[Commlist] CFP: Transgressive Identities and Subjectivities Conference

*Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research invites you to the 
2025 BCMCR conference “Transgressive Identities and Subjectivities”*

*Venue*: Parkside Building, Birmingham City University (and online)

*Date: *Tuesday 17^th and Wednesday 18^th June 2025

*Time: *9am-5.30pm both days

*Closing date for abstracts*: *7 February 2025, 23:59 (anywhere in the 
world).*

Abstracts of no more than 300 words for an individual presentation 
(20mins + Q&A), or no more than 500 words for a panel proposal (60mins + 
Q&A) should be submitted as a Word document/PDF attachment via email to 
the conference organisers Dr Poppy Wilde (poppy.wilde /at/ bcu.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(poppy.wilde /at/ bcu.ac.uk)>and Dr Matt Grimes (matt.grimes /at/ bcu.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(matt.grimes /at/ bcu.ac.uk)>

Please also submit a short bio (no more than 100 words) with your abstract

This conference seeks to highlight the impact of media, culture and 
society in shaping transgressive identities and subjectivities. We use 
these two terms, identities and subjectivities, to indicate the shifting 
understandings of selfhood that occur across media and cultural studies, 
in order to be attendant to the affects and effects that are shaped 
beyond the individual.

Historically, transgression has been understood and positioned in terms 
of deviance and deviant behaviours. In discussing a deeper understanding 
of “transgression” Wolfreys (2008) posits that transgression is deeper 
than a form of deviance and instead “is the very pulse that constitutes 
our identities, and we would have no sense of our own subjectivity were 
it not for a constant, if discontinuous negotiation with the 
transgressive otherness by which we are formed and informed”.

Additionally, Jenks (2003) argues that “[t]ransgression is a deeply 
reflexive act” that “serves as an extremely sensitive vector in 
assessing the scope, direction and compass of any social theory.” In 
doing so this allows individuals and communities to consider how media, 
culture and society empowers and enables people to move outside of the 
spaces of expected conformity, to deny and affirm different modes of 
being and selfhood.

Moreover, the debates surrounding transgressive identities and 
subjectivities are not unidirectional; they are countered by forms of 
resistance and that challenge dominant narratives of transgression. 
Alongside these forms of resistance is a need to understand and 
recognise the limitations of transgression, transgressive behaviours, 
identities and subjectivities, where their cyclical and historically 
fluid nature have in many ways become commodified and integrated into 
mainstream cultures.

We therefore see this conference as an opportunity to explore both the 
potentials and the limitations of transgression and transgression of 
“selfhood” in media, culture and society. This is particularly pertinent 
at present, where, in many parts of the world expressions of 
transgression are being stifled and stymied through acts of secular and 
religious laws.

Jenks, C (2003) /Transgression. /London: Routledge.

Wolfreys, J. (2008) /Transgression: Identity, Space, Time/. London: 
Bloomsbury.

This conference aims to bring together perspectives to then inform an 
edited book proposal for the *BCMCR New Directions in Media and Cultural 
Research book series* 
<https://bcmcr%20new%20directions%20in%20media%20and%20cultural%20research%20book%20series/>**published 
by Intellect.

We are seeking contributions from a range of disciplines and 
methodological approaches including, but not limited to media studies, 
cultural studies, history, communication studies, art and design, 
humanities, performing arts, and the political and social sciences. We 
also encourage proposals from independent scholars, artists, 
journalists, industry experts, and those working outside of formal 
academic institutions.

We encourage submissions for individual presentations of 20minutes in 
length, but also for panel proposals from research groups, clusters, or 
networks for 60minutes in length (followed by time for Q&A). We will 
also consider performances, screenings, or other alternative modes of 
presentation – please be clear in your abstract of your desired mode of 
delivery, time required, and any technical requirements.

Selected presentations and panels could cover, but are not limited to, 
the following themes:

how media and culture enable people to move outside of the spaces of 
expected conformity

media representations of transgressive identities and subjectivities

how media forms and cultural practices allow for different modes of 
being and selfhood

transgressing (cis-hetero) normative bodies and sexualities

creating alternative political and economic models

how different media texts encapsulate a desire for being beyond - beyond 
norms, beyond boundaries, and beyond convention

the contemporary, contextual, and historical understandings of 
transgression, “being transgressive”, and its consequences

media reporting of transgressive identities and subjectivities, and how 
this shapes ideological understandings

in response to cultural crises – economic, ecological, identity-based 
(e.g. the “crisis” of masculinity), etc. how is transgression practiced, 
embodied, and displayed?

what can transgression do for the self?

what can transgression do for communities and group identities?

how can the impact of transgressive identities, subjectivities, and acts 
on wider culture and society be understood?

what are the potentials of transgression (especially politically, and in 
terms of protest, activism, etc.)?

what are the limitations of transgression (becoming integrated, 
normalised, commodified etc.)?

*In-person conference fee: £30 waged, £15 students/unwaged 
*(refreshments and lunch provided both days)

*Online conference fee: £15. *We encourage in-person attendance as far 
as possible for delegates presenting at the conference, as there will be 
a limited amount of online presentation opportunities

*Closing date for abstracts*: 7 February 2025, 23:59 (anywhere in the 
world).

Abstracts of no more than 300 words for an individual presentation 
(20mins + Q&A), or no more than 500 words for a panel proposal (60mins + 
Q&A) should be submitted as a Word document/PDF attachment via email to 
the conference organisers Dr Poppy Wilde (poppy.wilde /at/ bcu.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(poppy.wilde /at/ bcu.ac.uk)>and Dr Matt Grimes (matt.grimes /at/ bcu.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(matt.grimes /at/ bcu.ac.uk)>

Please also submit a short bio (no more than 100 words) with your 
abstract and indicate if you intend to present in person or online.

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