Exploring contested terrains of LGBT public activism in Eastern Europe

Journal/Publisher of the collection: Sextures. E-journal for sexualities, cultures and politics.
Deadline for submitting abstracts: June 30, 2010 
Deadline for submitting full papers: October 15, 2010

Sextures is a refereed international, independent, transdisciplinary electronic scholarly journal that aims to provide a forum for open intellectual debate across the arts, humanities and social sciences about all aspects affecting the intricate connections between politics, culture and sexuality primarily, but not exclusively, in the Balkans, Eastern and Central Europe. It is published in English once to twice a year.

Sextures is a transdisciplinary space for new thinking about sexualities opened up by the development of queer, gay and lesbian, postcolonial, and feminist political, cultural and social thought in the Balkans, Central and Eastern Europe.

Sextures is an inclusive, rhizomatic, organic and perennially unfinished network of the intellectual, social and sexual precariat of these regions coming together in a transdisciplinary examination of the junctures where theory encounters diverse sexual practices, social and cultural sites, identities, laws, policies, knowledges, disciplines and everyday life. Sextures is both a refereed international academic e-journal that aims to promote cutting edge research on sexualities, and a virtual gathering place for ideas, concepts, research projects and people vitally interested in the construction, experience and regulation of sex and sexual identities in the Balkans, Central and Eastern Europe.

LGBT prides and marches are of crucial relevance to the way in which non-heterosexual lives are imagined internationally despite regional and national differences. In Eastern Europe, the annual Pride events have become a litmus test for the strength of the local LGBT communities as well as for the degree of tolerance of the societies in which they take place. Furthermore, local and national politicians have used the alleged danger of public disorder as a reason for banning marches, after themselves having used language likely to encourage extremist opposition from activists of faith-based or ultra right-wing organisations. Within the past couple of years, prides were banned or attacked in a number of places (including, but not limited to Riga, Chisinau, Moscow, Bucharest and Tallinn).

At the same time, the 2010 EuroPride is due to take place in Warsaw, perhaps symbolically marking changes in attitudes and at the same time bringing up questions about ideologies implicated in pride events. In particular, this concerns the discourse of "progress" as well as the inscription of Eastern European LGBT movements into the narrative of victimhood and delayed development when compared to LGBT movements in the Global North.
 
This call for papers invites scholars to critically engage with some of the following questions:

These questions are to be taken as an invitation to reflection, rather than prescriptive statements limiting potential submissions. While the focus is on Central and Eastern Europe, submissions from other parts of the world are welcome. Papers crossing/transgressing disciplinary boundaries are particularly welcome.

Proposals for the special issue (500 words maximum) should be sent by June 30, 2010 to Anna Gruszczynska at a.gruszczynska@bham.ac.uk.
Deadline for submission of papers is October 15, 2010 and submissions should normally not exceed 8000 words.

Anna Gruszczynska
e-mail: a.gruszczynska@bham.ac.uk