CFP Due 1 March 2023

NWSA Panel CFP: The Political Uses and Abuses of Childhood: Queer Pasts, Presents, Futures

by Tyler Carson

The last few years have seen a resurgence in conservative political activism concerned with protecting children from queer adults. Parents and politicians around the country are pushing to pass homophobic and transphobic legislation. These include, to name a few examples, laws being proposed to prohibit children from attending Drag shows, the “Don’t Say Gay Bill” in Florida, and most recently, DeSantis blaming queer theory for the rejection of a high school AP African American Studies course. These contemporary iterations, of course, have historical precedents: such as Anita Bryant’s “Save Our Children” or The Briggs Initiative to fire gay teachers. This panel welcomes papers that draw on feminist and queer historical and theoretical methods to critically interrogate the political uses and abuses of childhood in the United States.

If you are interested, please send a 100-word abstract along with a 50-word bio to tyler.carson@rutgers.edu by March 1^st 2023.

The full 2023 NWSA cfp can be found here. The panel will likely be proposed to fall under the “Revisiting, Reclaiming & Re-imagining: Past, Present, Future” sub-theme.