Ev’ry Body, This Time: A Sexuality Studies Conference Call for Papers – deadline extended to Feb 28

A conference free and open to the public hosted by the Center for the Study of Sexual Culture

University of California, Berkeley

April 12-14, 2018 at Sutardja Dai Hall on the U.C. Berkeley campus

Berkeley, California

For most recently updated information please visit cssc.berkeley.edu

The submission deadline has been extended to Feb 28th, with rolling decisions announced.

Conference Description

 

“Ev’ry Body, This Time.” The elision in ev’ry gestures in multiple ways: to the bodies that have been exempted in various iterations of sexuality studies, and to our quixotic desire to (re-)emplace them. It refers as well to the shifting and ever-proliferating fact of bodies: the way that apparent gaps may not represent incompleteness, but point instead to troubled standards of perceiving or evaluating wholeness; that filling a gap can thus provisionally flesh out bodies that are at once legible and illegible. Race and gender, in their mutable complexities, sit at the core of these questions. Our apostrophe calls to a multitude of bodies, recognizing the potential for thinking through, substituting, re-visioning, and, ultimately, holding space for, bodies that exceed categorical legislation and rhetorical disciplinarity. We also note that embodiment is not everyone’s cup of tea. We flag the body, ev’ry body, because sensuousness has too often been left out of considerations of sexuality and politics. Simultaneously, we wonder how given languages about sex and meaning work in relation to disability, debility; in the realm of the digital; under the aegis of asexuality?

 

This Time means both that we view this as a conference that belongs to a history of academic conferences in queer studies and that we view this as a conference that is happening in a perilous present moment. How is the critical study of sexuality evolving and in response to what imperatives?  What is the relation of this time to other times (and places) and how are the particular urgencies of this time tied to other moments? Is the critical study of sexuality always explicitly about sexuality, now?

 

In conjoining Ev’ry Body and This Time, we issue a challenge (one with a dash of utopianism in it) to ourselves and to the conference participants: What future do “we” want looking forward from where we stand?

 

The conference will feature both panels assembled in response to an open call for abstracts, as well as invited speakers who currently include: Qwo-li Driskill, Alison Kafer, Amber Musser, Gemma Romain, Nayan Shah, Amy Sueyoshi, Omi’seke Natasha Tinsley, Qian Wang, Gloria Wekker, and more to be confirmed, alongside workshops and other conference events. Please check cssc.berkeley.edu for further announcements concerning the call for papers and abstract submission, accessibility information, and reserving a spot for attendees.

 

Submission email (submissions only): csscconf2018@gmail.com

Please direct all inquiries to cssc@berkeley.edu

Besides providing wheelchair access, this event aims to be broadly accessible, including practices of both disability and gender accessibility.

 

Abstract Submission Requirements:

We encourage submissions from scholars, artists, activists both working within institutions and organizations, as well as independently.

 

Single paper abstracts should be 300-500 words in length. Accepted papers will be arranged into panels. Include a bio or CV.

 

Panel submissions should total 750-1000 words. Panels may include 3-4 people. Please include a 250 word abstract of your panel theme, and include substantial descriptions of each paper. Accepted panels will be assigned chairs or respondents from the U.C. Berkeley host community; please note any special requests thereof. We encourage panels to have a diversity of institutional representation and also of membership: graduate students, faculty, and independent artists/scholars/activists. Include a bio or CV for each speaker.

 

The submission deadline has been extended to Feb 28th, with rolling decisions announced. Submissions must be sent to the dedicated email address csscconf2018@gmail.com (submissions only) in order to be considered. We aim to respond to proposals by February 15, 2018. Please direct any inquiries about submissions or the conference to cssc@berkeley.edu.

Affordability: The conference is free to all, but we understand that traveling to a conference can be prohibitively costly. To help defray costs of staying in the Bay Area, we will be organizing a limited number of informal housing possibilities (free couch shares) in addition to providing suggestions for local hotels. The location of the conference is near several campustown districts that offer a variety of dining options, many of which include dietary options.