Quilt Unfolding, Darling Harbour, 1997

The Call for Papers has now closed.

Drawing together scholars from a broad interdisciplinary field, the conference aims to encourage discussion of queer space conceived in its broadest sense, by scholars working in disciplines as diverse as architecture, history, urban geography, design, visual communication, cultural studies, and the social sciences.

Using the city of Sydney as one example, the conference opens to broader international approaches by proposing that, while in many spheres of world affairs Australia is seen as peripheral, in the already ‘marginal’ space of queer culture Sydney is a major international location, especially during events such as the Mardi Gras. Drawing upon this reversal of definitions of ‘centre’ and ‘periphery’, this conference asks what is central, and what is peripheral, to the study of queer space. It invites abstracts addressing the following themes:

• The nature and definition of queer space
• The scholarship of queer space
• The history of queer space
• Queer space and the city
• Queer space, the suburbs and beyond
• Queer 'ghettos' and 'queer cities'
• Queer history and memory in and of place
• Queer events and queer space
• Queer subcultures and queer space
• Queer tourism and queer destinations
• Queer public and private space

Unthemed papers are also welcome, as are proposals for entire themed panel sessions.

Please send a 300 word abstract plus 200 word biography – both included in the body of an email (not as attachments) – to queerspace@uts.edu.au by 31 August 2006. Include your name and institutional affiliation. Abstracts and full papers will be refereed through a double blind peer review process. Speakers should be prepared for a twenty-minute presentation followed by ten minutes of questions. The refereed papers will be published in conference proceedings on this website.

Queer Space call for papers (pdf, 15kb)