CFP Queer Women's Discourse & Representations, Lavender Languages 20

Thu Oct 4 07:14:25 UTC 2012

Call for papers: QUEERING VIOLENCE

Panel at the Twentieth Anniversary Lavender Languages and Linguistics Conference, American University (Washington, D.C.), 15-17 February 2013

QUEERING VIOLENCE
According to the World Health Organization, violence can be defined as "the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation." In the light of this, there is little doubt that violence is often bound up with gender and sexuality, as manifested for example in "corrective" or other forms of rape, "gay-bashing," etc. But what the WHO's definition does not take into account is that violence can also be a key component in the production of "pleasure." This includes many of the activities falling under the category S/M sexual practice, activities where the "intentional use of physical force or power" is mitigated by the dynamics of consent.
Using language/discourse-centered research as an entry point for the analysis, this panel aims at queering the complex nexus between gender, sexuality and violence. Papers may focus on discourses and practices as well as the role played by "normality" and " deviance" in the production of violence in relation to gender and sexuality. Papers may also explore the methodological challenges of studying violence from a language/discourse analytical perspective.

Please send abstracts of approx. 250 words to Tommaso.Milani at wits.ac.za<mailto:Tommaso.Milani at wits.ac.za> by 31st October 2012. Please feel free to email before this date with informal proposals or enquiries.

More information about the conference can be found here: http://www.american.edu/cas/anthropology/lavender-languages/. You can follow the conference on Twitter @LavLangs or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lavender-Languages-and-Linguistics/264005673676147.

Proposals for panels and other individual papers at the conference are also welcomed, with a deadline of 5th November 2012. Contact wlm at american.edu<mailto:wlm at american.edu> for details.

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