CALL FOR PAPERS
QUEER ETHICS?
an approved panel of the Northeast Modern Language Association Convention
Buffalo, April 7-8, 2000
This panel will present papers addressing the relationship between queer
theory and ethics in literature, culture, and politics. What are the norms
and values that are or should be endorsed by queer theory? Should queer
theory have a positive ethical platform or should it rather be a critique
of ethics itself as a hegemonic mechanism of naturalizing some and eliding
or demonizing other forms of sexual and non-sexual experience?
The proponents of queer theory perceive it as one of the most productive
forms of postmodern, anti-humanist critique of sexual and other identities
and norms. Its opponents, however, see it as a vague and socially
irresponsible relativism harmful to gay and lesbian political and cultural
engagement. Is queer theory opposed to all norms and to normativity as
such? Or does it -- should it? -- endorse certain norms and values as the
basis of its positive ethical (and, by extension, political) platform? Is
queer theory's task to espouse certain attitudes and forms of behavior as
correct or desirable and to endow them with moral value? Or is it more in
its spirit to explore how and why certain attitudes and forms of behavior
acquire cultural (dis)approval and moral authority or censure in a
particular society at a particular time? In either case, what are some
specific ways in which queer theory might articulate and pursue its
ethical goals? The panel will try to put equal critical pressure on the
two terms of its title and both explore the ongoing efforts to articulate
the meanings and roles of QUEER theory in the academic and public spheres
and intervene into current discussions about the position of ETHICS in
contemporary philosophy and culture.
The papers may be purely theoretical or focused on specific literary texts
or cultural phenomena. Please send your papers or detailed, 2-page
abstracts to the address below by September 15, 1999. Both e-mail and
regular mail submissions are welcome. Also, please feel free to send me
any questions, suggestions, or comments related to the topic of this
panel.
Dejan Kuzmanovic
Department of English, MS-30
Rice University
6100 South Main Street
Houston, TX 77005-1892
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