My apologies if you have not seen this on the Women's Studies Listserv before now:

"Outrage!: Discourses, Practices, and Politics of Protest and Social Transformation," the Southeastern Women's Studies Association conference at UNC-Greensboro, April 18-20, 2013.

LGBTQ Caucus: Call for Papers SEWSA 2013

The Queer South: Challenging Regionalisms

The LGBTQ Caucus solicits papers from perspectives within and beyond the U.S. South, for one or more panels at the SEWSA annual conference, "Outrage!: Discourses, Practices, and Politics of Protest and Social Transformation," at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro April 18-20, 2013.  Papers are invited that critically analyze some phenomenon related to sexualized or gendered "otherness" that positions the South (or some facet of the South) as "queer."  These analyses may define "queer" in terms of les-bi-gay/non-straight sexualities, non-normative genders, or other non-normative sexual practices (not necessarily les-bi-gay), or non- or anti-heteronormative practices, theories, and lives.  The call is open to broad interpretations of "the South," including the global South, but the LGBTQ Caucus takes as its starting point how the U.S. South is situated within a national landscape.  Comparative studies are welcome, such as explorations of how the U.S. South compares to the U.K. North (as abject and subjected to hegemonic narratives that construct these regions as unsavory and sexually suspect) or how the U.S. functions as Canada's southern neighbor, potentially echoing regional differences within the U.S. itself.  

Topics of particular interest include but are not limited to:
.	Connections between Post-Colonial Studies and studies of the South/southern feminisms
.	Links between terrorist bodies, sexual deviancy, and the South
.	The disavowal of sexual and racial "others" within narratives of U.S. exceptionalism, patriotism, nationalism, and imperialism
.	Regionalisms, heterosexual patriotism, homonationalisms
.	Transnational Feminisms and the southern abject (re: the U.S. South or the Global South)
.	Activisms that defy stereotypes of the South or address issues particular to the South, especially those which centralize operatively queer politics
.	Trends in anti-immigrant legislation that echo N-S relations and/or raise vital QT issues
.	Outsiders in the South, including WGS and LGBTQ academics and activists (from the region or from other geographical regions)
.	Resistive practices and lives-i.e., vegetarians or vegans in the South, fat-positive politics and perspectives in relation to regional body politics, midwifery, food movements and the politics of local growers (e.g., the slow food movement, CSAs, organic farming), DIY ("do it yourself") practices-for survival, but also DIY as art, activism, and/or feminist politics
.	Queer ruralisms, LGBTQ geographies, and metrocentrisms in the South
.	Southern eccentricities-queer voices and lives in art, politics, literature, culture, etc.
.	Southern LGBTQ feminisms or WGS as queer
.	LGBTQ feminists' relationship to "civil rights," broadly construed, or "then and now"
.	Flourishing lesbian and/or separatist communities in the South (e.g., Alapine)
.	Outsiders-Within: Queer Black Feminism(s) in the South (within and beyond the academy)
.	Comparative analyses of regionalisms, border politics, or narratives of sexual exceptionalism

Successful abstracts will situate the particular phenomenon within Women's and Gender Studies controversies and debates and draw from relevant theoretical sources to contextualize the proposed critical analysis.  Abstracts should not exceed 500 words and be submitted by November 16th, 2012 to the LGBTQ Caucus Chair, Dr. Jennifer Purvis, at [log in to unmask] with the subject line: "SEWSA LGBTQ 2013."


Dr. Jennifer Purvis
Associate Professor of Women's Studies
in Feminist Theory and Philosophy
Department of Gender and Race Studies
The University of Alabama
Box 870272
Tuscaloosa, AL  35487-0272
(205) 348-3315
fax: (205) 348-3584
[log in to unmask]

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