Call for Proposals: Queer at Queen’s 2015 at
OUTBURST QUEER ARTS FESTIVAL
HIV and AIDS: Politics, Memory, Performance. Brian Friel Theatre Queen’s University, Belfast November 15th and 16th 11am to 6pm daily
Outburst Queer Arts Festival and Drama Studies at Queen’s University Belfast are proud to present Queer at Queen’s, a two-day event bringing academics, artists, and activists together with the public. This year’s event will develop the theme of social justice discussed at Queer at Queen’s 2013, focusing in particular on HIV and AIDS. Through an interdisciplinary program of talks, theatre workshops, panel discussions, and social spaces, participants will address a diverse range of issues including: HIV/AIDS-related stigma and its effects on queer communities, particularly in terms of rising HIV diagnoses; local and global support networks and HIV activism; and the representation, both political and aesthetic, of those whose lives are affected by HIV/AIDS, as well as representations and understandings of the disease itself. The event is free to attend and open to the public. Queer at Queens endeavours to move beyond the traditional format of the academic conference and therefore, as well as academic papers, we welcome and encourage proposals from creative writers, activists, artists, performers, indeed any and all makers of culture and art, and community organisers and health care workers. We are now accepting proposals for: talks, panels, workshops, presentations of art works, and creative writing such as poetry, fiction, or prose. Topics can include, but are not limited to, the following: • • • • • • • • • • • •
HIV/AIDS in art, writing, and performance: in Ireland, north and south, as well as in international contexts HIV/AIDS and social justice: community support, and access to healthcare services HIV-related stigma and its impact on rising infection rates. Populist and political understandings, myths, and misconceptions of HIV/AIDS. Marginalised bodies: Women, transwomen, migrants, and HIV/AIDS HIV/AIDS in specific populations, for example Ireland’s emigrant generation The history of AIDS activism: Reclamation, Revisionism, and AIDS Nostalgia. The ‘sanitization’ of homosexuality and HIV/AIDS discourses Shaming and the negation of sex, the ideology of ‘clean’ New treatment options, particularly PrEP. Challenging discourses of ‘risk’: condomless sex, barebacking, chemsex, PrEP Representations of HIV/AIDS in social networks and digital media. Proposals of roughly 300 words, plus a ‘presenter biography’ should be forwarded to Cormac O’Brien (cormac.obrien@ucd.ie) and Trish McTighe (pmc.mctighe@gmail.com) by 9th OCTOBER 2015 We look forward to hearing from you!