QUEERING PARADIGMS 7, 11-12 June 2016, 9am – 5:30pm 

The Auditorium of the Cayman Islands Chamber of Commerce

Unit 4-107, Governors Square, 23 Lime Tree Bay Avenue,

West Bay, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

Programme                                                           [PDF]

Pre-Conference Activities – Friday, 10 June

5:30pm – 7:00: The Abominable Crime: Film Showing and Discussion

The Abominable Crime is a documentary that explores the culture of homophobia in Jamaica through the eyes of gay Jamaicans who are forced to choose between their homeland and their lives after their sexual orientations are exposed.

Maurice Tomlinson, the first speaker at the conference on Saturday morning, will lead a post-showing discussion.

7:15pm – Onwards: Drinks: Veranda, Marriott Beach Resort, 389 West Bay Road, Seven Mile Beach

Conference Programme Day 1

Saturday, 11 June

8:30am: Refreshments (for conference speakers only)

9am: OPENING

9:30am -11 am Panel: Queer Caribbean I: Jamaica

Maurice Tomlinson (Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network), Constitutional challenges to homophobia in Jamaica

Kyle Jackson (University of Nevada, Reno), Queer as Religion: Spirituality as a Source of both LGBTIQ+ Oppression and Resistance in Jamaica

Amar Wahab (York University, Canada), ‘Jamaicanizing’ ‘Homophobia’: Queer Governmentalities in the Stop Murder Music (Canada) Campaign

 11am-11:30am Coffee Break

 11:30am -1:30pm             Panel: Queer Caribbean II: Caymanian Voices

Billie Bryan (Independent; Eco-Conscious Creative Professional), LGBT activism in the Caymans

Carolina M. Ferreira (Cayman Islands Red Cross), Homophobia, Child Sexual Abuse and the HIV Epidemic in the Caribbean Region

David P Matheson (Independent), Same sex couples and the adoption of children in the Caribbean

Olivia Connolly (Truman Bodden Law School), TBA                       

1:30pm – 2:30pm LUNCH break

2:30pm – 3:30pm        Panel: Global-Local Queer I

Kathleen O’Mara (SUNY Oneonta), Spiritual Practices, Building Queer Community and Everyday Resistance to Homophobia in Ghana

Masha Neufeld (Dresden University of Technology/CAMH, Toronto), Biopolitics, Discipline, Sexual Minorities (aka the Russian wet dream of being the stronghold of traditional culture)

3:30pm – 4:00pm Coffee Break

4:00 pm – 5:00 pm            Panel: Global-Local Queers II

Michela Balocchi (American University), The bio-medicalisation of intersex variations in Italy and the international context

Steve Wharton (University of Bath, UK), Discourses of damnation, or not quite liberté égalité fraternité – debates over civil partnership and gay marriage in Britain and France

Discussant: Betty Wambui (SUNY Oneonta)

5:00pm Day 1 of Conference Ends

6:30pm – onwards: Pre-Drinks and Dinner (7:30pm onwards) at Icoa, Seven Mile Shops

Conference Programme Day 2

Sunday, 12 June

9:30am: Refreshments (for conference speakers only)

10 am – 11:30 am             Panel: Queer Kinship, Law and Philosophy

Song Lin (Chinese University of Hong Kong), Queering Kinship: Aspiration, Negotiation and New Meanings

Giuseppe Zago (Leiden University), Neglected minorities? An analysis of the right to respect of human dignity, equality and private and family life of detainees of different sexual orientations and gender identities under international human rights law

Richard Iveson (University of Queensland, Australia), From the Queering of Ontology to a Politics of Indistinction

11:30am -12noon Coffee Break

12noon – 1:00pm                  Panel: Queer US (His)Stories and Discourses

Thomas A. Foster (DePaul University), Enslaved Men and Same-Gender Intimacy and Exploitation

Katherina Wiedlack (University of Vienna, Austria), Points of Discussion: contemporary US-American queer-feminist discourses, and the Right Wing gone International

1:00pm-2:00 pm LUNCH break

2:00 pm – 3:30pm                   KEYNOTE PANEL I            Queer Human Rights

Introductory Talk
Leonardo Raznovich (INCISE, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK) , Queer Aggression? The ‘unorthodoxy’ of Human Rights claims in the Caymans Islands

Keynote
Eugenio Raúl Zaffaroni (Justice of the Inter American Court of Human Rights), Criminal prosecution of ‘sexual orientation’ and its effect on the mental health of the society

