Beyond Radical: Queer Theory and the UK

该网络的目的是基础设施和知识。一方面，它的目的是建立一些英国酷儿研究一段时间以来一直缺乏的学术支持结构。几十年来，酷儿理论一直对英国研究人员产生重大影响，但由于没有年度会议、学术协会和专门期刊等国家基础设施，我们尚未意识到协调这一广泛研究活动的全部好处。与此同时，该网络将通过追求位于酷儿研究奖学金前沿的充满活力的知识议程来展示这种基础设施可能带来的价值。我们正处在酷儿思想史上一个有趣的时刻。围绕性理论的干预措施被称为“酷儿理论”，现在已经有30多年的历史了。这促使一些学者认为，这些干预背后的激进动力已经消退，而与此同时，许多研究人员现在被性别和性研究的其他领域所激励，例如跨性别研究，这些研究被认为更接近更紧迫的社会和政治问题。我们认为，酷儿思想背后的知识和政治能量正在发生转变，这是一个绝佳的时机，可以评估和反思酷儿的未来取向，这些取向很可能会偏离它迄今为止的基础。与此同时，在英国，就像在其他地方一样，我们面临着一种不同寻常的社会压力。这些来自英国脱欧的遗产，黑人生命物质的持续国际影响，对殖民历史的清算，围绕社会价值观的激烈文化战争以及持续的环境危机。我们把这一不寻常的因素结合在一起，不仅要问酷儿理论研究是否需要关注不同的对象（就像过去在类似的令人担忧的时刻所争论的那样：Eng，HalberloveandMunoz 2005），而且要问我们是否可以思考它的一些定义性取向如何改变。因此，我们的网络活动将集中在四个中心领域的发展新议程，每一个都涉及酷儿研究的基本方面：1）激进主义-批判性地反思酷儿理论中“激进”的历史和现状; 2）跨性别/酷儿-在英国，当“酷儿”和“跨性别”越来越分离时，检查它们之间的关系;（3）本土身份--探讨酷儿理论的反身份主义，以及这一理论如何与近年来经常讨论的性别和性身份范畴的扩张相吻合; 4）酷儿形式/对象-调查酷儿“理论”的位置，并询问哪些学术对象或美学形式往往被认为适合作为理论制定的基础。我们将举办为期一天的面对面交流活动，邀请学术和非学术网络成员参加，并采用各种方式促进讨论、交流和产生想法。虽然非学术的声音将贯穿每一个环节，但对于每一个环节，我们还将举办旨在扩大主要活动的范围、影响或寿命的活动：无论是公众参与活动、以ECR为重点的网络活动，还是后续的赠款研讨会。虽然该网络由曼彻斯特大学领导，但它也得到了指导小组的实际和智力支持：埃利奥特·埃文斯（伯明翰）、萨姆·麦克比恩（QMUL）、拉胡尔·拉奥（圣安德鲁斯），萨姆所罗门（苏塞克斯），和Xine姚（伦敦大学学院）该网络将产生一系列的学术和非学术活动，一个项目网站，具有博客文章和其他作品的委托写作对网络的主题，以及一份英国期刊特刊，刊登该网络活动中最具创新性和最令人兴奋的论文。

The purpose of this Network is both infrastructural and intellectual. On the one hand, it is intended to establish some of the scholarly support structures that have been missing for research in queer studies in the UK for some time. Queer theory has been having a significant impact on UK researchers for decades, yet without national infrastructure such as annual conferences, scholarly associations and dedicated journals, we have yet to realise the full benefits of coordinating this extensive research activity. At the same time, the network will demonstrate the value that this infrastructure could bring by pursuing a vibrant intellectual agenda situated at the cutting-edge of queer studies scholarship. We are at an interesting moment in the history of queer thought. The interventions around theorising sexuality that became known as 'queer theory' have now had a more than 30-year-long life. This has prompted some scholars to suggest that the radical impetus behind these interventions has faded, while at the same time many researchers now are energised by other fields of gender and sexuality studies, such as trans studies, which are seen to be closer to more urgent social and political issues. We take this point of transition in the intellectual and political energy behind queer thought to be an excellent moment to take stock and reflect on the future orientations of queerness, which may well depart from the basis on which it has proceeded up to now.At the same time, in the UK, as elsewhere, we face an unusual mixture of social pressures. These come from the legacy of Brexit, the continuing international impact of Black Lives Matter, reckoning with colonial histories, fierce culture wars around social values, and the ongoing environmental crisis. We take this unusual conjuncture of factors to be a moment to ask not only whether queer theoretical scholarship needs to attend to different objects (as has been argued in the past in similarly fraught moments: Eng, Halberstam and Munoz 2005), but whether we might think of how some of its defining orientations could change. Consequently, our networking activities will concentrate on developing new agendas in four central areas, each of which addresses a foundational aspect of queer studies thinking and research: 1) Radicalism-reflecting critically on the history and current place of the 'radical' in queer theory; 2) Trans/Queer-examining the relation between 'queer' and 'trans' in the UK, when these are increasingly separated elsewhere; 3) Vernacular Identities-exploring the anti-identitarianism of queer theory and how this squares with the oft-discussed expansion of gender and sexual identity categories in recent years; 4) Queer Forms/Objects-investigating where queer 'theory' has been located and asking what scholarly objects or aesthetic forms have tended to have been deemed suitable as the basis for theory-makingFor each strand, we will hold a one-day in-person networking event involving a range of both academic and non-academic network members and using a range of approaches to facilitate discussion, exchange and the generation of ideas. While non-academic voices will thread through each strand, for each one we will also feature activities designed to extend the reach, impact or longevity of the main event: whether a public engagement event, an ECR-focused networking event, or a follow-on grant workshop. While the Network is led from the University of Manchester, it is also supported both practically and intellectually by a Steering Group: Elliot Evans (Birmingham), Sam McBean (QMUL), Rahul Rao (St Andrews), Sam Solomon (Sussex), and Xine Yao (UCL)The Network will produce a range of academic and non-academic events, a project website featuring blog posts and other pieces of commissioned writing on the network's themes, and a special issue of a UK-based journal featuring the most innovative and exciting papers from the Network's activities.