[News] RGS-IBG 2025: CfP – Queer(ing) geography through arts-based methods

[prisca.pfammatter at unibe.ch]

Dear colleagues,



With apologies for any cross-posting, we are excited to share the Call for Papers (CfP) for our proposed session at the RGS-IBG 2025 conference this August:

CfP – Queer(ing) geography through arts-based methods
Co-convenors: Prisca Pfammatter, Leandra M. Choffat (both University of Bern, Bern), Prof. Miriam Tola (John Cabot University, Rome)
In recent years arts-based methods, as well as queer perspectives, have gained attention within the academic realm and the discipline of geography (Gieseking, 2023). Nonetheless, examining queer practices and perspectives through arts-based methods is still peripheral to geographical research. Especially in current times, when political and social repression against LGBTIQ+ people is on the rise, it is urgent to do research in novel ways to examine realities and geographies that do not follow the linear development of cis-endo heteronormative life. We need to go beyond conventional approaches to capture and value the complex spatial and emotional relations, structural entanglements, and realities that characterize queer lived realities. Finding ways of (un)doing research means troubling and disrupting binaries, such as mind/body, subjective/objective, research participants/researcher, and the power relations that often go with them.
Using arts-based methods in queer geographies allows an exploration of embodied practices and social relations that disrupt the cis-endo heteronormative logics of community, sexual and gender identity, and activities in space and time  (Ahmed, 2014; Halberstam, 2005). Arts-based methods allow research participants to portray their place-based perspectives and highlight oftentimes undervalued forms of knowledge. They alter power hierarchies between researcher and researched by questioning the role of the experts and facilitating reciprocity and care (Carpenter, 2022). Besides conventional forms of data dissemination, these methods also allow for creative ways to portray the results in non-academic settings.
Within the process of queering geographical research through arts-based methods, a critical engagement with the power dynamics involved in queer realities and research processes is crucial. This means being mindful of our own positionality as researchers, not to (re)appropriate notions of relationality and community, particularly those related to Indigenous, black, and trans practices and histories (Bradway & Freeman, 2022), and paying attention to the accessibility of communities and research processes (Nachman et al., 2023).
In this session, we encourage contributions that include, but are not limited to, the following forms:

  *   Empirical or theoretical research using arts-based methods (such as theatre, poetry, dance, photography, zine-making, and many others) to examine queer geographies, practices, and communities.
  *   Methodological inputs on specific arts-based methods in relation to queer geographies,
  *   Critical inputs analyzing the benefits and limits of queering arts-based methods situating conversation in intersectional power structures,
  *   Artistic and/or activist inputs examining queer geographies through creative media practices.

The session will be structured into two parts. The first part consists of 4-5 three-minute introductions of the submitted work, and the second part will be structured as a world café to facilitate active discussions among panel participants. Due to the format of this panel and the limited availability of hybrid sessions at the conference, we are planning an in-person session.
Abstracts (max. 300 words) are submitted via email to Leandra Choffat (she/her; leandra.choffat at unibe.ch) and Prisca Pfammatter (she/her; prisca.pfamma<mailto:prisca.pfammater at unibe.ch>tter at unibe.ch) until Monday, 24th February 2025.
We are looking forward to your applications and an inspiring session!
Sources:
Ahmed, S. (2014). Queer Feelings. In The Cultural Politics of Emotion (S. 144–167). Edinburgh University Press.
Bradway, T., & Freeman, E. (Hrsg.). (2022). Queer kinship: Race, sex, belonging, form. Duke University Press.
Carpenter, J. (2022). Picture This: Exploring Photovoice as a Method to Understand Lived Experiences in Marginal Neighbourhoods. Urban Planning, 7(3), 351–362. https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v7i3.5451
Gieseking, J. J. (2023). Reflections on a cis discipline. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 41(4), 571–591. https://doi.org/10.1177/02637758231191656
Halberstam, J. (2005). In a queer time and place: Transgender bodies, subcultural lives. New York University Press.
Nachman, J. R., Hayhurst, L. M. C., McSweeney, M., & Wang, R. (2023). Co-creating knowledge on bicycling: A decolonial feminist participatory action research approach to arts-based methods. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 16(1), 16–34. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2023.2243955



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