Call for papers: "Queer Eurovision"
Editors: Mikko Tuhkanen and Annamari Vänskä
Special Fall 2007 Issue of SQS Journal
Abstract deadline December 1st, 2006

A special issue of the refereed online SQS Journal (Society of Queer Studies
in Finland), "Queer Eurovision" considers the enduring appeal of the
European Song Contest for some of Europe's (and the rest of the world's) gay
audiences. We seek to answer the question, "What's so queer about
Eurovision?"—an issue that, to our knowledge, has not been extensively
discussed or analyzed. Eurovision's indubitable camp sensibilities go some
way in explaining its queer appeal, and Song Contest performances throughout
the decades have provided fodder for innumerable drag queens across the
continent. Yet, are there other ways of approaching the Eurovision Song
Contest's gay fandom?

Contributors might consider the following questions:

* Why has the Eurovision Song Contest attracted a wide and devoted gay
(particularly male) fan base?

* How has the contest between nations and nationalities spoken to, or
affected, the communities in the "queer nation"? Can the theory of queer
nationality be explicated or elaborated through the example of Eurovision?

* How has the competition's queer fandom changed with the expanding Europe?
How has the introduction of Eastern European countries to Eurovision altered
its character? What does it mean that Eastern European countries seek
cultural inclusion to Europe through this gay tradition? How do Eastern
European gay cultures see the Eurovision Song Contest?

* Eurovision's queer fandom seems to be articulated through affects,
including that of shame? Does the recent turn in queer theory to questions
of shame and shaming shed a light on Eurovision's appeal to queer audiences?

* How has the fragmentation of subcultural audiences affected the queer
reception of Eurovision? How is the Eurovision tradition mobilized and/or
critiqued in and by different gay/queer communities?

* Does Lordi's 2006 victory in Athens either represent a break in or require
a reorientation of Eurovision as a queer tradition? Is Lordi's performance
entirely inassimilable to queer conventions? How different is its overblown
style from the tradition exemplified by Dana International's drag
aesthetics?

* If Mr. Lordi wants to see the band renewing the stagnant Eurovision
traditions, can the Song Contest's queer fandom also be metamorphosed? Is
queer Eurovision a phenomenon of a generation who went through adolescence
in the 1970s and 1980s, or can it attract also a younger gay audience? Is
the event's appeal different for different generations? Would it be time to
rethink the notion of camp as the form of gay sensibility?

Deadlines:
Please email abstracts or proposals by December 1st, 2006. Those invited to
submit full-length papers will be informed by early January, 2007. Finished
papers are due by May 10th, 2007.

Contributors should note that an invitation to submit full-length papers
does not automatically guarantee inclusion in the issue. Final decisions for
publication will be made by the editorial board of SQS Journal, based on
reviewers' recommendations.

SQS Journal is a tri-lingual publication. Submissions are accepted in
English, Finnish, and Swedish. The journal is available at
http://www.helsinki.fi/jarj/sqs/sqs_contents.htm

Email abstracts or proposals to
Mikko Tuhkanen (East Carolina University, U.S.A.; email: tuhkanenm_at_ecu.edu)
Annamari Vänskä (University of Helsinki, Finland; email:
annamari.vanska_at_helsinki.fi)

In case a snail address is required, please contact us via email.

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Received on Mon Oct 09 2006 - 10:57:24 EDT