Global Queer Research Group: Sexual Politics in the Era of Transnationalism, Diasporas and Postcoloniality

The Global Queer Research Group (GQRG) Presents

Queer Kaleidoscopes: Disturbing Canadian Homonationalisms

A special guest lecture by

Dr. Suzanne Lenon & OmiSoore H. Dryden

When: March 2, 2012/10:00-­‐12:15
Where: Thea’s Lounge (Graduate Student Society Building)

RSVP: http://homonationalismincanada.eventbrite.com/

In this presentation, OmiSoore and Suzanne will speak to their forthcoming edited collection entitled, Queer Kaleidoscopes: Disturbing Canadian Homonationalisms; they will also present on their own work:

In her paper, Suzanne will talk about homonationalism from the vantage point of a post same-­‐ sex marriage context in Canada, specifically implications of its ensuing sense of “accomplishment” and narratives of progress. She will focus her discussion on two sites: critique of a recent book on queer rights in Canada, and discussion of emergent themes from her new research project on activisms in Alberta that seek to build multi-­‐issue, multi-­‐identity queer politics.

In her paper, OmiSoore employs a queer diasporic analysis, one that takes up discourses of colonialism, blackness and racialized sexuality in the reading of Canadian blood constructed through blood narratives and blood donation. OmiSoore posits that queer diasporic analysis is an effective tool by which to engage with subjects that exist beyond normative single logics of identity, such as ‘just gay’ subjectivity. Beginning with an interrogation of the donor questionnaire, and the deferral of bisexual and gay men, OmiSoore seeks to make visible bodies and knowledge that are perpetually estranged and consistently unthought.

OmiSoore H. Dryden is a doctoral candidate (ABD) in the Department of Sociology and Equity Studies at OISE and the Collaborative Program in Sexual Diversity Studies at the University of Toronto. Her dissertation employs queer diasporic analysis to interrogate Canadian homonationalism through the sites of blood and blood donation. Her work has appeared in Women & Environments International Magazine (2009) and Atlantis: A Women’s Studies Journal (2010) and she has a forthcoming chapter in the book, Ruptures: Anti-­‐Colonial & Anti-­‐Racist Feminist Theorizing (2012). In partnership with Dr. Suzanne Lenon, OmiSoore H. Dryden is editing the collection, Queer Kaleidoscopes: Disturbing Canadian Homonationalisms. Prior to her PhD studies, OmiSoore worked in the areas of anti-­‐racism and sexual diversity as a private consultant and as a senior staff administrator at York University (93-­‐04) and the University of British Columbia (04-­‐06).

Suzanne Lenon is Assistant Professor in the Department of Women and Gender Studies, University of Lethbridge. Her research and teaching interests focus on critical race feminisms; law, gender and sexuality; and politics of nationalism, multiculturalism and queer rights. Her work has appeared in Canadian Journal of Women & the Law (2005), darkmatter (2008), and Social Identities (2011); she has articles forthcoming (2012) in the Journal of Intercultural Studies as well as Atlantis: A Women’s Studies Journal. Suzanne was a guest editorial board member for the issue ‘Women and Canadian Multiculturalism’ published by Canadian Woman Studies (2009). Together with OmiSoore H. Dryden, Suzanne is editing Queer Kaleidoscopes: Disturbing Canadian Homonationalisms.

For more information please contact:

Global Queer Research Group: globalqueer@gmail.com

Special Thanks to the Critical Studies in Sexuality and the Liu Institute for Global Issues for sponsoring this Event!

**An Update and Correction**
I presented to the standing committee on citizenship and immigration in May 2010, to speak against provisions in Bill C-11, that would have been particularly harmful to QLGBT ayslum seekers. Some of these provisions were removed in June 2010 before the Bill passed.

Just this week –Feb 16th–Minister Kenney tabled an omnibus bill that brings back many of the most problematic aspects of C-11, and also includes clauses taken from Bill C-4 that broadens the use of detention. It allows detention for a full year without review.

