CAA 2026 - Diasporic & LGBTQ+ Resistance
Call for Panel Participants
College Art Association Annual Conference
18-21 February 2026 | Chicago, IL USA
https://caa.confex.com/caa/2026/webprogrampreliminary/Session16720.html
“Dissent Nearby: Diasporic & LGBTQ+ Resistance”*
*guaranteed session with Sponsorship from the Society of Contemporary Art Historians
In frantically trying to gain Republican support to pass a funding bill, Donald Trump asserted on Truth Social “We have to remain UNITED – NO DISSENT…VERY IMPORTANT…” (8 March 2025). As artists and activists have demonstrated for years, solidarity building and modes of dissent, however, often go hand-in-hand. This panel subsequently spotlights entwined histories of U.S.-based immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities as part of ongoing efforts to address issues of xenophobia, racism, homophobia, and transphobia using an intersectional and transnational feminist lens. Throughout the last century, American immigration acts have routinely included language of “sexual deviation” and anti-HIV-positive rhetoric in impermissibility rubrics—a pattern that often evades analysis of such legislation and state-sanctioned violence. While, today, we are seeing immigrants be deported to Guantanamo Bay alongside federally funded programs removing “T” and “Q” from materials using an LGBTQ+ acronym, the relationships between U.S. legislation, diasporic displacement, and gender and sexual identities are arguably under-discussed in tandem. By closing this gap, the panel fosters both timely critical conversations and steps toward solidarity building, collective organizing, and mutual aid. Together, panelists voice dissent inside and outside of gallery walls.
Papers from a range of professionals – art historians, theorists, curators, artists, and community organizers – are invited to collaboratively investigate the intersections of diasporic and LGBTQ+ resistance. Topics may include, but are not limited to:
- Anti-imperial queer feminist methodologies
- Strategies for navigating tensions between arts activism and institutional strictures
- Critical approaches to issues of displacement and/or archival erasure or exclusion in art history scholarship
- Solidarity building and forms of mutual aid inside and outside of the university and museum
If interested in contributing to this panel, submit the following materials by Friday, August 29th, 2025 at:
Call for Panel Participants
College Art Association Annual Conference
18-21 February 2026 | Chicago, IL USA
https://caa.confex.com/caa/2026/webprogrampreliminary/Session16720.html
“Dissent Nearby: Diasporic & LGBTQ+ Resistance”*
*guaranteed session with Sponsorship from the Society of Contemporary Art Historians
In frantically trying to gain Republican support to pass a funding bill, Donald Trump asserted on Truth Social “We have to remain UNITED – NO DISSENT…VERY IMPORTANT…” (8 March 2025). As artists and activists have demonstrated for years, solidarity building and modes of dissent, however, often go hand-in-hand. This panel subsequently spotlights entwined histories of U.S.-based immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities as part of ongoing efforts to address issues of xenophobia, racism, homophobia, and transphobia using an intersectional and transnational feminist lens. Throughout the last century, American immigration acts have routinely included language of “sexual deviation” and anti-HIV-positive rhetoric in impermissibility rubrics—a pattern that often evades analysis of such legislation and state-sanctioned violence. While, today, we are seeing immigrants be deported to Guantanamo Bay alongside federally funded programs removing “T” and “Q” from materials using an LGBTQ+ acronym, the relationships between U.S. legislation, diasporic displacement, and gender and sexual identities are arguably under-discussed in tandem. By closing this gap, the panel fosters both timely critical conversations and steps toward solidarity building, collective organizing, and mutual aid. Together, panelists voice dissent inside and outside of gallery walls.
Papers from a range of professionals – art historians, theorists, curators, artists, and community organizers – are invited to collaboratively investigate the intersections of diasporic and LGBTQ+ resistance. Topics may include, but are not limited to:
- Anti-imperial queer feminist methodologies
- Strategies for navigating tensions between arts activism and institutional strictures
- Critical approaches to issues of displacement and/or archival erasure or exclusion in art history scholarship
- Solidarity building and forms of mutual aid inside and outside of the university and museum
If interested in contributing to this panel, submit the following materials by Friday, August 29th, 2025 at:
- Name, Affiliation, Email, & CAA Member ID #
- Confirm in-person participation (Chicago IL, 18-21 February 2026)
- 2pg abridged CV
- Presentation Title & Abstract (250 words max.)
Any questions can be directed to Jocelyn E. Marshall at: jocelynmarshall@usf.edu