LGBTI*Q Politics, (Anti-)Capitalism and Global Economies

Joint Section Chairs: Dr. Anna Antonakis (Free University of Berlin) Inga Nüthen (University of Marburg) Dr. Gundula Ludwig (University of Bremen) Dr. Christine M. Klapeer (University of Innsbruck/University of Göttingen) Dr. Justyna Struzik (Jagiellonian University) In the last decade, the complex relationship between „queer“, „capitalism“ and „class“ has gained new momentum within the field of Gender/Queer Studies, also responding to the multiple “crisis” of global capitalist formations and a growing critique of queer complicities with neoliberal sexual politics. However, these debates remain – with a few exceptions – rather marginalized within political science. At the same time, contemporary discussions on “new class politics”, “alternative economics”, “politics of commons”, “de-growth” or “ecological sustainability” rarely include questions of queer/ness or a critique of heteronormativity and the performativity of gender. In light of the contemporary covid-19-pandemic where global economic inequalities and vulnerability are deeply intertwined, where heteronormative concepts of family and privacy are addressed as stabilizers in times of crisis and where – once again – intersectional regimes of exclusion become so obvious, we consider a dialogue between queer studies and analyses of capitalism as essential. This conference section aims to provide a space for discussing the theoretical potentials and analytical tools of queer, lesbian* and trans*_feminist approaches for investigating the intersectional implications of global capitalism, class politics and various modes of socio-economic exploitation, precarity, inequality and dispossession. Furthermore, we seek to promote a dialogue between political and social science scholars that already engage with the complex and ambivalent entanglements and complicities of LGBTI*Q mobilizations with global capitalism from different theoretical and methodological angels and expand existing debates on capitalism, gender, sexuality, and politics. As such, we invite panels and individual papers from scholars from all political science subdisciplines as well as from related disciplines/research fields who can relate to one or more of the following topics: • Theorizing capitalism, class politics and economic inequalities from a LGBTI*Q perspective: e.g. potentials and desiderates of existing queer_, lesbian_*, trans*_feminist analysis and approaches for investigating capitalism, class politics and economic inequalities; LGBTI*Q related expansions of established critiques, theoretical concepts, approaches and analysis with regard to class and (global) capitalism (e.g. “homonormativity”, “homocapitalism”), particularly those including intersectional, post-/decolonial und transnational approaches; • Exploring the sexual politics of capitalism: e.g. intersections between capitalist modes of re/production, (neo-)colonial violence and the establishment of “modern” concepts of (sexual/gendered) identities; (racialized) entanglements and complicities between a new wave of LGBTI*Q rights politics and neoliberal capitalism; the intersectional impact of global capitalism on individual identity formation, livabilities and modes of living (e.g. poverty, wage discrimination, economic violence, anti-black violence and policing) and community building in different (geo)political contexts. • Resisting capitalism, imagining “alternative” economies: e.g. anti-capitalist and/or class-critical queer_, lesbian*_, trans*_feminist und LGBTI*Q political practices, politics and strategies in different geopolitical and historical contexts, also including practices of solidarity or coalition building; visions, utopias and (lived) heterotopias of post-capitalist, sustainable economies and societies (e.g. share economies, communal living projects); queer_, lesbian_*, trans*_feminist perspectives on “alternative” economies, concepts of “commoning” or “de-growth” We especially welcome papers that include proposals how to analyze the global covid-19-pandemic from an intersectional, decolonial and queer_feminist perspective and that discuss possibilities of a queer critique of “disaster capitalism” (N. Klein) that becomes so evident in the current biopolitical crisis. A variety of theoretical approaches, methodologies and topics is strongly encouraged! Suggestions for Panels: Panel I: Theorizing capitalist economies from an LGBTI*Q Perspective: Concepts, Approaches, and Theoretical Genealogies Panel II: Queer Complicities, Dissidence, Resistance: LGBTI*Q Politics and struggles beyond, against and within economic hegemonies Panel III: Queer/ing “alternative” economics and imagining post-capitalist futures: Panel IV: Open Panel V: Open Panel VI: Open