Call for Seminar Papers 18th ESSE Conference – Seminar 21, “The Poetics and Ethics of Sexual Dissidence in Anglophone Postcolonial Literatures”
Call for Seminar Papers: Seminar 21, “The Poetics and Ethics of Sexual Dissidence in Anglophone Postcolonial teratures” Dates: August 31–September 4, 2026 Place: Santiago de Compostela, Spain Convenors: Cédric Courtois (University of Lille, France); Angelo Monaco (Aldo Moro University of Bari, Italy) We invite submissions for a panel that will examine the intersections of sexuality, identity, resistance and dissent in Anglophone postcolonial non-fiction, fiction, drama, and poetry. We wish to explore the avenues offered by literary texts to challenge and/or disrupt heteronormative and “universal” norms of gender and sexuality, by pondering over what Jonathan Dollimore calls “sexual dissidence” (1991), linked to a form of transgressivity. In so doing, these texts can be considered as “political”, if we follow Jacques Rancière, for whom “dissensus” is at the heart of “politics” (2010). To what extent do these literary texts shed light on other modes of being that interrogate the legacies of colonialism? By adopting a decolonial perspective, which lays bare the “colonial wound”, could Anglophone literatures delve into ways of reaching “decolonial healings” (Mignolo and Vazquez 2013)? As David L. Eng puts it, sexual dissidence and other forms of intimacy can work as “sites of critical response” (2010) for addressing the challenges of race in the so-called “colorblind” age of global capitalism. By staging vulnerable, “precarious” (Butler 2004) and “ungrievable” (Butler 2009) lives, embodied and “willful” (Ahmed 2014) lives even, at the intersection of race, gender and sexuality, these texts can be said to resist censorship, the law, and more generally “queer” invisibilisation. In this light, the focus on sexual dissidence could lead to what Emmanuel Renault calls “recognition” (2001), especially for LGBTQIA2S+ people who tend to be stigmatized; the lack of “recognition” can be “experience[d] […] as real moral wounds[,] [t]he experience of [which] is painful and radical enough to lead to a revolt” (Renault 2001). Building on these insights, this panel will strive to elucidate how Anglophone postcolonial literatures help cultivate an ethics and a poetics of sexual dissidence, serving as an archive of (cultural) resistance. Deadline for the submission of proposals for seminar papers: January 31, 2026. Send to: cedric.courtois@univ-lille.fr, angelo.monaco@uniba.it Further information at: www.esse2026.com Dates: August31–September 4, 2026Place: Santiagode Compostela, SpainConvenors:Cédric Courtois (University of Lille, France); Angelo Monaco (Aldo MoroUniversity of Bari, Italy)Deadline for thesubmission of proposals for seminar papers: January 31, 2026. Send to: cedric.courtois@univ-lille.fr, angelo.monaco@uniba.it Furtherinformation at: www.esse2026.com We invitesubmissions for a panel that will examine the intersections of sexuality,identity, resistance and dissent in Anglophone postcolonial non-fiction,fiction, drama, and poetry. We wish to explore the avenues offered by literarytexts to challenge and/or disrupt heteronormative and “universal” norms ofgender and sexuality, by pondering over what Jonathan Dollimore calls “sexualdissidence” (1991), linked to a form of transgressivity. In so doing, thesetexts can be considered as “political”, if we follow Jacques Rancière, for whom“dissensus” is at the heart of “politics” (2010). To what extent do these literary texts shed light on other modesof being that interrogate the legacies of colonialism? By adopting a decolonialperspective, which lays bare the “colonial wound”, could Anglophone literaturesdelve into ways of reaching “decolonial healings” (Mignolo and Vazquez 2013)?As David L. Eng puts it, sexual dissidence and other forms of intimacy can workas “sites of critical response” (2010) for addressing the challenges of race inthe so-called “colorblind” age of global capitalism. By staging vulnerable,“precarious” (Butler 2004) and “ungrievable” (Butler 2009) lives, embodied and“willful” (Ahmed 2014) lives even, at the intersection of race, gender andsexuality, these texts can be said to resist censorship, the law, and moregenerally “queer” invisibilisation. In this light, the focus on sexualdissidence could lead to what Emmanuel Renault calls “recognition” (2001),especially for LGBTQIA2S+ people who tend to be stigmatized; the lack of“recognition” can be “experience[d] […] as real moral wounds[,] [t]heexperience of [which] is painful and radical enough to lead to a revolt”(Renault 2001). Building on these insights, this panel will strive to elucidatehow Anglophone postcolonial literatures help cultivate an ethics and a poeticsof sexual dissidence, serving as an archive of (cultural) resistance.
