QueerFemSEE II aims to create a network of queer feminist solidarity across and against national borders in SEE. Against reductive notions of commonality in SEE, and essentialist notions of gender and sexuality, how can we queer the affinities that bind us together? We seek to resist erasure, silencing, misrepresentation, tokenism, assimilation: to replace lost memory and counter the disappearance of queer histories. We seek community and connection: to listen to and learn from each other, have difficult conversations, disagree, laugh, and eat together. QueerFemSEE II invites queer feminist researchers working within and beyond academic institutions, activists and community organisers, artists, to come together for three unforgettable days in Athens!

This is the second QueerFemSEE; the first was held in Bucharest, Romania in 2017 and resulted in the special issue of Feminist Critique: East European Journal of Feminist and Queer Studies (no. 4, 2021, eds. Ramona Dima and Simona Dumitriu).

Formats:
1. We are seeking proposals for individual papers/presentations (maximum time: 15 minutes). We encourage experimentation with creative modes of presentation (e.g., lecture performances).
2. We also encourage groups of 3–4 people to propose roundtables (maximum time: 1 hour) which are conversational and dialogical/plurilogical (rather than a series of paper presentations).

Possible topics that presentations and roundtables could address include:

• Aging queerly: old age and queerness, perspectives from SEE spaces
• Internationalisms and anti-nationalisms: no borders politics, anti-war politics, and solidarity politics
• Racism and antiracism in SEE: queer feminist perspectives on “race,” racialisation, racisms, and antiracist resistance
• Post-imperialism, decoloniality, and racial capitalism in post-Soviet societies
• Don’t say “burek”! Beyond methodological regionalisms: what (if anything) binds SEE together?
• Creating and organising queer feminist community/activist spaces in SEE
• Repair and transformation in intra-community queer and feminist activism
• Critiques of instrumentalisation, tokenism, pinkwashing, and homonationalism in LGBTQI+ movements in SEE
• Trans*, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary feminisms: theories, communities, political practices
• “Anti-gender” politics and queer feminist resistances in SEE
• Reproductive politics (anti-abortion, forced sterilisation, anti-LGBTQI+ kinship) and transnational organising for reproductive justice
• Anti-capitalism, autonomy, and planetary survival: revolutionary visions, utopian imaginaries, irresistible futures…

For both individual papers/presentations and roundtables, please submit an abstract (250 words max.) with 5 keywords plus a short biographical note (75 words max.) for each presenter, as well as one interesting link to your current or previous work. The abstract should clearly lay out the question/problematic of the presentation or roundtable and foreshadow the important points/moments in the presentation/discussion. Please send these in one single document.

Code of contact: QueerFemSEE II is an antiracist feminist, LGBTQI+ affirmative space and the participation of trans, intersex, non-binary, queer, lesbian, bisexual, and gay people is encouraged. No TERFS! Prior to sending an expression of interest, please read and commit to FAC’s code of contact.

Fees: There are no fees to participate in QueerFemSEE II. Participants are asked to support FAC research (an autonomous, community-based research centre) by becoming a member.

Travel stipend: We can offer a small travel stipend for people without academic affiliations. Please self-identify as needing a stipend in your expression of interest.

To submit an expression of interest please use this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeg6WSR9VZpXQgz_xCRSH-ix-DbacIN2eyeiWkiOYx87RXaaw/viewform

If you encounter problems in submitting it, please send your abstract and info at queerfemsee@gmail.com.

Deadline: 11 November 2022, 11:59 EET (UTC+2)

If you have any questions, please contact us at queerfemsee@gmail.com.
Please note: we cannot accept late or incomplete submissions. Deadlines are firm. Please do not email submissions.

Important dates:

Deadline for expressions of interest: 11 November 2022

Decisions: 2 December 2022

Registration Deadline for presenting participants: 17 February 2023
Programme Announced: 10 March 2023
Registration Deadline for non-presenting participants: 7 April 2023
QueerFemSEE 2 takes place: 28–30 April 2023


Organisers:

Dr. Ramona Dima, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral fellow, University of Stavanger
Dr. Myrto Tsilimpounidi, Panteion University and co-director of FAC research
Dr. Anna Carastathis, Panteion University and co-director of FAC research
Dr. Simona Dumitriu, independent curator and organiser