CFP: Queer Studies Conference at UNCA, Call for Presenters

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Call for Papers and Presentations

UNC Asheville Queer Studies Conference 2025

March 28-30th, 2025 in Asheville, NC

Cultivating Resilience, Centering Joy

The UNC Asheville Queer Studies Conference (established in 1998) attracts a diverse audience of activists, academics, community members, and artists who showcase a range of creative and scholarly pursuits related to the study of sexuality, gender, and/or queer and trans identities. We invite proposals for our 2025 conference to be held in Asheville, NC, March 28 – 30th. We especially welcome presenters from historically marginalized populations, including but not limited to, LGBTQIA+, Black, Brown, Indigenous, disabled, poor, and/or immigrant communities.

The 2025 conference theme is “Cultivating Resilience, Centering Joy.” While queer life can be marked by oppression, it can also be defined by the joy that endures through community. The work of resisting academic and political attacks on queer lives can become daunting, isolating, and draining, which makes it all the more important to turn inward and to our allies for sustenance and renewed energy. When the world feels turbulent and impossible, what is it that brings us hope and possibility? How do we sustain momentum in the face of apathy and counter-resistance? What can we do to prepare a new generation for thriving in the work that is not easy, but must be done?

2025 Keynote Speakers

  • Carla Rushing, Executive Director of Southerners On New Ground, a nonprofit dedicated to LGBTQ liberation and connecting LGBTQ people across the South.

  • Basil Vaughn Soper, project founder of Transilient, a traveling multimedia documentary that candidly documents transgender and non-binary people in their day-to-day lived realities using only their voices and produced solely by trans people. Transilient’s objective is to create a platform that is informative to all people, in and out of the trans community, and Basil will offer an artist’s talk and will be exhibiting their work.

  • Heather Edwards is organizing a five-person Ask Anything, Health and Pleasure Panel.

2025 Conference Theme

Elaborations on the conference theme might include (but are not limited to):

  • What connections between mind and body will help us sustain ourselves and our work?

  • How do we learn to have difficult, transformative conversations that effectively challenge oppressive narratives and behaviors?

  • In what ways can art be a means of joy and resistance?

  • What mentorship possibilities can we develop for our queer and trans youth?

  • What can educators do to cultivate inclusive classrooms while operating under increasing surveillance, scrutiny, and censorship?

  • What tools can we add to our emotional toolboxes to withstand the onslaught of attacks on trans and queer lives?

Suggested presentation formats include (but are not limited to):

  • Paper Presentation (15 minutes; 1 or more presenters)

    • Present your work in person on UNCA’s campus (with the option to livestream)

    • The organizers will place your work into a panel with 2-3 other presenters by topic

  • Asynchronous Paper Presentation (15 minutes)

    • Pre-record your presentation to be posted on the conference website

  • Panel Presentation (90 minutes, 3-4 presenters)

    • Present in person on UNCA’s campus (with the option to livestream)

    • Proposals must include information about each presenter and what each presenter will be contributing. Make sure to answer: Who is on the panel? What is each person presenting?

  • Workshop (60-90 minutes; 1 or more presenters)

    • Present in person on UNCA’s campus (with the option to livestream)

    • Proposals must include information about each presenter and what each presenter will be contributing. Make sure to answer: Who is facilitating the workshop? What are the learning outcomes for attendees?

  • Performance / Exhibition

    • Your proposal must specify the length and format, what space/equipment you require, and whether/how your work can be delivered online

    • Option to present in person on UNCA’s campus or pre-record to be added to the conference website

  • Poster presentations

    • Print your poster (size 36x48in) to present in person and/or submit a digital copy for the conference website

  • Other presentation types are welcome – please email us your ideas!

Join Us / Keep In Touch for 2025 Conference

Conference Dates: March 28-30, 2023 | Location: Asheville, NC

  • Submission deadline: Friday, November 15, 2024

  • Notification of acceptance: January 5, 2025

  • Deadline to confirm your attendance: February 15, 2025

    • If you do not confirm by this date, your presentation will be removed from the program.

    • Presenters are not considered confirmed until they have registered for the conference.

  • Conference dates: March 28-30, 2025

THANKS!
Amanda Wray

University of North Carolina, Asheville

Director of Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies Program
awray1
https://www.amandabwray.com/
Email checked Mon – Fri

Land Acknowledgement
UNC Asheville’s campus is located on the ancestral land of the Cherokee/Tsalagi (ᏣᎳᎩ) or Aniyvwiya (ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ). The Cherokee name for this region is Tokiyasdi (ᏙᎩᏯᏍᏗ), "where they race." You can read UNCA’s full land acknowledgement here.