3:30pm – 4:00pm Coffee Break

4:00 pm – 5:30pm                   KEYNOTE PANEL II           Queer Religion 

Introductory Talk
Bee Scherer (INCISE, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK), Queerthinking Religion: New Terms for an Intersectional Dialogue

Keynote
The Rt Rvd Alan Wilson (Bishop of Buckingham), Same-sex marriage and the queering project of Jesus

5:30pm Conference Ends

Abstract: Keynote panel I Queer Human Rights

Introductory Talk

Leonardo Raznovich (INCISE, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK), Queer Aggression? The ‘unorthodoxy’ of Human Rights claims in the Caymans Islands

In this talk I share the trials and tribulations of my own Human Rights challenges in the Cayman Islands and discuss the question of whether the queer struggle for legal and cultural change can ever be called ‘unorthodox’ and/or ‘aggressive’.

Keynote

Eugenio Raúl Zaffaroni (Justice of the Inter American Court of Human Rights), Criminal prosecution of ‘sexual orientation’ and its effect on the mental health of the society

1. Sexuality has a fundamental importance in the development of someone’s personality. 2. Repression of sexual orientation of a person leads to personality disorders. 3. Personality disorder translates into neurosis and, consequently, in errors of conduct in the society. 4. These neurotic behaviors affect people who suffer those consequences that are conditioned by prejudice and repression of their sexuality. 5. But those people interact in society, thus the consequences are reflected in their interactions. 6. Therefore, the repression of the sexuality of a percentage of the population affects society itself, whose essence is human interaction. 7. In synthesis, the prejudices that conditioned repression on a portion of the society become the cause of deterioration of mental health in the general population. (From there it is possible to derive sexism, domestic violence, homophobia, etc.).

Regardless, we must point out other issues at different levels: the distinction between sin and crime, Enlightenment in criminal law, freedom of conscience, and all we know.

Abstract: Keynote panel II Queer Religion

Introductory Talk

Bee Scherer (INCISE, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK), Queerthinking Religion: New Terms for an Intersectional Dialogue

Both ‘Queer’ and ‘religion’ can be used as categories for the projection of identitarian yearning and belonging, and are often constructed as mutually exclusive. Both are problematic; both are contested.  In this talk I investigate queer (and) religion using different discursive threads such as Human Rights; ethics; bodily integrity; spirituality; and resistance. ‘Religion’ is shown to be value-neutral and morally protean. A way forward for a mature, constructive and jouissant relationship of ‘queer’ and ‘religion’ emerges in the form of queerthought religion as embodied compassion-in-action.

 Keynote

The Rt Rvd Alan Wilson (Bishop of Buckingham), Same-sex marriage and the queering project of Jesus

In this presentation, Bishop Alan will share the UK experience with the introduction of same-sex marriage and describe the impact of changes in the UK marriage practice on both church and state. In the second part of the keynote, Bishop Alan will link this experience to the emerging notion that Queering is an activity mandated by various subversive elements in the teaching of Jesus.

Further Information

CONTACT: Prof. Bee Scherer, b.scherer[AT]canterbury.ac.uk

Relevant press links and coverage

http://www.caymanreporter.com/2016/03/31/cayman-host-lgbtiq-conference/

https://www.caymancompass.com/2016/03/31/cayman-to-host-lgbt-conference/

https://caymannewsservice.com/2016/04/bishop-to-speak-on-religion-and-homosexuality/

http://cayman27.ky/2016/04/upcoming-lgbt-conference-draws-supportive-crowd/

http://cayman27.ky/2016/04/upcoming-lgbt-conference-draws-ire-of-bodden-town-mla/

On Dr Raznovich’s legal fight:

https://caymannewsservice.com/2016/04/uk-minister-misled-commons-about-cayman-islands/

http://www.caymanreporter.com/2016/04/07/law-professor-accuses-tribunal-stalling-sex-marriage-appeal/

Maurice Tomlinson’s latest blog:  https://76crimes.com/2016/04/29/my-lonely-day-as-an-outcast-in-a-crowded-jamaican-court/

INCISE http://www.canterbury.ac.uk/INCISE; http://intersectionalsocialjustice.wordpress.com

Twitter: @INCISE_cccu; FaceBook: facebook.com/INCISE.cccu

Queering Paradigms https://queeringparadigms.com/ Twitter: @queeringp Facebook: facebook.com/Q.Paradigms/

http://www.canterbury.ac.uk/arts-and-humanities/incise/queering-paradigms/queering-paradigms.aspx

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queering_Paradigms

QP Book series (Peter Lang): www.peterlang.com/?QP

On the history of QP: http://www.e-ir.info/2015/02/23/queering-paradigms-from-individual-resistance-to-global-local-impact/