Queerying Spaces: Transnational Perspectives

queerying spaces

The TORCH Queer Studies Network is delighted to welcome Walaa Alqaisiya (Durham University), Dr Mojisola Adebayo (Queen Mary) and Sneha Krishnan (University of Oxford) to discuss the theme of ‘Queerying Spaces: Transnational Perspectives’.

Walaa Alqaisiya will be presenting on ‘The Politics and Aesthetics of Decolonial Queering in Palestine’. Walaa is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Human Geography at Durham University, whose research questions the meanings of queer(ying) spaces within the current Palestinian context and their relevance in relation to de-colonial geographies and imaginaries. Walaa holds a MA in Culture & Difference from Durham and a BA in English Literature from Bethlehem University. She has worked with various groups and NGOs, including Youth Against Settlements and the International Palestine Youth League. Walaa contributed to the AHRC-funded ‘Decolonizing Sexualities’ project as part of alQaws for Sexual & Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society.

Dr Mojisola Adebayo will be presenting on ‘A Reflection on Mojisola Adebayo’s Afriquia (Black/ Queer) Theatre of Ubuntu from Antarctica to Africa’. Mojisola is a British born, Nigerian-Danish performer, playwright, director, producer, workshop leader and teacher. She has worked internationally in theatre, television and radio for over twenty-five years and currently lectures in Drama, Theatre and Performance in the School of English and Drama at Queen Mary. Her wide and diverse work has ranged from being an actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company to co-founding VIDYA, a slum dweller’s theatre company in Ahmedabad, India. All of her work is concerned with power, identity, personal and social change.

Dr Sneha Krishnan will be presenting on 'Queerness as Method: Doing Transnational Histories of Childhood'. She is currently a Junior Research Fellow in Human Geography at St John’s College, Oxford and writing a book based on her thesis research, using queer and feminist transnational theory to look at the temporal imaginaries that undergird everyday ethical practice among middle-class college girls in Chennai. Sneha’s work has appeared in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute and the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. She is also a contributor to edited volumes on queer life and youth culture. Additionally, Sneha is involved in collaborative projects on urban history and histories of childhood.

A drinks reception will follow the Q&A.

All are very welcome to attend.

The venue is fully accessible. If you have any questions or specific requirements, please email Ruth Ramsden-Karelse


 

Queer Studies Network

Contact name: Ruth Ramsden-Karelse

Contact email: ruth.ramsden-karelse@merton.ox.ac.uk

Audience: Open to all