Queering Paradigms

Queering Paradigms (QP) refers to an informal network, a series of conferences and a book series. QP originally started as a colloquium in February 2008 to celebrate LGBT History Month at Canterbury Christ Church University. This colloquium was in part a protest against the universities stance to prevent civil partnership ceremonies from taking place on campus.^[1][2] The conferences have since taken place in Canterbury (UK), Brisbane (Australia), Oneonta (USA), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Quito (Ecuador) and, again in the South of England (Winchester and Canterbury). The book series has five volumes so far.^[3]

Queering Paradigms I (February 2009)

Flyer for QP 1 in Canterbury.

The first official Queering Paradigms conference was organised in February 2009^[4] in Canterbury by B Scherer, a professor of Comparative Religion, Gender and Sexuality at Canterbury Christ Church University.^[5] The book resulting from this conference was published by Peter Lang Oxford in 2010 and was edited by Scherer.^[6]

Queering Paradigms II (April 2010)

This conference took place at the Queensland University of Technology^[4][7] and was organised by Sharon Hayes,^[8] Matthew Ball^[9] and Angela Dwyer.^[10] Former High Court Justice Michael Kirby gave a keynote speech,^[11] which was widely commented upon in Australian newspapers.^{[12][13][14][15]} Also the second book was published by Peter Lang and was edited by Scherer and Ball.^[16]

Queering Paradigms III (April 2011)

QP 3 was organised at SUNY, Oneonta by Kathleen O’Mara and Betty Wambui.^[4][17][18] O’Mara and Liz Morrish edited the book.^[19]

Queering Paradigms IV (July 2012)

QP organisers

QP 4 took place in Rio de Janeiro and was organised by Rodrigo Borba, Elizabeth Lewis, Branca Fabrício and Diana Pinto,^[4][20] who are also the editors of the QP4 book(s): one book in English was published in 2014^[21] and another volume has been planned as a bilingual book in Portuguese and Spanish.^[22]

Queering Paradigms V (February 2014)

QP 5 took place in Quito, Ecuador in February 2014.^{[4][23][24][25]} A regional QP colloquium was organised in Quito in October 2012.^[26] QP5 organisers continue to create social impact after the event, e.g. by lobbying for Equal Marriage in Ecuador.^[27] The QP5 book appeared early 2016.^[28]

Queering Paradigms VI (July 2015)

Organised by QP founder B.Scherer, QP6 has taken place in the south of England in July 2015 and focused on the intersection of disability studies and queer studies. Held both at the University of Winchester and Canterbury Christ Church University, QP6 part-merged with the VariAbilities II conference.^[2][29] In a final event an Emerging Scholars' day was held at the University of Kent organised by the Centre for Gender, Sexuality and Writing.^[30]

Queering Paradigms VII (June 2016)

QP7 organisers and keynoters

QP7 took place on the Cayman Islands and will be organised by local LGBTIQ+ activists under the sponsorship of Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU), UK.^[31]

Key speakers were the Rt. Rev. Dr. Alan Wilson, Bishop of Buckingham and Professor Emeritus Eugenio Raúl Zaffaroni Justice of the Inter American Court of Human Rights.^[32]

Because the conference attracted some opposition from local politicians there was a police presence; there were however no reported disturbances.^[33][34]

References

External links

• Queering Paradigms Website
• Offical Queering Paradigms - YouTube Videos of paper presentations and keynotes of the 2015 (QP6) and 2016 (QP7) conferences.