CFP Mapping Desire – 25 years on: legacies, lessons, and lacunae (May & Sep 2020)

This is a call for papers (CFP) for CFP Mapping Desire – 25 years on: legacies, lessons, and lacunae (May & Sep 2020), part of the Conference of Irish Geographers (pre-conference symposium and conference 20-23rd May 2020, Dublin Ireland) and Royal Geographical Society/Institute of British Geographers (1st September-4th September 2020 London, England).

The year 2020 marks the 25th anniversary of the publication of Mapping Desire edited by David Bell and Gill Valentine. This edited book was the first collection of geographical work on sexuality, and has long played and continues to play a key role in cohering and legitimizing the geographies of sexualities/queer geographies as a distinct subfield within the academic study of Geography (at least within the Anglophone countries of the Minority World).

We believe it is important to acknowledge this anniversary in order to celebrate this ground-breaking work, tracing its influence on subsequent work on sexuality, (both within Geography and in other disciplines), but also an important time to reflect on some of its gaps and silences, including in regard to race, Indigeneity, rurality, broader notions of gender nonconformity, disability, and the Global South. In many ways, the sexual politics and the constellation of contemporary sexual and gendered identities has changed significantly since 1995, as have the ways we articulate them more fully as the years pass.

These sessions pose the question: In what ways are the theorizations and case studies contained in Mapping Desire still relevant? And, in what ways have they equipped geographers and other social scientists to think spatially about sexuality and genders in the contemporary world? And in which ways did Mapping Desire set a course? What, who, and where was left out to account for a broader geographies of sexualities / queer geographies to follow? What next?

We have two opportunities to be involved in these discussions:

  1. Prior to the Irish Geographers conference (May 21-23rd), Jack Gieseking and Kath Browne will organise a one day symposium to explore the legacies of Mapping Desire in 2020. This event will happen just before the Conference of Irish Geographers, where we also hope to have a panel (please submit abstracts for both).
  2. At the RGS/IBG in London 1st September-4th September 2020, Gavin Brown and Kath Browne will organise a session or a series of sessions exploring the legacies of Mapping Desire 25 years on.

To express an interest in being involved, please use the contact form to reach Jack Gieseking (Geography, University of Kentucky) and he will share your submission with Kath Browne (Geography, University of Dublin) and Gavin Brown (Geography, Leicester University), by 31st January 2020 with:

  1. The conference/symposium that you want to contribute to
  2. Your name/contact details
  3. Your proposal for a paper/session/panel or other output.

Proposals should normally be a max of 250 words for each contribution. Panel sessions are welcome for the symposium and for a panel session with multiple papers, each paper will have a max of 250 words.

Please get in touch with any questions/queries. 

Kath, Jack and Gavin