[Commlist] CfP: Monster Summer School II: Reclaiming Queers, Crips and Other Misfits

Monster Summer School II: "Reclaiming Queers, Crips and Other Misfits"


 <http://airmail.calendar/2020-05-17%2012:00:00%20WEST> May 17 to 21, 
2020, Centre for Social Studies | University of Coimbra (Portugal)

I claim: my right to be a monster […]
My right to explore myself
To reinvent myself
To take my mutation as my noble exercise.
Susy Shock |“yo monstruo mio”

The image of the monster has been historically used to epitomise danger, 
abnormality, sin. Even before angels, monsters were portrayed as 
messengers who anticipated catastrophes, such as storms and other 
dramatic events which would be too strong to be explained. Only good 
behaviour, submission to rules or faith into another inexplicable bigger 
entity, such as magic, witchcraft or religion, could prevent societies 
to be touched by monsters.

The othering of monsters – or monsters as estranged from an imagined 
“us” – is part of the cultural narrative that dismisses the complexity 
of what we call humans, contributing to the binary division between good 
and bad, silencing all of which exists in-between. Indeed, monsters 
inhabit the spaces in-between narrow definitions and expose the failure 
of rigid divisions between “normal” and “abnormal”. Ultimately, the 
figure of monsters confronts us with the precariousness of by-default 
normativities, triggering the need to rethink what humanity is, and, 
ultimately, who counts as a human being.

The Monsters Summer School II embraces monstrosity in what it offers 
regarding the undoing of binaries and the celebration of embodied 
differences in times when the advancement of extreme-right and populism 
threatens our existence. We aim to explore who are the contemporary 
monsters, what are the dichotomies they challenge and how narratives on 
monsters contribute to definitions of human. We want to explore monsters 
as a possible theoretical figuration to escape mainstream celebrations 
of humanity and to embrace the vivid possibilities offered by 
interdisciplinary, boundary-crossing contributions from different fields 
of knowledge. We aim at creating spaces to discuss contributions and 
experiences that often fall out of the map even within critical studies. 
Also, we interrogate the possibilities of creating knowledge from places 
of estrangement regarding mainstream sources of knowledge production in 
the academic fields of LGBTQI+ and critical studies.

Drawing on timely, interdisciplinary theoretical contributions and 
intersectional empirical work on queers, crips and other misfits, the 
Monsters’ Summer School will consolidate academic knowledge in the 
fields of sexual and gender dissidence, disability and other forms of 
embodied misfit.


Website: https://www.ces.uc.pt/ces/cessummerschool/index.php?id=26890 
<https://www.ces.uc.pt/ces/cessummerschool/index.php?id=26890&id_lingua=2> 
&id_lingua=2

Structure
The Monsters Summer School II will offer a balanced mix of keynote 
lectures, group discussions and workshops. Sessions will be presented 
and discussed in English. The week will also feature activist/cultural 
events, including the Coimbra LGBTQI+ Pride March on the 17th May. 
<http://airmail.calendar/2020-05-17%2012:00:00%20WEST>

Keynote Speakers
Fernanda Belizário, Research Education and Community Intervention 
Center, Instituto Piaget
Line Henriksen, IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Maria Amélia Viteri, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador
Silvia R. Maeso, Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, 
Portugal (tbc)
Zowie Davy, Centre for LGBTQ Research, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK


Location
The Summer School will be held at the Centre for Social Studies, 
University of Coimbra. The space is easily reached by public transports 
and the seminar rooms are fully accessible. The North|South Library at 
the Centre for Social Studies includes a large collection of books and 
journals on the topics covered in the Monsters Summer School, and can be 
a precious additional resource during your stay in Coimbra.


Important dates
10th  January 2020: Deadline for submitting your application
End of January 2020: Selection of candidates
 <http://airmail.calendar/2019-11-20%2012:00:00%20WET> Until 29th 
February 2020: Early bird registration and payment
 <http://airmail.calendar/2020-03-01%2012:00:00%20WET> 1-30th March 
2020: Late registration and payment


Organizing Committee

<https://www.ces.uc.pt/pt/ces/pessoas/investigadoras-es/ana-cristina-santos> 
Ana Cristina Santos; 
<https://www.ces.uc.pt/pt/ces/pessoas/investigadoras-es-juniores/ana-lucia-santos> 
Ana Lucia Santos; 
<https://www.ces.uc.pt/pt/doutoramentos/doutorandos-as/joana-silva> 
Joana Brilhante; 
<https://www.ces.uc.pt/pt/ces/pessoas/investigadoras-es-juniores/mafalda-esteves> 
Mafalda Esteves; 
<https://ces.uc.pt/en/ces/pessoas/doutorandas-os/mara-pieri> Mara Pieri;
<https://www.ces.uc.pt/pt/ces/pessoas/investigadoras-es-juniores/rita-alcaire> 
Rita Alcaire

Organized by:  <https://www.ces.uc.pt/ces/projectos/cilia/> CILIA LGBTQI 
+ project, Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra (Portugal)


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