LGBTQI rights and activism in the post-Soviet space

Deadline for abstracts submission: 1 April 2017
Notification of successful applicants: 20 April 2017
Deadline for full paper submission: 1 October 2017

International organizations working in the area of non-discrimination and human rights have been regularly expressing their concerns and fair critique with regard to the life conditions of lesbian, gay, transsexual and other queer people in the former Soviet republics. While the geopolitical situation and cultural and historical context in these countries vary significantly, numerous cases of discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation and gender identity, homophobic violence and hate speech as well as violation of human rights of LGBTQI people have been repeatedly reported by the human rights NGOs and activists. The growing number of LGBTQI refugees from these countries confirms the sad trend.

In spite sometimes difficult life conditions, LGBTQI movement in the post-Soviet space is present and seems to be developing. Few scholars, however, have systematically addressed and evaluated the variety, effectiveness, and particularities of LGBTQI rights issues and activism bringing together examples from Belarus, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Russia, Azerbajdzhan, Armenia, etc. With the present volume we aspire to meet the need to fill in this research gap.

The volume aims to address a wide range of topics related to LGBTQI rights, issues, and activism in the post-Soviet space from a number of theoretical and methodological perspectives. We welcome proposals covering yet not limited to the themes below:

Please send your proposal to Radzhana Buyantueva (Newcastle University) R.Buyantueva1@newcastle.ac.uk, and Maryna Shevtsova (Humboldt University) maryna.shevtsova@hu-berlin.de. Papers should be original works that have not been submitted for publication or published elsewhere.

All papers should be in English.