BENT ON CHANGE:
Re-Thinking Queer Issues on Campus and in Communities
A Conference organized by staff, students and faculty
at the University of Toronto, York University and Ryerson Polytechnic
University
Nov. 3-4, 2000, at Oakham House
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
The Bent On Change Conference will provide an opportunity to discuss how
to make queer positive institutional change, with a focus on how such
change has been made on university campuses. On virtually all campuses,
there has been some attempt to create change both within and beyond the
university. Now is a good time to re-examine the relationship between
queer intellectual developments and activists' challenges to
universities. An assessment of community and on-campus activism may
help us organize more productively on both fronts in the future.
The conference will aim to generate ideas about what forms of change are
most important, and about how to most effectively seek institutional
change. It will seek dialogue between those whose primary focus is
scholarship and those whose energies are devoted mostly to activism.
Particular attention will be paid to groups who are often marginalized
within LGBTQ communities, both on and off campus. The conference
programming committee would appreciate proposals which integrate issues
of related and multiple oppressions (e.g. race, (dis)ability, gender,
immigration, Aboriginal/Two-Spirited issues and class). We also hope to
include a significant amount of work by undergraduate students.
Proposals that include a discussion of future directions, productive
suggestions for future organizing, and so on, will also be prioritized.
Please keep in mind that both members of LGBTQ and academic communities
will attend Bent On Change.
The Conference will present two keynote speakers, Julia Sudbury and Tim
McCaskell (Friday and Saturday evenings, respectively). On Saturday
there will be several parallel sessions throughout the day.
Programming topics include
On Campus
· Histories of organizing - lessons about organizing; intergenerational
tensions; what no longer works; innovating 'old' strategies
· Current activism on campus - organizational forces/constituent
groups;
goals and strategies; commonalities & differences
· Climate on campus - needs of staff, faculty, students; resources,
library collections, curriculum; motivating change; making connections
with cultural and religious organizations or sectors & 'the
mainstream'/
administration on campus; sex on campus/washroom sex; 'next steps' in
campus organizing, envisioning the future
· Queer theory & practice in the academy; anti-homophobia in theory and
practice in the academy
· Transgender issues in policy and practice
· Teaching sex - classroom dynamics; pedagogical tools; ethics
· Graduate studies - being queer and doing graduate studies; getting a
job, prospects for the future
· Athletics - competitive/elite athletes and the closet; recreational
athletics/working out on campus; coaching and competition
Campus and Community
· Multiple intersections in our organizing: challenging racism &
anti-Semitism; class & poverty issues; sexism & anti-feminism; working
across generations (youth/seniors); disability issues in organizing
· Sexualities/ public expression/ diverse identities/bisexuality
· Transgender & gender issues
· Organizing against the religious right; resisting violence
· Queer issues in the workplace and in unions
· Queers in crisis - the relation of queer clients and service
providers; therapeutic issues; queers and psychology
· Policing communities - on campus police; targeted policing; public
sex and the police; police responses to homophobia and hate crimes
· Corporate involvement on campus and in communities; how fundraising
shapes our communities; ethics and political impact of corporate
funding; how queer organizations get corporate funding
· Two-Spirited People - health, spiritualities, traditions, gender,
histories, creative production and other Two-Spirited issues
· Health - HIV/AIDS: legal, educational, and political aspects; health
promotion and prevention; health services; breast cancer issues and
lesbian health
· The role of the university - how does the university exert a
conservatizing or a liberating influence on society and/or queer
communities; what is the relationship between struggles taking place on
and off campus; how is academic queer theory taken up by queer
communities; what impacts do tuition hikes and the increasing power of
the right wing in Ontario have on queer students and access to
university.
Community
· Political Organizing and Coalition Strategies - what is the future of
coalition politics; evaluation of past and present strengths and
weaknesses
· Legal struggles - their limits and possibilities
Submissions should include a proposal abstract (one-page) and proposal
title, as well as the name, address, telephone number and e-mail
address
of the applicant. Limited travel subsidies are available. Please send
your proposal by June 15, 2000 to:
Bent On Change,
c/o Jude Tate
University of Toronto
Suite 307 214 College St.
Toronto, Ontario M5T 2Z9
e-mail: lgbtq.resources@utoronto.ca
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CFP@english.upenn.edu
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http://www.english.upenn.edu/CFP/
or write Erika Lin: elin@english.upenn.edu
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