Queer Transformations

Queer methodologies emphasise the value of collating affective stories, non-linear narratives, and visual data in order to understand the experiences of diverse queer communities, and as a strategy for radical social transformation. This project explores what 'queer transformation' might mean and how it can be acheived through methodological, collaborative, and creative innovation.

Questions the project explores include:
• Strategies for developing queer methodologies
• The forms we use to retell or record the stories created and curated through queer methods
• The audiences and the afterlife of these creative research data
• Strategies for embedding knowledge exchange and engagement beyond the academy
• Formats for (and challenges of) non-traditional reporting and archive curation
• What does queer transformation mean in and out of the academy?
• Can the concrete utopias (Munoz, 2009; Wang, 2023) imagined through artistic practice be included in co-produced academic enquiry and/or policy-orientated investigation?
• Can queer disruption be achieved in institutionally sponsored work?
• How can publishing schedules, impact case studies, or funding bodies accommodate exploratory, radical, transformative, and non-linear stories, communities, and artistic productions?
• What are the ethical and social imperatives and implications of producing non-standard outputs for academic projects?
• How do we archive performance and other non-textual data?
• What are the cultural, legal, and social afterlives of artefacts produced in queer, creative projects?
•  Who is served by queer research on queer communities, identities, spaces, people, and lives?
• How do we share ideas and information in ways which reflect the methods used and communities affected?

We began exploring these questions in our conference, hosted at the University of Southampton, in June 2024.