This interdisciplinary, transnational working conference considers the significance and practice of civic engagement and social belonging, bringing together scholars invested in critical democratic theory, queer studies, and gender and sexuality studies. Presentations will explore, for example, how questions of belonging and marginality percolate through local, state, and national debates on gay marriage; the relationship between homeland security and the crafting of "good" citizens through immigration, adoption, and reproductive rights discourse; how contested sites of sexual and gendered citizenship engage race, class, and national subjectivities; the relation between political equality and social justice; and the prospects for progressive citizenship in an era of increasing surveillance and repression.

Speakers include: Lauren Berlant, Lisa Duggan, Fatima El-Tayeb, Amanda Gouws, Shireen Hassim, Anissa Helie, Josephine Ho, Diane Richardson, Carl Stychin, Yasmin Tambiah, and Gill Valentine, with a special performance by Eve Ensler.

For more information and registration please visit:
http://www.iub.edu/~homeland