Intersections: An Inaugural Black Queer Sexuality Studies Conference

I just learned about a conference that seems really amazing- it’s called “Intersections: An Inaugural Black Queer Sexuality Studies Graduate Student Conference,” and it will take place on October 20th at Princeton University. Conference organizers are still seeking project proposals- the deadline for abstract submissions is this Friday, the 31st. Contact information for submitting a proposal can be found here. The keynote speaker will be Kara Keeling, a professor of cinematic arts at the University of Southern California and author of the book The Witch’s Flight: The Cinematic, the Black Femme, and the Image of Common Sense.

According to the call for papers, Intersections “seeks to create a public forum for dialogue on innovative research across disciplines and fields that interrogate the intersections between blackness and queerness. Against an abjuring history, we ask: how might we understand the relationship between blackness and queerness if we first reject the premise of their mutual exclusivity? How might transit between blackness and queerness open up new pathways of thought to engage thinking concerned with a host of issues ranging from agency to temporality to phenomenology to resistance?  Are we in a post-black or post-queer moment, and if so, how might a reinterrogation of both blackness and queerness reanimate supposedly deadened modes of inquiry?”

I’m going to try to make it to the conference myself- I presented at a conference at Princeton once, it was a really great experience (and the area is gorgeous).

 

 

C-SPAN Video Library

I’m pretty impressed with the C-SPAN Video Library– this site allows anyone to watch all C-SPAN programs produced since 1987 online for free! There are many ways to locate programs of interest- for example, you can browse by program type or tags. They have a great blog as well which is updated very often.

The site doesn’t allow for the embedding of its videos in WordPress (as far as I can tell), but here’s a link to a great video called Women and Political Activism from a few months ago.

2012 Rainbow Book List

Every January the American Library Association’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table and Social Responsibilities Round Table join forces to create the Rainbow Book List. A carefully selected bibliography of high-quality books with diverse GLBTQ content, the Rainbow Book List is targeted at readers between 0-18 years of age.

I’ve looked over the 2012 Rainbow Book List and just from the titles alone am impressed with the selection. As a queer librarian who came out in my late teens it gives me great joy that resources like these exist. Anyone interested in checking out past lists can go here and find lists dating back to 2008.