OSL Seminar ‘Queer Textual Politics’

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Amsterdam | 8, 15, and 29 February; 7, 21, and 28 March; 4 April 2024 (14:00–17:00 CET) | Room: See below (University of Amsterdam)

Organizers: dr. Jesse van Amelsvoort (University of Amsterdam) and dr. Müge Özoğlu (Utrecht University)

Open to: PhDs and ReMA students; OSL members have first access.

Credits: 5-6 EC. More details on the assignments will be provided soon. NB: Credits can only be awarded to humanities ReMA and PhD students from Dutch universities.

Registration opens VIA THIS LINK on December 4th at 9am.

 

Description

In Tendencies, Sedgwick (2005) wrote, “[q]ueer is a continuing moment, movement, motive—recurrent, eddying, troublant. The word ‘queer’ itself means across—it comes from the Indo-European root –twerkw, which also yields the German quer (transverse), Latin torquere (to twist), English athwart” (p. viii). This seminar explores literature across different cultures, times, and spaces, emphasising Sedgwick’s concept of ‘across-ness’. It introduces foundational texts and theories related to gender and sexuality and provides new and critical perspectives on queer scholarship and activism. We aim to shed light on diverse and complex perspectives, particularly of the Global South. The seminar seeks to promote more inclusive and equitable approaches to queer theory. It not only concerns itself with the queer content of texts and the identity politics thereof but also explores textual politics to unpack aesthetic manoeuvres and gaps in signifying practices. We examine cultural productions across a wide range of cultural-geographic contexts, from the United States to Nigeria, and from the United Kingdom to Russia. The seminar is organised around weekly themes, featuring literary works from early modern Ottoman poetry to contemporary Taiwanese fiction, along with theoretical texts on aesthetics, Marxist theory, disability studies, poststructuralism, and postcolonial theory. In addition to examining historical accounts of genders and sexualities, this seminar investigates how queer theory informs us about living differently and enables us to seek new ways of being in the world.

The full program of this seminar will be available in January 2024.

Rooms:

  • 8 February 2024: University Library – Potgieterzaal
  • 15 February 2024:  University Library – Belle van Zuylenzaal
  • 29 February 2024: PC Hoofthuis – room 2.10-2.11
  • 7 March 2024: PC Hoofthuis – room 2.10-2.11
  • 21 March 2024: PC Hoofthuis – room 2.10-2.11
  • 28 March 2024: PC Hoofthuis – room 1.15
  • 4 April 2024: PC Hoofthuis – room 1.15