In her 2017 debut novel Conversations with Friends, Sally Rooney writes, “You can love more than one person” (Rooney 141). A statement so obvious, it’s not even worth stating. However, a simple edit—you can be in love with more than one person—suddenly becomes a much more controversial statement. 

And yet, polyamory—or the practice of engaging in multiple sexual and/or romantic relationships—is gaining popularity as a concept within anglophone contexts. In the last year alone, articles on the subject have been published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and The New York Times, among others. These articles argue that more and more people are opting out of traditional monogamous relationship structures, and especially marriage. When asked why people give a variety of answers: the colonization of the ideas of love and intimacy, the current economic crisis, the desire to be free, etc.

This panel begins by asking a simple question: Why is monogamy our default? From there, we hope to dive more deeply into questions of love, intimacy, romance, sexuality, and more. How is labor divided amongst polyamorists? What is the relationship between non/monogamy, polyamory, and capitalism? How can we think about love and intimacy outside the western, colonial nuclear family structure? Does polyamory necessarily challenge the colonialist, conservative, and oppressive effects of monogamy? What would be the political consequences of acquiring/demanding state-sanctions for polyamory? How do existing models of organizing society–celibate collectives, polygamy, and civil partnerships–relate to polyamory? Is there something necessarily “queer” about polyamory? Is the distinction between monogamy and polyamory as rigid as popular discourses make them out to be?

Submit your abstract through: https://cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/21341

Email Ketan Jain (ketan.jain@tufts.edu) and Casey O' Riely (casey.o_reilly@tufts.edu) if you have any questions.