Queer and LGBTQ+ Methods Workshop

Novembre 2021

Sébastien CHAUVIN

Mme Muriel Bruttin, UNIL M. Kwaku Adomako, UNIL

TBC

The aim of this workshop is to explore the potential of queer methods.

Mobilizing a queer theory framework in our research does not automatically mean that we use queer methods. Similarly, studying minority gender identities and sexual orientations, or studying LGBTQ+ topics, also may not automatically mean we use queer methods, nor a queer approach. Following from this, we want to consider what methods could be most appropriate for doing research on LGBTQ+ topics and/or queer research.

If our queer theoretical framework understands that subjects and subjectivities are fluid, locally specific, contingent, relational, unstable, and perpetually becoming, how does this affect our choice of methods? How can we "gather data" on such unstable entities, when most standard research methods (such as interviews and questionnaires) tend to rely on bounded, clear cut categories? How might we adjust our current research methods to make them work more 'queerly'? And what do we then do with this messy data once we have gathered it?

This workshop does not aim to give clear-cut answers to all these questions (that would be rather non-queer). Instead, we hope to explore these questions together, and in particular, consider how they relate to our own PhD work (or other research endeavors). We hope to create a space where we can explore the connections (and sometimes disconnections) between the theoretical frameworks we use, the topics of our research, and the methodologies we mobilize. These framworks might be queer (or not), the topics LGBTQ+ (or not), and the methodolgies queer (or not).

We will dedicate a significant part of this workshop to participant presentations. In these presentations, we invite participants to discuss and reflect on the connections between the methods, frameworks and topics of their research. While the focus of the workshop is on methods, we believe that it is not possible to talk meaningfully about methods if we do not connect them to the theoretical and empirical aspects of our projects.

Target audience

This workshop is for anyone interested in discussing the questions mentionned above. Whether or not you mobilize queer methods in your research, if you are interested in discussing queer methods or the implications of queering methodologies, and/or are studying LGBTQ+ subjects or subject material, you are invited to participate in this workshop. In addition, even though this workshop will focus on methods for social scientific research and is therefore more geared towards social scientists, researchers in the humanities and hard sciences are also welcome. Since queering is about the blurring of boundaries, we are happy to also blur the boundaries of (heteropatriarchal) academic disciplines. If, for example, you do queer biology, queer art history, queer literature, queer nanotech, we would love to have you at our workshop.

COVID-19 related issues: we are currently planning to hold this workshop in an in-person format, or in a co-modal format (partially in-person and partially online), but if necessary, we will move the workshop fully online and adapt the format accordingly.

Preliminary program

9:00am – 9:15am Welcome and introduction to workshop

9:15am – 10:30am Guest lecture and discussion

10:30am – 12pm Participant presentations

12pm – 1:30pm Lunch

1:30pm – 3pm Participant presentations

3pm – 3:30pm Coffee break

3:30pm – 5pm Participant presentations

5pm – 6:30pm Closing discussion

UNIL

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