Call for Paper Proposals

The Lesbian and Gay Studies Project of the Center for Gender Studies and the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture at the University of Chicago invite paper proposals for a symposium to be held on May 2, 2009. The conference keynote speakers will be Joseph Massad from Columbia University and Elyse Semerdjian from Whitman College. A selection of the conference papers will become a special issue of Social Identities: Journal for the Study of Race, Nation, and Culture.

The aim of the conference is to promote innovative work at the intersection of the growing bodies of work on Islam and sexuality. Much recent work on sexuality has suffered from a western bias, while work on Islam has often neglected the role of sexuality and gender. We are interested in work that engages important questions about gender, sexuality, and Islam as these present themselves in different countries and regions as well as in their transnational and global interactions and flows. Much work in this area has grown out of the social movements and their theoretical expressions and elaborations that highlight the importance of sexuality – feminism, lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender movements, queer studies, HIV/AIDS, and reproductive rights. We are particularly interested in work that question and push beyond existing limiting frameworks for thinking about both Islam and sexuality.

Proposals can be sent electronically. Please send one copy to each of the following email addresses by March 16, 2009: rgutierrez@uchicago.edu, pahluwal@ucsd.edu, toby.miller@ucr.edu. Paper proposals sent by U.S. mail must reach us by the same date, with one copy each should be sent to: Ramón A. Gutiérrez, Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture, 5733 South University Ave, Chicago, Illinois 60637, and Toby Miller, CHASS STH 3136, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521. Paper proposals should not be more that two single-spaced pages and should be accompanied by a short two-page resumé.

All travel and accommodation expenses will be paid by the University of Chicago for those presenters selected for the symposium.