Two Days of Canada: Queer Canada Conference

THE 30TH ANNUAL TWO DAYS OF CANADA CONFERENCE
2nd and 3rd November, 2017, Brock University

“Queer Canada”

People of Colour have already begun a body of writing and scholarship engaging with the meaning of Canada as a “queer place in Diaspora” (Walcott 2005: 90). “Queer Canada” will be a two-day conference of scholars, students, community members, artists, and activists at Brock University coming together to examine the various intersections between and implications of nation-state identity and queerness.

PROGRAMME:

Day 1: Thursday, November 2 - Venue: Pond Inlet, Brock University

8:00am – 8:30 - Conference Registration

8:30 – 9:00am - Welcome

9:00 – 10:30 am—Panel 1 Queer citizenship, Migration and the State

Chair: Sue Speary

Ezequiel Martin-Calero (University of Guelph) “The Influence of Multiculturalism in Canadian National Identity”

Trevor Corkum (University of Toronto) “Nowhere Over the Rainbow: Queer Citizenship and Sexual Minority International Students in Toronto”

Jobin Philip (Ryerson University) "Questioning Sanctuary: An Intersectional Examination of Queer Refugee Settlement in Toronto"

10:45 – 12:15—Panel 2 Queer Politics, Progress and Perils

Chair: Dolana Mogadime

Sharlee Cranston-Reimer (Brock University) “Progress in relation to what?”: Rhetorics of “Equality” in Discussions of LGBTQ+ Liberation in Canada

OmiSoore H. Dryden (Thorneloe University) “Black Queer Lives: The rupture of Anti-Black Health Research in Canada”

Beverly Bain (University of Toronto) “The Black Women’s Collective and Sister Vision Press: A Legacy of Black Queer Diasporic Caribbean Feminist Political and Literary Interventions into the Canadian Nation State.”

Hannah Collins (Trent University) “Separation and Space: Making the Case for Bisexual Separatism”

12:15 – 1:30 – Lunch

1:30 – 3:00—Panel 3 Toronto Pride: Space, Race, Politics

Chair: Beverly Bain

Ryan Persadie (University of Toronto) "The Challenges of the Queer Fête: Problematizing Indo-Trinidadian Exclusions and the Politics of Belonging in Toronto, Ontario"

R. Cassandra Lord (University of Toronto) “We Have Always Been Here: Pelau MasQUEERade Disturbing Toronto Pride History”

Christopher G. Smith (University of Toronto) “From T.Dot to London Town and Beyond: “Black Pride” in a Transnational Comparative Perspective”

3:15 – 4:45—Panel 4 Queer(ing) Archives

Chair: Tamara El-Hoss

Cait P. Jones (Trent University) "'Want to see me disco?': The Lost Archives of Queer Joy"

Callie Metler (Trent University) "Wounding and Archiving: Creating Publics in Alison Bechdel's Funhome and Are You My Mother?"

Neta Gordon (Brock University) “Putting Ann-Marie MacDonald in the closet: The Reception of Adult Onset”

Brian Dedora (Writer) “1970s Primary Source: Low Hangin' Fruits”

5:00 – 6:00pm – Keynote Session

Chair: Spy Dénommé-Welch

Gwen Benaway "Holy Wild: Gender and Sexuality in Indigenous Worldviews"