Queering International Relations (free event)

In countries across the world, LGBTQIA+ rights are backsliding. While significant progress has been made through activist and advocacy networks advancing queer rights and enshrining them in national and international laws and frameworks, there are still over sixty countries that criminalise homosexuality, and many more where transphobia is rampant. This includes countries where queer rights and activism have historically been vibrant – including in the US and the UK – where anti-queer and anti-trans policies have emboldened broader societal discrimination and violence against LGBTQIA+ communities.

These developments are not confined to specific countries but are part of a broader global politics of queerphobia, across authoritarian and liberal democratic societies. In such a context, what then does it mean to ‘queer’ International Relations? In this talk, Dr Caitlin Biddolph (University of Technology Sydney) outlines the necessity of viewing global politics through a queer lens. Queering International Relations centres LGBTQIA+ experiences, but it also challenges violences and assumptions of all kinds, including cisheterosexism, racism, colonialism, militarism, and the intersections between them.

Dr Biddolph shows how queer thinking applies to the contemporary queer rights backlash, questions of international and transitional justice, and the realm of AI and digital politics. In doing so, she outlines the need to not only recognize the ways the international system is deeply gendered and sexual, but also the necessity of finding ways to promote queer rights and dignity in this current volatile context.

Registration link: https://www.irckc.org/what-we-do/irc-events-calendar/#id=10845&cid=1742&wid=2201&type=Cal

About the Moderator:
Maisy Blanton is a rising senior and communications major at UMKC. She has been on staff at UMKC's independent newspaper, Roo News, since her Freshman year. She is excited to finish out her senior year as the paper's community engagement manager. As a race, ethnic, and gender studies minor, she is thankful for the research opportunities UMKC has provided. Her most recent project delves into the intersection of reproductive justice and queering pastoral care in the United States. After working on the project during the Spring semester with Dr. Jessica Gantt-Shafer, she is excited to see where it goes and what other research opportunities await her. She is ecstatic to combine her knowledge of queer studies with her newfound love of international relations in this program with Caitlin Biddolph. Having served as a spring and summer programs intern for the IRC, she is extremely grateful for all of the wonderful people she has connected with, and she can't wait to close out her time at the IRC with such a meaningful program!

About the Speaker
Dr Caitlin Biddolph is a Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia. Her research explores queer, feminist, and decolonial approaches to international law and transitional justice. At UTS, she teaches in the Master of International Relations, where students are encouraged to think critically about global politics from diverse perspectives.

Share