Published in 1993 and now a classic of queer literature, Leslie Feinberg’s novel Stone Butch Blues celebrates its 30th anniversary of publication in 2023. The novel illustrated the complexities of lesbian and queer lives and contributed to a shift from talking about trans people as well as to the increased visibility of trans voices in society and academia. To mark the anniversary, we suggest the novel as a lens to look through into the past, present and future of trans and queer histories and studies, workers’ rights and anti-racist movements. The conference will include a reading followed by a conversation with poet, activist and Leslie Feinberg’s life partner Minnie Bruce Pratt.

As part of this two-day digital conference, we invite engagement in a variety of formats: in addition to academic contributions, creative formats are also welcome, e.g. poetry, spoken word and performance, as well as workshops, essays, and activist presentations.

For the conference we are inviting contributions on the following and related topics:

• scholarly and personal engagements with Stone Butch Blues
• publication and translation history of Stone Butch Blues
• the relationship between the workers’ movement and the trans/queer movement
• intersectional perspectives on Stone Butch Blues
• butch/femme – then and now
• queer and/or lesbian desire
• sexual and gender identity
• trans histories (including different geo-political and anti-colonial contexts)
• Leslie Feinberg’s work (including lesser known works)
• contemporary trans literature
• …

The following time slots are planned for the different contribution formats:

Presentations: approx. 20 minutes
Workshops: 60-90 minutes
Essays: max. 2000 words
Artistic formats: 5-60 minutes (flexible)

Please include the format and planned length with your submissions.

Please send your abstract (in German or English, max. 300 words) by January, 15th 2023 to: zgd@uni-hamburg.de. You will then receive feedback on your submission by the beginning of February. The complete conference programme will be published at the beginning of March; registration will also open then. The conference will take place online on the 5th and 6th of May 2023.

Organisation: Dr. Michaela Koch (Center for Gender & Diversity Hamburg), Dr. Jara Schmidt (Universität Hamburg / research network »Widerständige Praxen«) and Clara Rosa Schwarz (University of Freiburg) in cooperation with Spinnboden Lesbenarchiv und Bibliothek Berlin e.V. and Frauen*bildungszentrum DENKtRÄUME.

download CfP in English

download CfP in German