Call for papers: Queer Pasts: What’s Queer in Queer History? | University of Copenhagen
The international conference Queer Pasts: What’s Queer in Queer History aims to discuss and critically explore the “queer” in queer and trans history. We invite dialogues about and engagement with methodologies, temporalities, theories and analytical approaches that interpret, imagine and preserve queer and trans history as queer.
Copenhagen, Denmark, 22-23 May, 2025.
Queer history commonly refers to the study and documentation of the lives, experiences, cultures, and struggles and joys of LGBTQ+ people in the past. It covers a wide range of topics, including how gender and sexual diversity has been expressed, understood, and regulated in different societies, as well as how political, social, and cultural movements have sought to challenge discrimination and promote LGBTQ+ rights. In this sense, queer history is about carving out the contours of queer and trans lives, communities and cultures of the past.
Queer history is about challenging traditional ideas about archives and representation. Much of queer history has been erased, suppressed, silenced, or ignored by mainstream historical narratives. Queer historians have had to work creatively to uncover queer histories, using letters, diaries, court records, photographs, and oral histories to reconstruct the lives of LGBTQ+ people.
Practical information
Send abstract of 300 – 500 words (excl. references) to queerhistoryconference@hum.ku.dk.
Panels should comprise 3-4 individual contributions. Please write a panel rationale (of 300 – 500 words, ex. references) along with 3-4 individual panel paper abstracts (each of 300 – 500 words, ex. references). Send to queerhistoryconference@hum.ku.dk.
Deadline: 10 January 2025
Letter of acceptance/rejection: late January 2025
Registration opens/ends: late February / late March
Programme published: mid April 2025