There has been no consultation or community review of the tabled legislation–and it appears that the Conservatives are pushing to pass it before June. Hope you and others will decide to write or speak to your MPs. www.rainbowrefugee.ca has suggestions and talking points. Important to voice our objections to this regressive piece of legislation

Sharalyn

—————————–

This from Sharalyn Jordan of SFU/Rainbow Refugee Committee; who was present at the parliament earlier this week to speak against the proposed changes as they would have detrimental effects on already vulnerable queer refugee seekers.

For more information and action plans, please contact Sharalyn at srjordan@interchange.ubc.ca.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/02/15/pol-bogus-refugees.html

Keep reading →

The Global Queer Research Group (GQRG) Presents 

A special guest lecture by
Dr. Suzanne Lenon (Lethbridge) &

March 2nd,

 In this special guest lecture, Dr. Suzanne Lenon and Omisoore Dryden will present contemporary scholarship concerning the nationalization of sexual citizenship and its problematics in the context of Canadian queer movements. The notion of “homonationalism,” first formulated by Jasbir Puar (2007), refers to the political processes in which queer visibility and protection of same-sex relationships are used to articulate the ‘exceptionality’ of Western modern nations, effectively placing regions and bodies of cultural Other as pre-modern, and homophobic. Such nationalistic imaginary has produced perceptions of ethnic diasporas in Canada as a threat to sexual liberalism, generating racist and exclusionary discourses against immigrants and queer people of color in local lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities and a wider public sphere. In conjunction with the publication of Queer Kaleidoscopes: Disturbing Homonationalism in Canada (UBC Press, 2012), Dr. Suzanne Lenon and Omisoore Dryden  will  present their works on the topic, as well as the significance of an anti-homonationalist approach to queer scholarship in a global context. Please join us for food and refreshments after the event!

Please RSVP
http://homonationalismincanada.eventbrite.com/ 

For more information please contact:
Global Queer Research Group:  globalqueer@gmail.com
Or check out the GQRG’s website:  https://blogs.ubc.ca/gqrg/

Special Thanks to the Critical Studies in Sexuality and the Liu Institute for Global Issues for Sponsoring this Event!

The Global Queer Research Group

&

Transitional Justice Network

Presents Dr. Chris Dolan 

Dr. Chris Dolan is Director of the Refugee Law Project (RLP), a community outreach project of the School of Law, Makerere University, Kampala. Chris is also the project coordinator for the RLP’s work on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence & Persecution, a position which brings him into regular contact with survivors of sexual violence, sexual minority groups, and refugee sex workers (male and female). Chris has worked in Uganda for six of the last 11 years, as well as spending a year in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2005), a year in Mozambique (1996), and five years in South Africa (1992-1996). His recent book, Social Torture; The Case of Northern Uganda, 1986-2006 (Berghahn Books, 2009), is widely regarded as one of the essential references for those interested in understanding the situation in Uganda as well as gender dynamics and masculinities in conflict and post-conflict settings. Chris has also served as a country expert for LGBT asylum cases from sub-Saharan Africa since 2002, and currently chairs the Ugandan Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights & Constitutional Law, established initially to combat the notorious Anti-Homosexuality Bill which was tabled in October 2009, and more recently extending its focus towards sexual rights advocacy more broadly.

 The Global Queer Research Group is proud to be hosting Ugandan LGBT activist  Val Kalende at UBC!

Val Kalende is an activist and writer on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer issues in Uganda and is on the board of Freedom and Roam Uganda and an activist in Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), one of the oldest LGBTQ activist group in Uganda. Since 2009, Val Kalende publicly opposed the Ugandan anti-homosexual bill that would impose life imprisonment and the death penalty on homosexuals. Val Kalende has written several articles and statements about the homophobia and violence in Uganda and the  anti-homosexual bill or the “kill the gays bill”, presented these issues concerning LGBTQ rights in Uganda at several venues around the world, and has been interviewed by the New York Times

For this special occasion, the GQRG has planned two events with Val Kalende. Please see the information below.

“Getting Out” Film Screening with Special Guest Val Kalende

February 14th, 7:00 – 9:00 PM

Liu Institute for Global Issues

Sponsored by the Global Queer Research Group, Critical Studies in Sexuality, and the Women and Gender Studies Department, UBC.

