This conference brings together scholars working on the histories of sexualities, gender diversity and queer in the Nordic and Baltic countries. During the recent decades, studies on the histories of sexualities have grown into an internationally recognized and diverse field, producing rich theorization on how to address sexual practices, sexual pleasures, sexual knowledge production as well as sexual violence and exploitation in the past. Simultaneously, the understandings of past sexualities have diversified, and the theoretical approaches developed have been applied to varying geographical and temporal contexts. In addition, the histories of gender diversity in the histories of, for example, trans and intersex experiences, have often been developed in connections to queer history.
The interdisciplinary conference to be held in Helsinki, Finland, 25-26 October 2021 is open for scholars working on histories of sexualities, gender diversity, and queer in the Nordic and Baltic regions. The keynote speakers of the conference will be Professor Kate Fisher (University of Exeter, UK) and Postdoctoral Researcher Julian Honkasalo (University of Helsinki, Finland). The conference will also include a keynote panel commemorating the fifty years that have passed since the decriminalization of homosexuality in Finland in 1971. The panel will be chaired by Senior Lecturer Tuula Juvonen (University of Tampere, Finland) and the participants will be Professor Tone Hellesund (University of Bergen, Norway), Associate Professor Uku Lember (University of Tallinn, Estonia), Dr. Ineta Lipša (University of Latvia) and Associate Professor Andrés Brink Pinto (University of Lund, Sweden).
The disciplinary approaches of the participants may include, in addition to historical disciplines, gender studies, queer studies, trans studies, critical race studies, literature studies, media studies, ethnology, and others. In particular, we encourage junior researchers and transdisciplinary scholars to participate.