Society for Classical Studies 157th Annual Meeting JANUARY 7-10, 2026 SAN FRANCISCO Call for Papers for Panel Sponsored by the LCC QUEERNESS BEYOND IDENTITY Organized by Nicolette D’Angelo (UCLA) and Erin Lam (UCSB) Queer studies within Classics finds itself increasingly mired in debates about the precise gender and sexual identities of elite individuals from the historical record, such as Elagabalus and Sappho, as well as literary/mythological personae, such as Iphis and Caeneus. Sebastian Matzner (2022) has written that the queerness of the ancient world “has two dimensions”: first, those figures/practices which appear queer within the rubric of Greco-Roman gender and sexual norms, and second, aspects of antiquity which only become queer in their later reception(s). Recent scholarship of both stripes places a high premium on celebrating the gender and sexual diversity of the ancient world, unwittingly reinscribing the historical violences that accompany “outing” queers while also idealizing these subjects as “good” or “bad” exemplars of entire minoritized groups (Amin 2017). Meanwhile, in queer and trans studies, scholars and theorists have long demonstrated the limits of positivistic, identitarian, and taxonomical analyses, from Cathy J. Cohen to Jules Gill-Peterson to Robyn Wiegman. What new histories and theories of queerness come into view once we look beyond the desire for representation? Can we reimagine Queer Classics as the use of queer and trans scholarly methods that centers the “urgency and politics” of these methods’ origins, and foregoes the “relative safety” of depoliticized identification with queer figures from the past (Kotrosits 2023)?
To join us in this project, please send abstracts that follow the guidelines for individual abstracts (see the SCS Guidelines for Authors of Abstracts) by email to Tom Sapsford at sapsford@bc.edu by March 1, 2025. Any questions about proposals or the panel can be directed to Erin Lam (erinlam@ucsb.edu) and Nicolette D’Angelo (ncdangelo@g.ucla.edu). Please ensure that the abstracts are anonymous. The organizers will review all submissions anonymously, and their decision will be communicated to the authors of abstracts by April 1, 2025, with enough time that those whose abstracts are not chosen can participate in the individual abstract submission process for the upcoming SCS meeting. Bibliography Amin, K. 2023. “Taxonomically Queer?: Sexology and New Queer, Trans, and Asexual Identities.” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 29, 91–107.
Sharing the CFP for the LCC-sponsored panel at next year's SCS. "Queerness Beyond Identity," organized by Nicolette D'Angelo (UCLA) and Erin Lam (UCSB).
Deadline for abstracts: March 1.
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