CFP: Gendered and Queer Lives: Critical Dialogues in Troubled Times

The University of Pennsylvania’s chapter of Minorities and Philosophy (MAP) is pleased to announce its Spring 2026 conference: Gendered and Queer Lives: Critical Dialogues in Troubled Times.

Submission Guidelines

We invite anonymized abstracts of 300–500 words on philosophical questions concerning sex, gender, and sexuality. We construe these topics broadly, and we welcome work from across feminist, trans, and queer philosophy and their intersections with social philosophy, epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, political philosophy, philosophy of language, and other areas. We are particularly excited about work that pushes beyond familiar debates and engages with big questions shaping gendered and queer life today.

Please send abstracts to [email protected] with the subject line: “MAP-Penn 2026 Abstract Submission.”

Deadline: February 1, 2026. 

The abstracts should be prepared for anonymous review and submitted in .pdf, .docx, or .doc format. The document containing the abstract should contain only a title and the abstract. Your name, email, or any other identifying information should not be included in the document containing the abstract. Please specify your name, institutional role and institution (if any), and title of the abstract in the body of the email. 

Presenters will be notified about the status of their submission by the end of February.

Conference Details

April 3-4, 2026

Keynote Speakers

Robin Dembroff (Yale University)

Ding (Barnard College, Columbia University)

Alongside our two keynote speakers, the conference will feature six selected speakers. The conference will take place in person at the University of Pennsylvania, with the option to participate via Zoom. Zoom captioning will be provided for online participants. (ASL interpretation is not provided by default but can be arranged upon request.) Accepted abstracts will be published on our website. We will also invite presenters to share their slides or handouts one day in advance of their talk.

Accessibility & Funding

We aim to make the conference as accessible as possible. We hope to help defray travel costs for selected speakers who lack institutional or other financial support. Please contact us regarding any related inquiries as soon as possible at [email protected] and [email protected].

Conference Organizers

Brett Bolander, Ezekiel Vergara, Giannis Vassilopoulos, Idil Çakmur, Junhyung Han, Miles Meline, Victoria Riggs, Will Yu