 Research and Activism Workshop with Val Kalende

February 16th, 11AM -2PM

3rd Floor Boardroom, Liu Institute

Sponsored by the Global Queer Research Group, Critical Studies in Sexuality, and the Women and Gender Studies Department, UBC.

Val Kalende has been invited to be a key discussant for a private workshop with scholars and activists around questions concerning research and activism on sexual and gender minorities. Participants are asked prior to the workshop to submit three to four questions that they would like to ask Val Kalende. This is a unique opportunity to speak with Val on her experiences as an activist and researcher on LGBT rights and anti-queer violence. The workshop is limited to twenty persons.

For those of you who would like to attend the workshop, please RSVP here:

http://valkalendeworkshop.eventbrite.com

For more information, please contact: Katherine Fobear at katherinefobear@gmail.com

October 13th, 4 PM
The Liu Institute for Global Issues
RM 121

This GQRG planning meeting will focus on:

1) Potential Events for the Upcoming Year
a) Hosting Scholars
b) Canadian Homonationalism Conference
c) Film screenings and Art shows
d) Research Workshops

2) Queer U events (February 13 – 17)
a) Possible events for GQRG to organize for Queer U

3) Website and Networking Ideas
a) Organization of the website
b) Working with local LGBT groups in Vancouver

All are welcomed to attend the planning meeting and are encouraged to put forward ideas and initiatives.

For more information please contact GQRG at:

globalqueer@gmail.com

Global Queer Research Group (GQRG)

Presents A Monthly Reading Group on

Terrorist Assemblages: homonationalism in queer times
by Jasbir K. Puar (2007)

September 28
4:30-7pm
3rd Floor Board Room
Liu Institute for Global Issues

The GQRG is excited to present a monthly reading group on Jasbir K. Puar’s Terrorist Assemblages: homonationalism in queer times. In Terrorists Assemblages, Puar argues that configurations of sexuality, race, gender, nation, class , and ethnicity are realigning in relation to contemporary forces of securitization, counterterrorism and nationalism. In looking at this, Puar contends that heteronormative ideologies that the U.S. Nation-state has long relied on are now accompanied by homonormative ideologies that replicate narrow racial, class, gender, and national ideals. These “homonationalisms” are deployed to distinguish upright “properly hetero,” and now “properly homo,” U.S. patriots from perversely sexualized and racialized so called terrorists and “unwanted” foreigners.

Each month the GQRG reading group will read a chapter from Terrorist Assemblages and a selected academic article to discuss together. Everyone is welcome to attend, but please RSVP before hand.

This month’s readings will be

1. Puar, J. (2007). Terrorist Assemblages: homonationalism in queer times.Durham: Duke University Press.

1. Preface: tactics, strategies, logisitics
2. Introduction: homonationalism and biopolitics

2. Morgensen, S. L. (2010) Settler Homonationalism: Theorizing Settler Colonialism within Queer Modernities. GLQ:Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, 16(1-2), pp. 105-131.

Excerpt from Abstract: This essay newly interprets the settler formation of U.S. queer modernities by inspiration of Jasbir Puar’s critique of homonationalism. Puar argues that homonationalism produces U.S. queers as regulatory over the racialized and sexualized populations targeted within the imperial biopolitics of the war on terror. I explain homonationalism as a quality of U.S. queer modernities having formed within a colonial biopolitics, in which the terrorizing sexual colonization of Native peoples produces modern sexuality as a function of settlement. This essay reinterprets historical accounts at the intersections of queer, Native, and colonial studies to show how a colonial biopolitics of modern sexuality relationally produces Native and settler sexual subjects…

If interested in attending please contact the GQRG:

globallgbtq@gmail.com

The Global Queer Research Group (GQRG) is a new research group initiative based at the Liu Institute

for Global Issues, UBC. The purpose of the GQRG is to connect scholars, activists, and community members around research and policy issues concerning lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex communities, both locally and globally.  Areas of focus within the GQRG include (but are not limited to) homophobic violence and anti-homosexual legislation, global l/g/b/t/q/ i human rights issues, the rise of “homonationalism” in western Europe and North America, transitional justice for queer communities, queer migration and asylum issues, health issues like HIV/AIDS, and representations of queer experiences and identities.