QUEER COLL(I/U)SIONS ACADEMIA/ACTIVISM/ART Tanya Huff is the Aurora Award Winning author of The Smoke Books, The Blood Books, the Quarters Series, and the Keeper's Chronicles. Her Blood Books were turned into the television series Blood Ties. In addition to the Au- rora Awards, she has received nominations and made the MARCH 4TH-6TH SADLEIR HOUSE Conference Program PETERBOROUGH,ON #queercollisions QC 2 CONTENTS ABOUT..........3 WELCOME..........3 KEYNOTE DR. RINALDO WALCOTT..........4 INCLUSIVITY STATEMENT..........5 FRIDAY, MARCH 4TH..........6 SATURDAY, MARCH 5TH..........6 SUNDAY, MARCH 6TH..........14 PARTICIPANTS..........21 SADLEIR HOUSE..........27 TRAVEL..........27 ABOUT QUEER COLL(I/U)SIONS WELCOME The Queer Coll(i/u)sions Conference invites people from a variety We, the organizers of the Queer Coll(i/u)sions conference, Cait P. of perspectives on queerness to discuss, interrogate, and explore Jones and Derek Newman-Stille, would like to welcome all of the LGBTQ2 and Queer perspectives whether academically, artistically, participants and attendees to our conference. We were extremely or through activism. We hope to provide space for the collision of excited about the variety and quality of the paper submissions we different queer discourses and push the boundaries of the tradi- received this year and hope that this conference will be an excit- tional conference by allowing for different modalities of expression ing opportunity for discussion and the development of new ideas. and examination. Traditional academia often limits the potential mo- This conference is focussed on conversations, on opportunities for dalities for expression of critical queer questions and our hope is to meeting, thinking, talking, and speculating about the topic of “queer- push beyond the traditional modalities, to queer academic practice. ness”. We would like to thank all of you for coming to the conference and participating in this opportunity to converse and play with new Queerness and queer discourse provides a rich space of collisions ideas. between different ideas, perspectives, thoughts, and bodies, but it also provides opportunities for collusion, collaboration, and coop- We would like to thank Sadleir House for providing this space and eration. Constructed as a social “other”, LGBTQ2 or Queer people for providing funding for this event. We would like to thank Rinaldo collide with traditional normativities, ideas constructed as the status Wallcott for being our keynote speaker. Thank you also to those of quo, challenging the boundaries of tradition itself and providing a you who offered to do author readings, performances, academic new dialogic space for interrogating ideas that are taken-for-grant- papers, workshops, discussion groups, and who offered to moder- ed as “the way things are”. The aims of this conference are to col- ate panels for us. A conference like this is a community project and lude with one another, to form a rich polyphony of voices to collide relies on the strengths and work of all of us. with those normate ideas and constructions that continually Other Queer bodies and Queer ideologies. Thank you, Cait P. Jones and Derek Newman-Stille Q C QC 3 QC 4 KEYNOTE DR. RINALDO WALCOTT Rinaldo Walcott is an Associate Professor and Director of Women’s and Gender Studies Institute at the University of Toronto. He is a member of the Department of Social Justice Education at OISE, as well as the Graduate Program in Cinema Studies at the University of Toronto. His teaching and research is in the area of black dias- pora cultural studies and postcolonial studies with an emphasis on questions of sexuality, gender, nation, citizenship and multicultural- ism. From 2002-2007 Rinaldo held the Canada Research Chair of Social Justice and Cultural Studies where his research was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Can- ada, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario In- novation Trust. Rinaldo Walcott is the author of Black Like Who: Writing Black Canada (Insonmiac Press, 1997 with a second revised edi- tion in 2003); he is also the editor of Rude: Contemporary Black Canadian Cultural Criticism (Insomniac, 2000). As well Rinaldo is the Co-editor with Roy Moodley of Counselling Across and Be- yond Cultures: Exploring the Work of Clemment Vontress in Clinical Practice (University of Toronto Press, 2010). Currently, Rinaldo is completing Black Diaspora Faggotry: Saturday, March 5th Readings Frames Limits, which is under-contract to Duke Univer- DINING HALL sity Press. Additionally Rinaldo is co-editing with Dina Georgis and 9:00AM Katherine McKittrick No Language Is Neutral: Essays on Dionne Brand forthcoming. Additionally, Rinaldo is completing The Long Black and Queer: Contradictions and Paradoxes Emancipation:Moving Towards (Black) Freedom, An Essay. As Dr. Rinaldo Walcott an interdisciplinary black studies scholar Rinaldo has published in a wide range of venues. His articles have appeared in journals and This paper address post-Stonewall queer politics and the ways