Middle East Studies

Queer Feminist Perspectives on Political Homophobia and Anti-Feminism in the Middle East and Europe | Call for Papers | Digital Conference September 24-25, 2021

April 5, 2021

Call for Papers

SUMMARY

This two-day digital conference aims to bring together researchers, activists, and community organizers to discuss how discourses on gender and sexuality have evolved in the Middle East and Europe amid the rise of far-right and authoritarian movements.

Our conference has three objectives. First, to situate far-right and authoritarian actors in their respective socio-historical contexts, and second, to discuss how political homophobia and anti-feminism have developed as core ideological elements of the far right in a local transregional framework.

Finally, the conference aims to shed light on local, transregional, and global responses to homophobia and anti-feminism in the respective regions. Queer and feminist paradigms will significantly contribute to our conversation about the far right and social justice.

By adopting this lens, we bring an intersectional perspective to the study of sex, sexuality, gender, and intimacy: one that builds on the awareness of diverse context boundaries while focusing on the non-normative expressions, practices, identities, and desires at a time of a resurgence of far-right nationalisms.

The conference will take place on September 24 – 25, 2021, as a two-day digital event. The papers presented will be considered for publication, and we encourage participants to submit original and unpublished work.


CALL FOR PAPERS

Papers should engage issues of sex, sexuality, gender, or intimacy amid increasing political homophobia and anti-feminism in the Middle East and Europe.

Contributions can be reflective essays or research-based and address either region or both. For authors who would like to submit work beyond the scope of these regions, a short paragraph should detail how the submission will contribute to the conference key issues.

Key issues the conference will explore:

  • What are the sociopolitical factors shaping and connecting far-right discourses on gender and sexuality in the Middle East and Europe?
  • What are the discourses, practices, and collective actions that have been mobilized to challenge political homophobia, anti-feminisms, and related social justice issues, in local, regional, and transnational contexts?

TIMELINE

Please submit an abstract (around 300 words) and a short bio by April 25, 2021 to queerfeministperspectives@gmail.com.

Participants will be notified by May 1, 2021. As a preliminary step to the digital event in September, conference participants will attend a one-day workshop in June 2021 to discuss the papers. Please submit original and unpublished work by:

  • Extended abstracts (around 800 words) by June 1, 2021
  • Full drafts of papers (5000-8000 words) by September 1, 2021

Pending review, authors of accepted papers will be notified by October 1, 2021

More information here.


Poster credits to Özge Akpinar.