Call For Submissions:
“Y’all and/in the Queer South”
In 2021, country-singer Miranda Lambert released the song "Y'all Means All" which served as the introduction song to the 6th season of Queer Eye. The song invents a campy excess that destabilizes "black and white" stereotypical narratives of the South with an interrogation of its diversity, including in its “y’all” conservatives, nonbinary people, trans people and drag queens. Like contemporary forms of southern studies, the song redirects attention beyond a monolithic South toward a representation of multiple, overlapping, and contradicting types of worldbuilding within the region, insisting one rubric cannot and will not do.
Whereas the term “y’all” is ubiquitous within the southern imagination as a colloquialism that inspires kinship and a connection to home, often evoking paternalism and regional stereotypes, the 26th SW/SW Graduate Conference proposes that it has recently been reclaimed as a guiding principle for inclusivity across identities.
We aim to investigate how to better represent the south’s diversity without homogenizing or erasing differences. The framework of “y’all” offers a pathway towards an interrogation of the essentialism within the very title “Southern Writers/Southern Writing,” while being cognizant that there is no perfect framework for inclusion.
Some questions guiding this interventions include: Does a reappropriation of the word or concept of “y’all” have any destabilizing effects on our assumptions about the South? Has it had lasting impacts as a tool for multicultural or diversity projects within the region? Does “y’all”—or the idea that “y’all” invokes— invite other voices or further isolate them?
We welcome abstracts for papers, posters, panels, creative works, and activist roundtables that consider and interrogate southern experience and expression. While we encourage submissions that address the themes and topics listed in this CFS, we also welcome those that diverge from it. It is not necessary to address “y’all” specifically; rather, we hope to compile a vast array of contributions across fields and disciplines that represent southern diversity and all its variations.
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Intersectional readings or critiques, including sexuality, gender, race, ethnicity, ability, class, nation, neurodivergence, plural identities, or other forms of identity and experience within the US or Global South.
Queer theory, Asexuality Studies, Trans Theory, Affect Theory, Southern Studies, Global South Studies, Women and Gender Studies, and more.
Activism in multiculturalism or diversity and inclusion within and across the US South and/or Global South.
Disciplinary or departmental inclusion and/or representation of nondominant subjects or research done by nondominant subjects, especially in STEM.
Personal or collective confrontations with the word "y'all" and its rhetorical effect on the body, mind, or self.
Folklore and its repetitions of or challenges to the word "y'all", southern regionalism, or a dichotomy between tradition and modernity.
Foodways, culinary studies, and other forms of culture making within the US or Global South.
Ecocriticism, environmentalism, and other research that addresses the geographical and ecological makeup of the US or Global South and its natural spaces.
Religion, sociology, ethnography within the US South or Global South.
Media or popular culture (especially film, television, music, and podcasts) representations of queerness, southernness, or the combination of the two.
Social science research including linguistics, anthropology, psychology, sociology, history, etc. about people living within the US or Global South.
Archival research (including letters, diaries, periodicals, and material culture) relating to the US or Global South.
Government policy, political science, law, labor, commerce, and capital within the US or Global South.
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For all submissions (research, creative, or activist), please submit a 250-word abstract that explains how the proposal engages with Southern expression or culture and one (or more) of the topics listed above. Please also include a 100-word biography for each presenter.
* For creative submissions, please also submit ONE of the following: 1) a 5-page (or less) excerpt of a written creative work; 2) a 10 minute or less excerpt of film or video; 3) a zip folder with images of an artistic or other visual medium.
To apply, complete our submission form below.
We have extended the deadline for proposals.
The new deadline for submissions is January 31st, 2023.
For questions about the conference, please feel free to direct your questions to Anthony Gottlich through our Contact Us Page.