Extended Deadline for Abstract Submission: 15 January 2007

* Due to the holidays the deadline for abstract submissions has been extended with one month.

The Enkidu International Society for Cultural History and Cultural Studies (CHiCS) in Mexico City invites the global community to a vibrant and exciting multi-disciplinary, multi-lingual and multi-cultural Queer Studies Easter Symposium in Mexico City in April 2007. The conference aims at exploring recent developments in theory and method in Queer studies as well as the broad themes of sexual diversities through time and space, gender constructions, sex-gender subjectivities, and sexual identity constructions from a wide and diverse range of perspectives.

In 2007 the program for the Queer Studies Easter Symposium will be organised in a large number of special thematic sessions and sub-conferences covering a highly diverse series of topics extending from for example a special session on „Sexual Diversities in the Islamic World" to "The History of GLBT Activism", "Sexual Diversities and Disabilities", "Traditional sexualities and western sexual identity constructions" and "Ethnographic studies of eroticism & fetishism".

Papers are welcomed on virtually all related topics and themes, independently of time, period and geographical focus. Also papers of comparative phenomena will be considered. Interdisciplinary perspectives are especially appreciated since all these topics in themselves stretch across several disciplines: history, cultural studies, literary studies, linguistics, psychology, political sciences, pedagogy, ethnology, anthropology, sociology...

Interpretations of the conference themes ranging from the predictable to the surprising are encouraged.

The conference aims at bringing together academics working in all relevant disciplines as well as activists, artists and other professionals, and promoting innovative multidisciplinary and multicultural exchange and dialogue.

Graduate and postgraduate students are encouraged to attend and present papers.

Preliminary Conference Program ("Session Map"): http://www.enkidumagazine.com/eventos/qses/programa.htm

Conference Web site: http://www.enkidumagazine.com/eventos/aidsinculture/intro_en.htm

CHICS' academic conferences are characterized by traditional paper presentations in panel sessions with three speakers each, followed by lively exchange, dialogue and interaction between speakers and audience in many small groups, workshops and seminars rather than by formal plenary sessions. Our conferences provide a forum for diverse voices from all over the world, to come together and make connections across linguistic, cultural and academic barriers.

The conference sessions will be conducted in Spanish and English. Some sessions will be bilingual and conducted in both languages with interpreters. Other sessions will have simultaneous translations. Many sessions will be conducted with interpreters for sign language (on request).

* Paper and panel proposals

500 word abstracts should be submitted to the organising committee in English, Castilian, German or French by 15. December 2006. The conference languages will be English and Castilian.

Papers should be of approximately 20 - 30 minutes duration (circa 8 - 10 pages). Other forms of presentation, for instance workshops, panel debates and poster sessions will be considered on request. Typically, a panel of academic papers includes 3 (maximum 4) speakers and 1 moderator (session chair). Each session will last for 2 hours allowing for 30 minutes for each speaker and a further 30 minutes for questions and discussion.

* Proposals for panel sessions

Proposers should submit:

(1) Session title and a session intro (ca 100 words),

(2) Paper titles,

(3) Abstracts for each paper (500 words),

(4) Short biography for each participant and the panel chair (ca 100-150 words),

(5) Institutional affiliation and address for each participant,

(6) Audio-visual and other technical requirements.

If you would like to propose a panel session, and want assistance in finding speakers and/or a session chair, we can publish a call for papers for your panel session on the conference web site and distribute it in our newsletter. If you have an idea for a thematic panel session and would like us to publish a call for papers on the conference website, please send us a proposal by e-mail to info@enkidumagazine.com

* Proposals for individual papers

Abstracts are to be submitted by 15 January 2006, along with the presenter’s name, address, telephone, email, and institutional affiliation. It is recommended to use the form here: http://www.enkidumagazine.com/eventos/qses/registration_en.htm , when submitting an abstract. However, abstracts will also be accepted as e-mail attachments to info@enkidumagazine.com.

All correspondence for this conference will be conducted via email. You will be notified by the 15th of January 2007 whether your proposal has been accepted or rejected.

* Disabled Participants

We are pleased to announce that printed conference materials that will be distributed during the conference, also will be available in large print or Braille on request. If you require sign language interpretation during your session, or you would like to distribute handouts or other materials in Braille during your presentation, please indicate this in the registration form.

* Registration Form for Participants with disabilities: http://www.enkidumagazine.com/eventos/qses/reg_disca.htm

Participants with disabilities are recommended to fill in this form if they require any special support or assistance during the event or during social and cultural activities before or during the conference.