***Please Announce****
Black Queer Studies in the Millennium Conference
April 7-9, 2000
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Queer Studies has gained momentum in the academy and claimed its space as a
legitimate disciplinary subject.  The University of California—Berkeley,
UCLA, New York University, and Duke University are just a few institutions
that provide regular course offerings in Queer Studies, offered by faculty
who teach in this area full time.  In addition, journals such as GLQ:  A
Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, published by Duke University Press, and
Cr
itical inQueeries, published by the University of Melbourne, are examples of
journals devoted solely to queer scholarship.  That the academy is beginning
to take this research seriously is witnessed not only by the growing number
of tenure-track positions that relate to Queer Studies, but also by courses,
critical anthologies, journals and conferences devoted to queerness.

Given its currency in the academic marketplace, Queer Studies has the
potential to transform the way we theorize sexuality in conjunction with
other identity formations. Yet, the lack of attention given to race and
class
in the formation of Queer Studies represents a theoretical gap in the
creation of academic discourse on lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgendered
people of color.  Current formulations of queer theory either ignore the
categories of race and class or theorize their effects in "discursive"
rather
than material terms.

To suture that gap, we are hosting a conference on Black Queer Studies in
the
Millennium to explore the implications of Queer Studies on the pedagogy,
research, and theorizing of African American scholars who identify as queer
and/or who do teaching and research in this field.  This conference will
focus on how black queer theorists, in particular, can critically intervene
in the formation of Queer Studies as a disciplinary project.  The questions
to be discussed at the conference will include the following:  What are the
implications of queer theory for the study of lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgendered people of color?  Does "queer" as a term actually fulfill its
promise of inclusivity as it is deployed in queer theory?  How do those of
us
who teach queer theory effectively integrate the categories of race, class
and materiality?  How do we who are activists reconcile queer theory with
political praxis?  What is the impact of queer theory on the reception and
analysis of black gay literature and cultural performance?

The conference will also coincide with the publication of a special issue of
C
allaloo: A Journal of African American and African Arts and Letters that
will
be devoted to African American Queer Studies.


The conference will be held on April 7 - 9, 2000, and is scheduled to begin
on Friday evening with a keynote address by Phillip Brian Harper (Are We Not
Men?), professor of English and American Studies at New York University. On
Saturday there will be three panels, each including three discussants and a
moderator:  "Policing Black Bodies:  Queer Studies, Public Policy and the
Law," "Disciplinary Tensions:  Black Studies and Queer Studies," and
"Representing the ‘Race’:  Queer Images of Blackness."  The conference will
conclude on Sunday morning with sessions on "Black Queer Fiction:  Who’s
‘Reading’ Us?," and "How to Teach the Unspeakable:  Race, Queer Studies and
Pedagogy,"  followed by a retrospective/prospective by Wahneema Lubiano
(Duke
U).

The scholars invited to participate on these panels include:  Charles Nero
(Bates College), Cheryl Clarke (Rutgers), Jewelle Gomez (Author), Cheryl
Dunye (Filmmaker), Shari Frilot (Filmmaker), Marlon Ross (U of Mich), Lindon
Barrett (UC-Irvine), Sharon Holland (SUNY-Albany), Jacqui Alexander
(Connecticut C), Yvonne Welbon (NWU), Devon Carbado (UCLA), Alycee Lane
(UC-Santa Barbara), Keith Boykin (American U), Thomas Glave
(SUNY-Binghamton), Darieck Scott (UT-Austin), Gerard Ferguson (NYU), Cathy
Cohen (Yale), Darieck Scott (UT-Austin), Charles Rowell (UVA), Dwight
McBride
(UIC), Jennifer DeVere Brody (GWU), Wahneema Lubiano (Duke), Maurice Wallace
(Duke), Bryant Keith Alexander (Cal State-LA), Keith Clark (George Mason U),
Mae G. Henderson (UNC-CH), E. Patrick Johnson (Amherst C) and Kara Keeling
(U
Pitt).

The conference will include film screenings of Watermelon Woman and Living
with Pride:  Ruth Ellis at 100.  E. Patrick Johnson will also present a
special performance of his one-man show, "Strange Fruit."  The show is an
autobiographical meditation on race, class, gender, and sexuality in
relation
to identity politics.  Finally, there will be a reception and book signing
immediately following the performance.

The conference is free and open to the public.  No registration is required.
The tentative conference program and hotel information may be found at the
conference website: www.unc.edu/~epjohnso/bqs.html.  You may also contact E.
Patrick Johnson at [log in to unmask]
Dr Gail Hawkes
Department of Sociology
Manchester Metropolitan University
Tel: +44 (0) 161 247 3464
Fax. +44 (0) 161 247 6321



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