On the eve of August’s Gay Games, the Departments of lesbian and Gay Studies at the Universities of Amsterdam, Nijmegen, and Utrecht will organize an international conference in gay and lesbian studies. Queer Games? Theories, Politics, Sports aims to bring together scholars from various continents to discuss contemporary homosexualities and their histories, politics, and socio-cultural organization. The conference wi II take place July 2 9-31 at the University of Amsterdam. The apparent reconciliation of modern homosexuality and organized sports in the Gay Games puts forward a number of questions that the Queer Games? conference seeks to address. What is the position of lesbians and gays in organized sports? How does lesbian and gay desire figure in the presumably heterosexual domain of sports? The strained relationship of homosexuality and sports also points to questions of a more general nature concerning contemporary homosexualities. For example, can the Olympic Games be so easily appropriated by the gay and lesbian community? What about other mainstream icons? Can they be “queered,” or do they undermine sexual difference once they have been appropriated by gay and lesbian politics and culture? Queer Games? Theories, Politics, Sports also will explore the extent to which the athletes participating in the Gay Games are uniting under a “queer” banner. Does “queer” signify beyond the American political and intellectual context from which it originates? For more information, please contact: Queer Games? Conference Committee, p/a Gert Hekma, Sociologisch lnstituut, Oude Hoogstraat 24, 1012 CE Amsterdam, The Netherlands; + 31-20-525-2226; Hekma@PSCW.UV.IL.
