cfp.english.upenn.edu

This panel will examine the significance and radical potential of queer self-representation. The personal continues to be political, and for queer constituencies whose representation by a dominant mainstream has been either absent, negative, or consistently rife with limiting stereotypes, self-representation becomes crucial. However, while queer self-representation may engage with such negative representation, it is not limited to this function. Nor is it limited to a particular genre, including autobiography.

For this project, I am interested in work that engages with queer self-representation as active intervention that disrupts exclusionary practices, normative discourse, and/or other forms of oppression. Within this framework, I am particularly interested in scholarship that recognizes the often-complex intersections of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, ability or class. The panel is open to discussions of literature (broadly interpreted) or film/video.

Possible topics for analysis may include but are certainly not limited to the following:

>Queer self-representation - beyond the coming-out story?
>The articulation of queer desire as resistance to cultural assimilation
>How queer self-representation articulates aspects of queer lives and experience that may be expressed not only in terms of our oppression, but also in terms of our possibility.
>The use of queer self-representation as a tool for political activism.
>The queering of autobiography
>The significance of autobiographical texts to the construction of queer archives.

Abstracts max 300 words to Tamsin Whitehead tw@unh.edu

Deadline: September 30, 2012
Please include with your abstract:
Name and Affiliation
Email address
Postal address
Telephone number
A/V requirements (if any; $10 handling fee with registration)

The 2013 NeMLA convention continues the Association's tradition of sharing innovative scholarship in an engaging and generative location. The 44th annual event will be held in historic Boston, Massachusetts, a city known for its national and maritime history, academic facilities and collections, vibrant art, theatre, and food scenes, and blend of architecture. The Convention, located centrally near Boston Commons and the Theatre