projects and research interests.
If you are proposing a session / workshop:
Please provide a description of 300–400 words, including the suggested title of the workshop. Include names, affiliations and email addresses of the participants. We hope you will add short bios (100 words/person) containing information about your publications, projects and research interests.
The deadline for proposals is June 30, 2022.
We ask you to submit your proposal by email to: sqstentacles22@gmail.com
Use the same address for any questions about the event and arrangements.
Please note: The seminar will have a participation fee of 50 euros. We will also accept presentations in Finnish. A website with more detailed instructions, including information about possible online presentations, will be published once the program has been confirmed.
