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The Third International Queer Death Studies Workshop “Death Matters: Death and Dying in a Queer Context”, 30-31 May 2018 Linköping University, Sweden

CALL FOR PAPERS

Queer Death Studies Network (QDSN) was officially launched in November 2016 at the G16: Swedish National Gender Research Conference in Linköping and has been vividly developing since then. The network constitutes a space for researchers, students, artists, activists, and other practitioners who critically and (self) reflexively investigate and challenge conventional normativities, assumptions, expectations, and regimes of truths that are brought to life and made evident by death, dying, and mourning.

The conventional engagements with the questions of death, dying and mourning are insufficient and reductive: they are often governed by the normative notions of the subject; interhuman and human/nonhuman bonds; family relations and communities; rituals; and finally, experiences of grief, mourning, and bereavement.  Moreover, these engagements are often embedded in constraining beliefs in life/death divides, constructed along the lines of conventional religious and/or scientific mind/body dualisms.

Against this background, QDSN serves as a site for ‘queering’ traditional ways of approaching death both as a subject of study and philosophical reflection, and as a phenomenon to articulate in artistic work or practices of mourning. Here, the notion of ‘queer’ conveys many meanings. It refers to researching and narrating death, dying and mourning in the context of queer bonds and communities, where the subjects involved/studied/interviewed and the relations they are involved in are recognised as ‘queer’. Simultaneously, the term ‘queer’ can also function as an adverb and a verb, referring thus to the processes of going beyond and unsettling (subverting, exceeding) binaries and given norms, normativities, and constraining conventions. In other words, ‘queer’ becomes both a process and a methodology that is applicable and exceeds the focus on gender and sexuality as its exclusive concerns.

During our previous workshops we have focused on the ways queer theory and queer perspectives can help us rethink death, dying, remains, afterlife, mourning and the life-death dichotomy. In other words, we have explored what ‘queer’ means and, most importantly, what it does to the question of death in its multiple incarnations and avenues.

The upcoming workshop concentrates on the notions of ‘death’ and ‘dying’ as such. What do death and dying mean? What is the relationship between death and dying? How do death and dying matter (and materialise) beyond the normative structures constitutive of ontological, epistemological, ethical, legal, and conventional religious frames? What are and what can be the onto-epistemological, ethical, cultural and legal implications of rethinking death and dying through a queer(ing) lens? And, in turn, what does focusing on and rethinking of death and dying do to queer studies? What does it do to the cultural imaginaries and practices?

The workshop will consist of individual papers (20 min), arranged in panel sessions, followed by Q&A and joint discussions. We welcome submissions from both academics and non-academics, as the event aims to mobilise transversal dialogues on the theme. If you would like to present a paper at the workshop, please, send an abstract (max 300 words), accompanied by a short bio (up to 100 words) to: tara.mehrabi [at] liu.se. Deadline EXTENDED: 18 March 2018.

The event starts on 30^th May at 13:15 and ends on 31^st May at 16:00 in Linköping, Sweden.

Unfortunately, the workshop is organised on a very low budget, which means that we are not able to cover the travel and accommodation costs for the speakers.

The workshop is available to everyone and there is no participant fee.

We will provide participants with coffee/tea and snacks, but dinner and lunch will be on self-paid basis.

If you would like to take part in the workshop on these (self-paying) conditions and would like to apply for an external funding to cover the travel, food and accommodation costs, we will be most happy to provide you with an official invitation letter.