[LCC] Call for Papers - Queer Theory and Classics at CAAS 2009

[Michael Broder]

I would like to organize a Queer Theory and Classical Studies panel at CAAS
in October.  For CAAS panels, you have to have your presenters lined up in
order to propose the panel.  The deadline for panel proposals in April 1.
Thus, this CALL FOR PAPERS is for real, but I want anyone who submits an
abstract to understand that having your abstract selected doesn't mean my
panel proposal will be accepted.  But of course, we hope for the best,
right?  So please submit.  And please note, the abstracts will undergo a
blinded peer review process.

 

CALL FOR PAPERS

 

Queer Theory and Classical Studies: Current Directions in Research and
Practice

 

Queer is a highly contested term, but queer theory may be defined as a
critique of sex and gender categories based on the idea that binaries such
as man/woman and heterosexual/homosexual do not adequately contain the
spectrum of sex and gender identity that occurs in lived experience.  While
queer theory grows out of gender studies, feminism, and the history of
sexuality, it is particularly concerned with the genesis of knowledge about
sex and gender and the power dynamics inherent in discourses associated with
these categories.

 

Classicists have been exploring issues of gender and sexuality in earnest at
least since the 1970s, albeit not necessarily under the rubric of queer
theory.  This panel provides an opportunity to share work that engages queer
theory explicitly, regardless of how consonant that work may be with the
brief explanation of the term offered above; that is, all definitions of
"queer" and "queer theory" are welcome, so long as the work bears a
recognizable relationship to previous work done under those rubrics, whether
in classics or in other fields.

 

Submissions by classicists at all levels are encouraged, including faculty
in any type of educational or academic setting, graduate students, and
undergraduates, as well as unaffiliated scholars (but please note: you must
be a CAAS member to present a paper on a CAAS panel). Papers may consider
both material and literary culture and may draw on sources from history,
philosophy, poetry (epic, lyric, dramatic, satiric), prose (history,
oratory, philosophy), art (painting, sculpture, coins, jewelry),
architecture and archaeology. Papers may also employ queer theoretical
approaches to classical reception, including both creative and scholarly
receptions of classical antiquity.

 

Please submit abstracts of 300 words or less to Michael Broder at
mbroder at gc.cuny.edu. On your abstract include your name, institution, city
and state (country if not USA), email and phone number. Email your abstract
as a Word file by March 13, 2009.  Questions may be addressed to Michael
Broder at mbroder at gc.cuny.edu.

 

Michael Broder

PhD Candidate in Classics

The Graduate Center, CUNY

(646) 281-1634 phone

(866) 203-2489 fax

mbroder at gc.cuny.edu