Rethinking Diversity: Intersections, Identities, and Belonging
The Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at º«¹úÂãÎè is delighted to announce the Call for Papers for its 4th annual graduate conference. This year’s theme, "Rethinking Diversity: Intersections, Identities, and Belonging", invites scholars to critically engage with the multifaceted concept of diversity across literature, culture, and society.
While often celebrated as a progressive value, diversity remains a contested and evolving concept. This conference aims to reimagine diversity not as a fixed static notion, but as a dynamic process shaped by the intersections of race, migration, sexuality, and gender. By engaging frameworks such as intersectionality, queer of color critique, and decolonial thought, we encourage participants to examine how systemic inequities are embedded and contested in cultural narratives and how they both encourage and challenge the superficial integration of marginalized voices.
Intersectionality reveals the interwoven nature of race, gender, and class, producing unique experiences of privilege and oppression. Queer of color critique interrogates the intersections of race and sexuality, offering a critical lens on dominant narratives. Meanwhile, decolonial perspectives invite us to rethink diversity’s historical ties to Eurocentrism and colonial legacies.
Diversity also invites dialogue across disciplines, opening pathways for innovative perspectives. This conference welcomes contributions that connect diversity with ecocriticism, trauma studies, indigenous studies, economic and political theory. Such interdisciplinary approaches encourage a richer exploration of how diversity manifests in various contexts, fostering new insights into its complexities and implications.
By investigating diversity, this conference seeks to move beyond surface-level representations and engage with broader implications for justice, inclusion, and equity. As bell hooks reminds us, diversity must be an active praxis; a commitment to fostering spaces where marginalized voices are not only included but empowered to shape the discourse.
- How do literary and cultural works challenge hegemonic understandings of diversity and gender norms?
- What are the limits and possibilities of diversity as a framework for social change?
- In what ways do marginalized voices reimagine belonging and community?
- How do migration, racialization, gender, and queerness intersect with cultural production?
- How does understanding diversity impact other fields of knowledge, such as ecology, trauma studies and Indigenous studies?
Possible Topics include but are not limited to:
- Representation and erasure in literary and cultural narratives
- The politics of racialization and migration in cultural production
- Decolonial and anti-racist critiques of diversity
- Queer identities and cultural production
- Artistic responses to gender-based and systemic inequalities
- Diversity and neoliberalism
- Gendered narratives and representation in literature and culture
- Feminist and queer critiques of diversity
- Intersectional approaches to gender and racialization
- The impact of migration on gender roles and identities
Submission Guidelines:
- Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words and must include a title and keywords.
- Please provide your name, academic affiliation, and a brief bio (max 100 words).
- Submit formal abstracts by March 7, 2025, to: gradconference.llc [at] mcgill.cagradconference.llc [at] mcgill.ca ( )
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- Logistics:
- Presentations should not exceed 15 minutes.
- Presenters will be informed of their acceptance by March 14, 2025.
- Individual presentations and panel proposals are welcome. Panel proposals should include a 300-word summary of the panel theme and abstracts for all proposed presentations.
- The conference will be conducted in a hybrid format, accommodating both in- person and online presentations. For inquiries, please contact: llc.grad.conference [at] mcgill.ca