Theme
While the study of space has been part of the Queer Studies agenda for a very long time, time has been a more recent addition. This International Conference sees the study of time as being central to the understanding of identity configurations. Studying time as a producer and reproducer of identities can be approached as the unearthing of past events, the imagining of other futures, or as the exploration of time as a formal factor that shapes cultural texts. While conceptions of time as something linear, stable, singular, and unequivocal favor existing discourses about equally unequivocal identities, approaches to time as being defined by multiple rhythms, interruptions and uncertainties allow for other identities and cultural / social practices to come to life in time or through specific representations of time.
We invite scholars from a variety of backgrounds (Cinema, Cultural, Game, and Literary Studies) to think about time and its impact on processes of queer world-making through its relation with memory, futurities, discontinuities, and expanded approaches to everydayness. Submissions from creators -writers, poets, filmmakers, and game designers- exploring their texts in relation to the themes of the conference will also be considered.
Some of the topics this conference is interested in exploring are:
-Identities represented through fragmentation and temporal rootlessness; temporal notions of ‘otherness’.
-Narrative and/or formal uses of synchronicity, serendipity, and nonlinearity.
-Temporal rhizomes; approaches to time as being multiple and multidirectional.
-Fluid time(s), fluid identity(ies).
-Instances of genre/identity bending through time.
-Human, transhuman, post-human, and non-human relations with, in, and through time: 4th Industrial Revolution, Anthropocene, object-oriented studies of time vs. ‘fleshy’ temporalities, cyberpunk and non-Western futurisms.
-Failure, interruption, fragmentation, repetition, loss, and loops: Non-linearities and temporal dead-ends.
-Medium-dependent representations of time and their impact on identity production.
-Expanded visions of everydayness.
-Time and “telling”: points of view and narration, narrated/narrative times, personal time, and time as form.
-Times that are (not); times that were (not); times that will (not) be; times we wish (never) existed: reconstructions of hidden pasts, utopia, dystopia, futurism, and trauma.
-Myth and fantasy as identity engagements through time.
-When time ends: catastrophes, eco-crises, and apocalypses.
Venue
In view of the current pandemic, this conference will be held fully online. Accepted proposals will be placed in panels formed according to similar themes, approaches, and interests. All panels will consist of four 15-minute-long live interventions followed by 20 minutes of Q&A for the four panelists. Each panel will have its own Zoom session for panelists and audience members to join. Panelists will not be able to participate in the conference by submitting pre-recorded videos of their papers.
Keynote Speakers
We are extremely pleased to announce our keynote speakers:
-Professor Elizabeth Freeman, Department of English, UC Davis.
https://english.ucdavis.edu/people/esfreema
-Professor Glyn Davis, School of Design, The University of Edinburgh
https://www.eca.ed.ac.uk/profile/dr-glyn-davis
-Professor Bonnie (Bo) Ruberg, Department of Film & Media Studies, UC Irvine.
https://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=6554
Submissions & important dates
We ask scholars wishing to participate in the conference to submit a single file in .pdf, .doc, .docx or .odt format containing their proposals, their names and affiliation, contact information, and a short biographical statement. Proposals should be around 350 words long (with a 15% flexibility) while the short bios should not exceed 150 words. Submissions should be sent to queertemp@gmail.com.
End of the CFP: June 10, 2021.
Decisions on submissions: July 16, 2021.
Conference registration: July 17-November 1, 2021.
Conference dates: December 2-4, 2021
Organizers & venue
This conference is being organized by members of the Research Project PGC2018-095393-BI00 Temporalidades Queer en la Cultura Anglófona Contemporánea (Literatura, Cine y Videojuegos) [Queer Temporalities in Contemporary Anglophone Cultures (Literature, Cinema, and Video Games)] funded by the Spanish National Research Agency (Agencia Estatal de Investigación). The academic host for the conference is the Department of English Studies at the University of Murcia, Spain.
Post-conference publications
Closer to the conference, depending on the number of submissions received, we will share more information on the publishing of edited, peer-reviewed, volumes made of expanded versions of the conference papers. Our intention is to edit a full issue of an international academic journal as well as an edited volume in book format. Participating in the conference does not guarantee or require participation in the edited projects.
Participation & fees
Accepted speakers will need to register by November 1, 2021 and pay a non-refundable participation fee of 35 €. More details on how to register for the conference will be announced soon.
Conference chairs
Juan F. Belmonte Ávila, University of Murcia.
Estíbaliz Encarnación Pinedo, Technical University of Cartagena.
María Ferrández San Miguel, University of Zaragoza.
Organizing team
Cristina Hurtado Botella, University of Murcia.
Ángela López García, University of Murcia.
Corpus Navalón Guzmán, University of Murcia.
María Piqueras Pérez, University of Murcia.
