Call for Papers: Queer Work/Queer Labour

The workplace has always been a central arena for the creation and contestation of sexual minority identities and rights. This conference brings together studies of capitalism, labour, and sexuality, each of them important fields in the scholarship of the modern world, and explores the intersections between them. The one-day event will examine how lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people have encountered discrimination, fought for workplace rights and imagined liberation within and beyond the confines of capitalism. Linked to the conference, Margot Canaday will be giving the qUCL annual lecture on Thursday 14 March  exploring work and sexuality in the United States.

The organisers of this one-day conference invite paper proposals on scholarship of sexuality and work, broadly defined. Although mainly situated around the history of sexuality and work in the United States and United Kingdom, we welcome papers that examine this intersection more widely – in any space or time and across academic disciplines.

Papers/panels themes may include:
    ⁃    Queer Work/Queer Labour/Queer Capitalism
    ⁃    Intersections of race and gender with class and sexuality
    ⁃    Discourses of liberation and equality
    ⁃    Trade unionism/labour organisation
    ⁃    Workplace discrimination
    ⁃    Workplace organisation
    ⁃    Sex work
    ⁃    Emotional Labour
    ⁃    Cultural representations of queer work/labour/capitalism and activism

In recent years ideas of work and sexuality have come to the fore in both scholarship and popular culture. Books including Miriam Frank’s Out in the Union (2014) and Peter Purton’s Champions of Equality (2017) have prioritised the role of labour organisations in the struggle for LGBT+ rights. Similarly, films including Pride (2014) and Milk (2008) have provided audiences with visual representations of the historic unity between the workplace and LGBT activism.

Submissions should include a 250-300 word outline of the 20-minute paper and a brief biography or CV of the presenter. We also welcome proposals for fully formed panels. The deadline for submissions is 1 December 2018.

Please email submissions and enquiries to Josh Hollands: joshua.hollands.14@ucl.ac.uk