Session title: “Mapping sexualities: cartographies, texts, atlases and other representational and non-representational tools”
Organizers: Alberto Vanolo (University of Turin), Cesare Di Feliciantonio (Sapienza- University of Rome & KU Leuven) and Thomas Wimark (Stockholm University)
The aim of this session is to discuss existing and potential approaches and experiences in mapping sexualities. This is not a new discussion: the idea of mapping has been mobilised in various ways in the field of sexual geographies. The pivotal book Mapping Desire by Bell and Valentine (1995), for example, makes a metaphorical use of the concept of mapping in the exploration of various relationships between human sexualities and geographical spaces. Similarly, Pile and Thrift (1995), in their edited book Mapping the subject (which devote a specific session on sexualities) discuss the difficulties of mapping something that does not have precise boundaries, that is always culturally ‘on the move’ and that is only partially locatable in time-space.
Despite these difficulties, many scholars have utilised the idea of mapping, in strict sense, in order to produce spatial representations of sexual behaviours. Initially, this may be the case of a long tradition of segregation studies aimed at mapping gay ghettos (since the origins of the Chicago School of Human Ecologists), but more recently a wide range of mapping attempts have been made, e.g. Atlas mondial des sexualités by Cattan and Leroy (2013) and the Gay and Lesbian Atlas by Gates and Ost (2004). Numerous new spatial representations have been based on statistical data on same-sex partnerships giving primacy to both the heterosexual/homosexual binary as well as the monomogamous relationship. Notwithstanding these reductionist representations of sexuality, the geographical publications are growing with very little discussion (see Brown and Knopp (2006) for an exception). Outside the academia, spatial representations are also becoming increasingly used without larger reflections. From policy makers and institutions to institutions regulating our daily lives, e.g. websites, often developed by police forces, proposing GIS maps of sex offenders in order to keep an eye on local neighbourhoods.
This session focuses on critical reflections on perspectives, methodologies and empirical attempts to map sexualities. Particularly, a non-exhaustive list of topics that are welcome includes:
- Theoretical and methodological approaches to the mapping of human sexualities;
- Critical reflections on the metaphor of the map in the exploration of human sexualities;
- Empirical experiences in the mapping of sexual phenomena, for example through GIS technologies or crowd-mapping;
- Alternative approaches to the representation of social sexualities in space;
- The politics of sexual mapping, including issues of surveillance and privacy;
- Mapping sexualities beyond metropolitan areas: what happens in ¢ordinary cities¢ and low-density areas?
- The representations of (sexualized) mobilities and tourism;
To submit an abstract (around 250 words) and for informal inquiries, please send an email to: [email protected] and thomas[email protected]
Deadline for the submission of abstracts: 27 April 2015.
Organizers: Alberto Vanolo (University of Turin), Cesare Di Feliciantonio (Sapienza- University of Rome & KU Leuven) and Thomas Wimark (Stockholm University)
The aim of this session is to discuss existing and potential approaches and experiences in mapping sexualities. This is not a new discussion: the idea of mapping has been mobilised in various ways in the field of sexual geographies. The pivotal book Mapping Desire by Bell and Valentine (1995), for example, makes a metaphorical use of the concept of mapping in the exploration of various relationships between human sexualities and geographical spaces. Similarly, Pile and Thrift (1995), in their edited book Mapping the subject (which devote a specific session on sexualities) discuss the difficulties of mapping something that does not have precise boundaries, that is always culturally ‘on the move’ and that is only partially locatable in time-space.
Despite these difficulties, many scholars have utilised the idea of mapping, in strict sense, in order to produce spatial representations of sexual behaviours. Initially, this may be the case of a long tradition of segregation studies aimed at mapping gay ghettos (since the origins of the Chicago School of Human Ecologists), but more recently a wide range of mapping attempts have been made, e.g. Atlas mondial des sexualités by Cattan and Leroy (2013) and the Gay and Lesbian Atlas by Gates and Ost (2004). Numerous new spatial representations have been based on statistical data on same-sex partnerships giving primacy to both the heterosexual/homosexual binary as well as the monomogamous relationship. Notwithstanding these reductionist representations of sexuality, the geographical publications are growing with very little discussion (see Brown and Knopp (2006) for an exception). Outside the academia, spatial representations are also becoming increasingly used without larger reflections. From policy makers and institutions to institutions regulating our daily lives, e.g. websites, often developed by police forces, proposing GIS maps of sex offenders in order to keep an eye on local neighbourhoods.
This session focuses on critical reflections on perspectives, methodologies and empirical attempts to map sexualities. Particularly, a non-exhaustive list of topics that are welcome includes:
- Theoretical and methodological approaches to the mapping of human sexualities;
- Critical reflections on the metaphor of the map in the exploration of human sexualities;
- Empirical experiences in the mapping of sexual phenomena, for example through GIS technologies or crowd-mapping;
- Alternative approaches to the representation of social sexualities in space;
- The politics of sexual mapping, including issues of surveillance and privacy;
- Mapping sexualities beyond metropolitan areas: what happens in ¢ordinary cities¢ and low-density areas?
- The representations of (sexualized) mobilities and tourism;
To submit an abstract (around 250 words) and for informal inquiries, please send an email to: [email protected] and thomas[email protected]
Deadline for the submission of abstracts: 27 April 2015.