QUEER SHEPHERDS – PERVOT PAIMENET – QUEERA HERDAR

XII SQS seminar & International Autumn School and Conference of IARG

September 19–20, 2019, Åbo Akademi University, Finland
Arken campus, Fabriksgatan 2

SQS – Society of Queer Studies in Finland invites submissions for the 12th Turku seminar on the intersections of queer, religion and spirituality. This year the seminar hosts the International Autumn School and conference of The International Association for the study of Religion and Gender (IARG). As a forum for scholars, students, and activists, the event promotes queer scholarship and networking across disciplines and organizations interested in the subject. The organizing partners also include Finnish Society for the Study of Religion (SUS), Center for the Study of Christian Cultures (CSCC), Gender studies in Åbo Akademi University and University of Turku, Study of Religion in Åbo Akademi University and University of Turku.

The theme of the conference and the autumn school is “Queer Shepherds”. The theme may be understood as governance and authority in religious and spiritual contexts that involve normativizing practices, social control, discriminatory processes or even abuse of sexual and gender minorities. The term “Queer Shepherds” may also signify a variety of guiding practices, rituals and leadership that shape new religious and spiritual subjectivities and empower queer agencies, often transcending dominant hierarchical structures. The broad theme also addresses counter-narratives and reinterpretations that contribute to social change. Issues relating to “Queer Shepherds” can be critically explored on several levels of analyses, cutting through traditions, arts, organizations and everyday mundane lives. It can be scrutinized in light of how forms of authority are currently changing and adapting to new cultural and societal practices, or how the conceptual trichotomy of religion, spirituality and secularity needs to be deconstructed in order to reveal the logics that constitute

“Queer Shepherding”
Potential strands of inquiry may include, but are not limited to:

  • Shepherds / Shepherding in queer communities
  • Queer Shepherding in religious / spiritual communities
  • Gender, sexuality or sex scandals in church / religious / spiritual communities
  • Regulation / guiding of sexualities or sexual relationships in church / religious / spiritual
  • communities
  • Queer Shepherds and society / legislation / politics
  • Queer Shepherds in narratives, art and popular culture (literature, myths, rituals, media,
  • music, films, performance arts, etc.)
  • Abstract submission

We encourage abstract submissions from undergraduates to advanced scholars. Most of the workshops will be in English, but papers in Finnish or Swedish are also warmly welcome. Please submit your abstract of max 1500 characters (with spaces) via the following link by June 16, 2019: ABSTRACT SUBMISSION

Program

The academic program consists of keynote lectures, workshops, and presentations. Professor Melissa M. Wilcox (UC Riverside, USA) is one of the keynote speakers. The other keynote speakers and the full program will be announced later.

Biography

Melissa M. Wilcox received her doctorate in Religious Studies from U.C. Santa Barbara in 2000. Her transdisciplinary research program focuses on queer and transgender studies in religion, with particular emphasis on the U.S. in the context of transnational queer and religious politics. Her books include Coming Out in Christianity: Religion, Identity, and Community (Indiana University Press, 2003); Sexuality and the World’s Religions (co-edited with David W. Machacek; ABC-CLIO, 2003); Queer Women and Religious Individualism (Indiana University Press, 2009); Religion in Today’s World: Global Issues, Sociological Perspectives (Routledge, 2013), and Queer Nuns: Religion, Activism, and Serious Parody (NYU Press, Sexual Cultures series, 2018). Her 2009 book received the annual book award from the Sociology of Religion Section of the American Sociological Association. She is currently finalizing two textbooks focused on sexuality and queer studies in religion, and beginning work on two new projects: one, tentatively entitled Queering/Religioning, will be an exploration of theory at the intersection of queer studies, trans studies, and religious studies; and one, tentatively entitled Ecstasies, will focus on leather spiritualities.

Warmly welcome! In case you have any questions, please contact:

Eetu Kejonen (SQS) eetu.kejonen[at]abo.fi
Malin Fredriksson (SUS) malin.fredriksson[at]abo.fi
Peter Nynäs (ÅA) peter.nynas[at]abo.fi