CUNY DIGITAL HISTORY ARCHIVE

This poster advertises CLAGS’ Queer Globalization/Local Homosexualities conference, which was held from April 23rd to 25th, 1998 at the CUNY Graduate Center. This groundbreaking conference brought together scholars and activists from around the globe who were working at the confluence of post-colonial and queer studies. The conference, consisting of twenty distinct panels, addressed issues such as the influence of American imperialism on the global field of queer studies and the significance of queer diasporic identity. It was the first in a series of conferences held by CLAGS that was made possible through Rockefeller Foundation.'s sponsorship. Roughly 300 scholars attended this three-day conference.

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.