CFP: Queer Aɸ Conference @ UC Santa Cruz

The UC Santa Cruz Philosophy Department invites all queers  to submit an abstract to the Queer Aɸ (Queer Analytic Philosophy) Conference to be hosted at UC Santa Cruz on April 12-13, 2025 (the Saturday and Sunday before the Pacific APA, which starts on the 15th in San Francisco). They keynote speaker is Talia Mae Bettcher (Cal State LA).

The aim of the conference is to foreground philosophical work in the analytic tradition (very broadly conceived) that is informed by queer experience, community, and theorizing, as well as to build community among queer scholars in philosophy. In addition to talks, the conference will include a workshop on LGBTQIA+ activism and philosophy, a party (of course), and other glam surprises.

We invite submissions from queer philosophers at all career stages. We are seeking submissions to present as well as to participate as a commentator and chair.

We especially welcome submissions from trans* philosophers and philosophers who belong to multiple marginalized groups (including but not limited to racialized and disabled philosophers), and from philosophers at early career stages. We have some funding available to support the travel costs of participants; priority will be given to those who lack research funds and are in precarious employment situations.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

• Imagination and desire from a queer perspective

• Ideology, propaganda, and queer and anti-queer activism

• Standpoint epistemology and cishet ignorance

• Self-knowledge of gender and sexuality

• Discriminatory language and hate speech

• Resistant queer linguistic practices

• Identity labels and the representation of queer identities

• Varieties of essentialism about LGBTQ+ identities

• Queer solidarity and queer forms of political organizing

• Re-imagining and abolishing the family

• Gender reform and abolitionism

• The metaphysics of sex, gender, and sexuality

• Queer critiques of science

• Queer aesthetics and the aesthetics of queer art

• Philosophical aspects of historical queer thought

• Queer approaches to the emotions and to reactive attitudes

• Queer approaches to the philosophy of love, sex, and relationships

• Bioethics and the treatment of queer bodies

Submission Guidelines

To apply, please fill in this form: https://forms.gle/HPYMhgoNZ86Um2qL8.

If you are interested in presenting, please submit an abstract of around 750 words(a maximum of 1,000 but no less than 500 words), prepared for blind review and suitable for a 45-minute presentation (followed by discussion) to a philosophically-informed audience that may include non-philosophers. If your abstract is not selected, you have the option to be considered for one of the commentator or chair slots without submitting further material.

You also have the option to apply to be a commentator or chair if you would like to attend but don’t feel you have relevant work to present. In that case, the application form asks for a short (1-paragraph) explanation of why you would like to be considered.

If you have questions, please email Carolina Flores at [email protected].

We will inform you of our decision by the end of November.