Call for abstracts

2023 is an unusual time in queer life.

The Good: Queer joy has tipped into mainstream media with queer celebrities able to discuss their identities loudly and proudly. Queer media representation is expanding with the range of stories proliferating across all different forms of media. Young people appear increasingly socially progressive and accepting of diversity across sexuality and gender. Mainstream politicians in some places are considering LGBTQ+ equality as a key part of their continued political agenda.

The Bad: Transphobia, biphobia, and homophobia persist. Increasingly, hard-won LGBTQ+ rights and equalities are being threatened by the creep of anti-queer and so called anti-gender movements. At the same time, everyday life is increasingly adjusting to pressures of neoliberalism, globalisation, digitalisation, and the ongoing impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ugly: Unknown futures loom, with the spectre of AI and the grave warnings accompanying this new technological development taking centre stage as a whole new thing to worry about. At the same time, the climate crisis continues to threaten life and wellbeing globally, increasing the hardships of LGBTQ+ communities. Who knows what the future will hold?

In short, there’s a lot going on. This conference aims to untangle some of these conversations to ask, what’s next for the queer future? How can we unpick where we are, and what do we need to consider next as the new Queer Frontiers? To that end, we invite a diverse range of abstracts from any disciplines, with research that speaks to:

• Queer joy, celebration, and spirit
• Queer futurities and potentialities
• Everyday pressures as they relate to queer lives and experiences
• Art, music, media, drama, and queerness
• Race, ethnicity, decolonisation, and queerness
• News media and queerness
• Law, government and queerness
• Marxism and queerness
• Understudied sexualities and genders, such as asexuality, non-binary identities, demisexualities, and others
• Activism and queerness
• Coalitional social movements and queerness
• Literature, language, and queerness
• Methodologies for knowing queerness
• Queer theories, feminist theories, masculinity theories
• Anything else relevant to scoping an understanding of the now and future of queer studies

Abstracts should be no longer than 250 words. Applicants should also include a bio of no longer than 100 words. Submit abstracts and bios as an email attachment to queerfrontiers-uob@bristol.ac.uk by 28 August 2023.

Key Deadlines:

• Abstract submission closes: 28 August
• Notice of conference acceptance/rejection: 8 September
• Speaker conference registration deadline: 23 September
• Registration opens to all: 23 September
• Registration closes: 13 October

Other important information:

• Registration and attendance to the conference will be free of cost
• Travel bursaries will be available for application at the time of conference registration

About the Organisers

The new Queer Frontiers research community intends to draw together ECRs working on issues related to minoritized sexualities and genders. Through events engaging with multiple different stakeholders, we will bring together vested individuals to discuss what the next frontiers of queer knowledge will be. In doing so, we hope to chart exciting new areas for future study, as well as defining some methodological approaches that can most benefit the study of LGBTQ+ issues. You can find more information about the community on the GW4 website.