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​RGS-IBG 2016 Final CFP: Neoliberal academia and the sexuality scholarship, sponsored by SSQRG

RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2016 in London, 31 August to 2 September 2016

Session Organisers: Chen Misgav, Department of Politics and Government, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and Thomas Wimark, Department of Human Geography, Stockholm University.

Sponsored session by Space, Sexualities & Queer Research Group (SSQRG).

Universities around the globe are increasingly being affected by neoliberal trends (Castree, 2006). The (now not so) new market logic require universities to commodify, restructure and consolidate their activities in order to be profitable (Dowling, 2008), e.g. through closing down or merging research departments and cutting unprofitable courses and research fields. Simultaneously, scholars are becoming ever more exposed to a competitive academia forcing us to intensify our production (Birch, Bond, Harris, Hoogeveen, Laliberte & Rosol, 2012) through individualised self-auditing processes in order to remain within academia (Berg in Castree, 2006). Several scholars have discussed the impact of neo-liberalisation on research production, foremost with a focus on race and ethnicity (e.g. see Berg, 2012; Kobayashi, Lawson & Sanders, 2014). However, less is known of the impact on the sexuality scholarship.

It is now more than 15 years ago the JGHE Symposium: Teaching Sexualities in Geography was held discussing geographers’ engagements with sexuality in higher education (Knopp, 1999). Since then the sexuality scholarship has become an important part of Human Geography with an increasing bulk of literature and research being published each year. Sexuality scholars have been successful in claiming space within Human Geography. This session seeks to discuss both the limits and the possibilities of the neoliberal academia for scholars of sexuality. The themes include but are not limited to:

·        Sexuality scholarship and curriculum in the neoliberal academia

·        Teaching sexuality in the era of budget cuts and consolidation

·        Challenges for minority sexuality students in the individualised academia

·        Postgrad students and sexuality scholarship

·        Postdoc opportunities and sexuality

·        Young academics and the scholarship of sexuality

·        Funding opportunities and policy relevant research

·        Voices from different spaces and places, such as the global North/South, northern/southern Europe

If interested to present a paper, please send a 250-word abstract (clearly stating title, keywords, name, institution, and contact details) to Chen Misgav ([log in to unmask]) and Thomas Wimark ([log in to unmask]) by noon (CET) February 15^th, 2016. 

References

Berg, L. D. (2012). Geographies of identity I Geography–(neo) liberalism–white supremacy. Progress in human geography, 36(4), 508-517.

Birch, K., Bond, S., Harris, T., Hoogeveen, D., Laliberte, N., & Rosol, M. (2012). What can we do? The challenge of being new academics in neoliberal universities. Antipode, 44(4), 1055-1058.

Castree, N. (2006). Research assessment and the production of geographical knowledge. Progress in Human Geography, 30(6), 747-782.

Dowling, R. (2008). Geographies of identity: labouring in the'neoliberal'university. Progress in Human Geography.

Knopp, L. (1999). JGHE Symposium: Teaching Sexualities in Geography [1] Queer Theory, Queer Pedagogy: new spaces and new challenges in teaching geography. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 23(1), 77-79.

Kobayashi, A., Lawson, V., & Sanders, R. (2014). A commentary on the whitening of the public university: The context for diversifying geography. The Professional Geographer, 66(2), 230-235.