QUEER: PRESENT! VISIBILITY THROUGH THE BODY

QUEER: PRESENT! VISIBILITY THROUGH THE BODY

International Conference

25-26 June 2026

Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland

Faculty of Philosophy

The international conference Queer: Present! Visibility Through the Body aims to examine queer visibility in contemporary culture, exploring it across a range of contexts. The title of the conference alone may serve as a catalyst for reflection on various aspects of queer visibility, demonstrating that queer culture is present today in many forms. However, queer people are constantly fighting to remain visible and gain access to more divergent visibility. This visibility often encounters strong resistance; opponents view the queer body as imposing its presence, disrupting social order and manifesting as unnecessary excess or exaggeration.

During the conference, we will highlight the physical presence of queer genders, sexualities and romantic relations and intimacies. This is why the title of our conference is provocative: queer is present and embodied; it is expressed in the body.

Do queer bodies experience encounters with others and strangers differently when moving within cultural boundaries?

When writing about corporeality, we draw inspiration from Sara Ahmed’s queer phenomenology. Ahmed reminds us that, culturally, the divergence of sexual orientation is equated with being outside the boundaries of heteronormativity, as if initiating a discussion about it implied queerness. From a phenomenological stance, sexual desire and gender identity shape not only the boundaries of our world and our experience of the body: our physicality is a lens through which the outside world could perceive our intimate visibility.

Silence, secrecy, hypocrisy and concealing one's sexuality, desire and gender identity due to shame or fear or a culturally rooted habit are pertinent characteristics associated with the lack of queer visibility. A wider and more satisfactory presence can be achieved by creating one's own culture and by establishing better social attitudes and legal frameworks, more accurate terms and rooting novel expectations or ‘novel tradition’, although this could outrage apologists for the politics of silence. It is not easy to achieve visibility in the present moment! However, new traditions are created and emerge before our very eyes: films, literary works, memorials to victims of persecution, queer rituals and, finally, the concept and presence of Pride — a joyful rejection of the humiliating concept of shame. The present allows us to document all cases of queer resistance against the politics of hatred. The goal of the narrative of hatred is to hide queer people once again and deprive them of visibility. It is an attitude that is contrary to science and is fed by invented harmful myths, prejudices and superstitions.

Queer visibility is not only an emancipatory strategy based on the idea of equality. It is also the daily struggle of every queer person for dignity and visibility. Any attempt to hide queerness is deceptive, as it creates the false impression that it does not exist or is not needed by anyone.

We invite submissions from scholars, PhD candidates, and independent researchers.

Topics for suggested panels and papers may include (but are not limited to):

1. Cultural transformations that have shaped the contemporary narrative of queer visibility.

2. Changes in rooted attitudes, social, legislative and political moods often result in significant progress and emancipation, but can also lead to regression and increased aggression towards queer individuals.

3. Tactics, risks, politics, dramatics, performance, experimentations, exploration of visibility in different areas of art and cultural products.

4. Queer visibility in performance; Queer in Cinema, Dance and Theatre.

5. The contribution of queer people to art, from poetry to mass media.

6. Prospects for future visibility based on the present.

The organisers are open to proposals for both individual presentations and panels. Keynote speeches are planned. Detailed information will be updated on the conference website https://queer.web.amu.edu.pl

Conference language: English.

Presentation length: 15-25 minutes, depending on the final number of accepted contributions. Format: on-site.

Venue: Collegium Minus, ul. Wieniawskiego 1, Poznań.

Registration

Deadline for submission of abstracts is: for panels 20 February 2026 and for individuals presentations 28 February 2026. They should be sent by email to [email protected] (or [email protected])

Submissions should include a max. 200-word abstract with a 100 word author bio and the contact information gathered in a single PDF-FILE.

Notification of Acceptance: 10 March 2026.

Registration fee: 150 EUR or 150 USD.

The fee included a coffee breaks, a two-course lunch to all participants (25 and 26 June) and a banquet (25 June).

Important additional information:

- we plan to publish articles in 2027 (an edited collection).

- during the conference, we will be hosting the management team from the Queer Museum in Warsaw, the first queer museum in Poland and the third in Europe.

Keynote Speakers:

Prof. Dan Healey, University of Oxford

Prof. Joanna Mizielińska, University of Warsaw

Dr. Kush Patel, Manipal Academy of Higher Education

Conference Organizers:

Prof. Marek Jedliński (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań)

Docent Antu Sorainen (University of Helsinki)

Dr. Krzysztof Witczak (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań)

Scientific Committee:

Prof. Dan Healey, University of Oxford

Dr. Kush Patel, Manipal Academy of Higher Education

Dr. Efstratia Oktapoda, Sorbonne University

Dr. Tamas Nagypal, Mount Royal University

Dr. Jana Kantorikova, Sorbonne University

Dr. Iga Mergler, Wilfrid Laurier University

Dr. Agata Mergler, York University