Reminder: Deadline for submission of materials is January 16, 2015

Call For Papers
Queer Speculations
The Eighth Annual DC Queer Studies Symposium
University of Maryland, College Park
Friday, April 17, 2015

What if? And what then? The time and space of gender, sexuality, race, and =
empire are shaped by acts of speculation: both financial speculation on "fu=
tures" markets and the speculative imaginaries that invent, theorize, imagi=
ne, and enact different kinds of worlds. Queer theory, politics, and life h=
ave always engaged in speculative practice, demanding we attend to forms of=
kinship, politics, gender, sex, and sociality that exceed the logics of as=
similation. In recent years, attention has turned both to the ways in which=
some queer formations can reinforce the logics of speculative capital, and=
to the work of speculative cultural production in imagining different, dev=
iant worlds.

We invite proposals for presentations at QUEER SPECULATIONS, the 8th Annual=
DC Queer Studies Symposium at the University of Maryland. The symposium wi=
ll be a daylong series of conversations about the various speculative pract=
ices queer theory, politics, and life engage, and the kinds of queer specul=
ations about queer bodies, objects, feelings, pasts, futures, utopias, dyst=
opias, and transformations that are emerging. Events will include paper ses=
sions featuring faculty and graduate students, a buffet lunch, and a plenar=
y session featuring Ramzi Fawaz (University of Wisconsin, Madison) and Shan=
t=E9 Paradigm Smalls (St. John's University), whose work is expanding the f=
ield of scholarship on queerness and race in speculative cultural productio=
n.

The day will culminate with a keynote address by Juana Maria Rodriguez, Pro=
fessor of Gender and Women's Studies at the University of California, Berke=
ley. Rodriguez is author of Sexual Futures: Queer Gestures and Other Latina=
Longings (NYU Press, 2014) which speculates about the world-making practic=
es of queer of color femme intimacies and embodiments. Her other publicatio=
ns include Queer Latinidad: Identity Practices, Discursive Spaces (NYU, 200=
3) and numerous articles related to her research in sexuality studies, quee=
r activism in a transnational American context, critical race theory, techn=
ology and media arts, and Latina/o and Caribbean Studies.

The 2015 symposium marks the coming-together of Women's Studies and LGBT St=
udies at the University of Maryland College Park, a moment to inspire creat=
ive speculation about possible futures for transformative knowledge product=
ion within the university.

We welcome proposals for presentations on topics including but not limited =
to:

* Queer speculative cultural production in media and literature
* Speculative worldmaking in queer communities and social movements
* The relationship of queer politics and culture to speculative capi=
tal, risk, and debt
* Queer currents in speculative materialism / the philosophical spec=
ulative turn
* Speculative uses of emerging technologies for queer bodies and wor=
lds
* Queer interventions into global, imperial logics of speculation
* Speculative queer ecologies of the human and nonhuman
* Speculation as queer knowledge production in the academy and beyon=
d

Proposals for 15-minute presentations should include name, affiliation, e-m=
ail address, title of paper, a 250-word abstract, and a 1-2 page CV. We als=
o welcome submissions for 45-minute panels, but we may reorganize speakers =
due to the demands of scheduling. If you submit a panel, please include a p=
anel title and a brief explanation of the panel rationale. Please send mate=
rials by e-mail attachment (Word or PDF only) by January 16, 2015 to DCQS@u=
md.edu<mailto:DCQS@umd.edu>. Put "Submission for Queer Speculations" in the=
subject line of your message. For more information, contact JV Sapinoso at=
sapinoso@umd.edu<mailto:sapinoso@umd.edu>. Selected participants will be n=
otified by February 20, 2015.

All symposium events are free and open to the public. More details will be =
forthcoming at http://ter.ps/DCQS15

Dr. JV Sapinoso
sapinoso@umd.edu<mailto:sapinoso@umd.edu>
Assistant Director
Department of Women's Studies
University of Maryland
2101 Woods Hall
College Park, MD 20742
301-405-6827
Pronouns: He/Him/His