CfP: “‘Good’ Queers and Hated Others: Integration, Expulsion, and Disavowal of Subjects in Contemporary German-language Society and Culture”

With the change of society’s attitude toward contemporary queer identities and the cooptation of concepts such as intersectionality and feminism, particular non-normative bodies have been instrumentalized as signposts of hegemonic cultural changes. Mobilized for the advancement of neoliberalism, gentrification, global tourism, mass consumerism, and capitalist expansion, certain individuals and social groups are deemed “regenerative queer” (Haritaworn) forces and circulated as paragons of socio-political progress. This selective humanization of some bodies comes at the expense of many others who failed to perpetuate normative ideals and ideologies. For example, many European countries are witness to the rise of the popular right while inviting the presence of certain queer bodies, culminating in the recent passage of gay marriage in various Western European countries such as Ireland, Germany, and Austria.

Inspired by scholars such as Jin Haritaworn, Robert McRuer, Mark Rifkin, and Jasbir K. Puar, this panel seeks to challenge this particular progression by revealing the stakes of linking discourses of sexuality to racial, indigenous, disabled, and religious otherness in the German-language context. As such, this panel hopes to provide an exciting engagement with how the pervasive neoliberal and colonial power structures working against those individuals considered as “others” shapes the contours of subjectivity and how these supposedly humanizing forces uphold white capitalism and white humanism while also relying on the erasure of certain bodies.

We invite proposals that may include the following approaches to German-language texts and culture:
–        critical interrogations of normative concepts of identities via intersectional approaches
–        interrogations of homo and crip nationalism
–        considerations of queer temporalities and queer spaces
–        questions of political subjectivity
–        examinations of affective landscapes of non-normative bodies navigating social structures

Your proposal must include: a paper title, an abstract (approx. 250 words), and a short bio. Please send your paper proposals by November 28, 2018, to Simone Pfleger (pfleger@ualberta.ca) and Carrie Smith (carrie.smith@ualberta.ca). Please note: You do not have to join an association in order to submit a paper proposal. However, if your paper is accepted, you must be a signed-up member of either the CAUTG or the Coalition of Women in German (WIG) by March 15, 2019, and register for Congress and the CAUTG meeting at Congress. To assess your overall financial costs, please consult the following websites: https://www.congress2019.ca and http://www.womeningerman.org.