Conference: Contingency, power and data gaps

Annual conference of the GeQuInDi network 2025

Topic: Contingency, power and data gaps in the focus of gender, queer, intersectionality and diversity studies

The GeQuInDi network is pleased to invite you to the Call for Participation for the annual conference 2025. Following the leitmotif of contingency, the conference poses questions about the role of indeterminacy, chance and openness in the interplay with dimensions of social inequality. To what extent does contingency challenge our patterns of thought and action? What potential does it hold for subversive strategies, transformation and intersectional perspectives? What opportunities does it open up? What risks does it harbor?

Theoretical background

Gender, queer, intersectionality and diversity studies question norms, power structures and epistemic orders. Contingency draws attention to the unforeseen, the random and the non-determined. As Butler (2002) emphasizes, making surprise, chance and contingency visible can unleash subversive potentials and create space for alternative realizations. At the same time, it is pointed out that various techniques and strategies are developed in order to control the random or to turn it into predictable elements (cf. Zollinger 1997).
From an intersectional perspective, a productive field of tension opens up: contingency can destabilize hierarchies and enable alternative forms of action and thought, while at the same time posing new challenges for concepts of justice and participation. For example, approaches from cultural studies show that contingency can act as a transmitter for something completely new (Kasabova/Langreiter 2007), while in digital contexts, chance and contingency are increasingly seen as productive elements (Chun 2008).

Thematic focus

The conference offers a forum for contributions that deal with the multi-layered interweaving of contingency and social categories. Possible questions include, but are not limited to:

• How does contingency manifest itself in everyday practices, social relations and cultural expressions?
  
• What role does contingency play in the (re)production or subversion of power relations?
  
• How is indeterminacy and contingency dealt with in scientific practice, political processes or artistic contexts?
  
• To what extent can contingent moments serve as a starting point for transformations and intersectional critique?
  
• What performative forms does contingency produce and how can these be reflected upon?
  
• How can feminist, queer and intersectional perspectives expand the dimensions of contingency?
  
• Is the gender gap a form of contingency that harbors opportunities or risks?
  
  

Formats of participation

The conference offers the following participation formats:

• Individual presentations: 20-minute presentations followed by a discussion.
  
• Panels: Two-hour sessions proposed by participants with a maximum of five contributions, including introduction and comments.
  
• Poster presentation: DIN A 1, portrait format and 3-minute presentation
  
• Innovative formats: Interactive and experimental approaches such as artistic interventions, workshops or hybrid methods.
  
• Student panel: Platform for the presentation of ongoing student research projects.
  

Submission of contributions

We welcome the participation of students and researchers of all qualification levels (so-called early career researchers). Please submit an abstract (max. 300 words) and a short biography (max. 150 words) via the online form by May 04, 2025. Contributions can be written in German or English.
Following the conference, selected contributions (double blind peer reviewing) will be published in a conference volume (probably in the series 'Gender Studies' by Transcript).

Organizational details

The conference will take place from December 10-12, 2025 at the University of Bayreuth. Further information, including a preliminary program, will be published on our website in due course. Travel and accommodation costs can be covered on a pro rata basis if the participant has no other funding options available. Childcare will be provided. The conference is part of the GO Forschung (Gender - Offensive - Forschung) project, which is funded by the BMBF funding guideline “Geschlechteraspekte im Blick”. 

Organisers

Veronika Rudolf, M.A., Research Associate in Media Studies, University of Bayreuth and spokesperson for the GeQuInDi network
Dr habil. Elena Köstner, Head of the ‘GO Forschung’ project, Gender Equality Service Centre, University of Bayreuth, spokesperson for the GeQuInDi network and ancient historian at the University of Regensburg