CUNY DIGITAL HISTORY ARCHIVE

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Black Nations/Queer Nations? Proposal

This draft of a proposal for the Black Nations/Queer Nations? (BNQN) conference highlights the importance of having such a conference as well as the way that the event was conceived of early on. According to the proposal, BNQN was the result of several meetings of an organizing committee comprised of individuals of various backgrounds, resulting in a highly diverse conference. Leading the committee was M. Jacqui Alexander, one of the leading scholars of transnational feminism. As stated in the proposal, the aims of the conference were to propose questions such as “What is the relationship between anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-colonialist and anti-heterosexist political struggles?” and “Is a global political movement among lesbian and gay men in the African Diaspora possible or desirable?” While the conference was originally planned for October 1994, due to unforeseen complications, it was not held until March of the following year.

Although formally instituted at the CUNY Graduate Center in 1991, CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies was first conceived 5 years earlier by Martin, Duberman, one of the first historians to embrace the, then infantile, field of Queer Studies. Duberman sensed the need for a formal center devoted to queer research. As the first university-based center for LGBTQ research, CLAGS continues to demonstrate its dedication to advancing Queer Studies, by hosting public events showcasing queer research and sponsoring fellowships to support queer scholars. Among its many notable contributions, CLAGS annually puts on at least one major conference and holds the Kessler Award Lecture every fall to celebrate a queer scholar who has made a notable contribution to the field of queer studies.

Source | CLAGS Archive
Creator | CLAGS
Date Created | 1994 (Circa)
Rights | Copyright CLAGS Archive
Item Type | Text (Report / Paper / Proposal)
Cite This document | CLAGS, “Black Nations/Queer Nations? Proposal,” CUNY Digital History Archive, accessed March 19, 2024, https://cdha.cuny.edu/items/show/7742.

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