books, as well as popular venues like newspapers and magazines, in which blackness presents a paradox. The paper ask what is at as well as other kinds of media. stake when the paradoxes are revealed for white queer politics. Ul- timately, this paper confronts the ways in which a certain register of white queer politics aims and abets the logics of white supremacist logics. INCLUSIVITY STATEMENT We require a harassment-free environment. Harassment includes but is not limited to: Queer Coll(i/u)sions seeks to provide a safe space for discussion • Verbal comments that reinforce social structures of domination and the flow of new ideas. We ask that our participants help us to related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual ori- create an inclusive and welcoming space. entation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age, religion, economic or social class Please keep in mind that the freedom of thought and expression • Deliberate intimidation, stalking, or following encouraged at this conference also requires that one’s behaviours • Harassing photography or recording or comments do not infringe on the rights of others or do harm to • Intentional disruption of events others. • Inappropriate or unwelcome physical contact or sexual atten- tion. We recognize the inherent value and worth of all participants and • Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behaviour ask for an environment that similarly expresses the inherent value of all participants. We want this conference to be a space that fos- Enforcement: ters dignity, understanding, and mutual respect. Participants who are asked to cease harassing behaviour are ex- pected to comply immediately. If a participant engages in harass- ing behaviour, event organisers retain the right to take any actions to keep the event a welcoming environment for all participants. This includes warning the offender or expulsion from the confer- ence. Reporting: If someone is engaging in harassing or threatening behaviour, we ask that you report it to the organizers or staff. We want to ensure that you have a safe, happy, welcoming experience at the confer- HARASSMENT ence. QC 5 QC 6 Friday, March 4th Saturday, March 5th DINING HALL DINING HALL 7:30PM 11:00AM Slashing Popular Fiction, Film, and TV: Use Fan Fiction to add Deconstructing Whiteness in Critical Femme-ininity Studies: that LGBTQ Flavour Towards a Racially Inclusive Theory of Femme Identities ALLISON TAYLOR Do you see a homoerotic subtext to some of the TV shows, films, Dating back to 1940s and 1950s Canadian and American working- and books you devour? Do you think there is just waaaay too much class lesbian bar culture, femme identities have been claimed by chemistry between Sherlock and Watson, Spock and Kirk, Regina Black queer women to situate their femininities in relation to their and Emma Swan? Are there characters that seem ready to transi- queerness. Indeed, femme identities have long and rich histories tion? You should write these stories as you see them and insert a within Canadian and American Black queer women’s communities. queer voice. If TV and popular culture aren’t going to include queer However, because of the racism within white, mainstream queer relationships, we should write in our own. The term for these pair- communities, the images and histories of ‘femme’ that have come ings and queerings is “slash fiction” and it is a great way to introduce out of Black communities for decades have been ignored and under- queer voices into popular culture that tends to be pretty straight. acknowledged. In this paper I respond specifically to the erasure of Black femme identities in mainstream academic femme discourse Bring in stories you have written, stories you love to read, or just and theory. I argue that femme identities, as taken up by Black come and listen to some great slash fan fiction. It should be a lot of queer women, function as sites of resistance to, and subversion laughs, a lot of fun, and a lot of “I knew it!! There is just waaaay too of, racist conceptions and norms of sexuality, gender, and embodi- much chemistry between them!!” ment. I begin by situating my argument within Bobby Noble’s work on queering white masculinities. I extend his argument to fem(me) ininities as a theoretical basis for analyzing the exclusion of Black femme identities from mainstream discussions and representations of ‘femme.’ Second, I draw on Judith Butler’s theory of performativ- ity to consider the uniquely situated gendered and racialized sub- jectivity of Black femme women. Third, I apply Noble’s and Butler’s theories to my examination of the personal writings of Black femme women, as presented in blog and short essay forms, to demonstrate how femme identities can help Black queer women challenge and resist racist ideals of queerness and beauty, and thereby function as sites of empowerment. I conclude with a brief discussion on the importance of interrogating and deconstructing racially exclusive conceptions and representations of queer femme identities.