*CFP* *Sites Queer: Technologies, Spaces and Otherness* *University of Puerto Rico School of Architecture, Río Piedras Campus* *Abstract Submission Deadline: August 31, 2018* *Conference Date: February 7-9, 2019* Much of queer theory, history, art and performance have been discussed from Anglo American and European perspectives. *Sites Queer* is an interdisciplinary three-day conference exploring the multiple ways in which LGBTQ+ spaces and identities get reconfigured, performed and contested through the technologies and spatial politics of diverse ethnic cultures. Although we welcome submissions from all cultural backgrounds, we are particularly interested in inviting research projects rooted in Latin American, Asian, Aboriginal and African cultures.
From within the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico, *Sites Queer* will be a space to discuss, foreground and analyze divergent queer histories, narratives and spatial practices. Subsequently, playing off the word 'site' as a physical locale as well a digital space, the conference will problematize the ways the Internet, digital technologies, mobile apps and social networks are informing, changing, shaping or contesting queerness for ethnic minorities at urban and rural levels.
The outcome of the conference will be to create a book proposal acting as a critical, cultural memory; a written and visual record; and a speculative, spatial cartography of queer spaces for ethnic minorities, drawing them out from their Otherness and situating them within contemporary sociopolitical debates. Potential themes and sub-themes of the conference include but are not limited to: *-Autoethnography, Autobiography and Performance* *-Non-normative Relationship Structures* *-Intimacy and Romance* *-Chem-sex* *-Digital Economies and Transactions* *-Distance and Proximity* *-Postcodes and Addresses* *-Urban Infrastructures* *-Ephemerality, Transcience and Permanence* *-Nighttime Culture and Economies* *-Migration* *-Bias and Marginalization* *-Looking for Others and Being Found* *-Politics of Space* *-Citizenship and Otherness* *-Tourism and Mobility* *-Activism and Resistance* *Sites Queer* is funded by Dr. Regner Ramos’s FIPI research grant at the University of Puerto Rico School of Architecture. We are inviting research papers, performances, workshop sessions, roundtable sessions and pre-constituted panels to participate. Please send 250-word abstracts and a 150-word biography to regner.ramos@upr.edu . In the case of group submissions, please provide biographies for each individual. *Submission Deadline: August 31, 2018* For more details: http://elsite.xyz/calendar/sites-queer We are delighted to have the following two keynote speakers at *Sites Queer* : Dr. Sharif Mowlabocus is a Senior Lecturer in Media and Digital Media, based within the School of Media, Film and Music at University of Sussex. His research focuses on gay and queer sexualities in media culture, and he has authored a variety of articles and books on the subject. Dr. Richard Miskolci is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at UFSCar and Adjunct coordinator in the area of Sociology/Social Sciences at CAPES. He researches contemporary uses of digital media, focusing on differences of sexuality, gender, race and ethnicity. His upcoming book is titled *Desejos digitais: uma análise sociológica da busca por parceiros online* (*Digital Desires: A Sociological Analysis of Online Partner Search*). We are also happy to have Lucas LaRochelle, founder of Queering The Map <https://queeringthemap.com>, at *Sites Queer *running a workshop. -- *Dr. Regner Ramos* PhD - The Bartlett School of Architecture UCL Assistant Professor - School of Architecture University of Puerto Rico Creative Director & Editor-in-Chief LOBBY Magazine Editor-in-Chief *in*forma Journal Editor/Writer Glass Magazine www.elsite.xyz Instagram: @regner.xyz <http://www.instagram.com/regner.xyz>