Journal of Lesbian Studies

Nordic Queer Identities and Movements: Coalitions, Ruptures and Repairs

Nordic queer life unfolds within the context of both the development and the dismantling of welfare states international queer movements as well an increasingly polarized political discourse on queer rights. Anti-gender ideology and neoliberal attacks on the welfare state have reshaped queer Nordic identities and transformed the conditions for political and community organizing. Assimilationist organizations are being formed that are calling for the separation of LGB from trans and queer groups. In response to these tensions, new coalitions have been made possible, old collaborations and identifications have been challenged, and new language, forms of identifications, and hope are formulated.

Nordic queer research has a broad understanding of queerness and rich history of nuanced studies of queer life. However, there are important differences in national contexts that complicate a unifying understanding of the queer Nordic but which pose exciting opportunities for greater imaginative particularities in queer lifeways.

For this special issue, we welcome contributions from social sciences and humanities perspectives that explore the queer Nordic experience, collective movements, and structural shifts. We hope to see manuscripts centering lesbian lives or perspectives in some ways, but the call is not limited to lesbian studies.

• Lesbian/sapphic experiences, health and political organizing
• Fluid identities – lesbian/bi+/pan, non-binary/agender and more
• Trans lives and politics, especially lesbian women with trans experiences
• Intersectional studies of Nordic queer identities and movements
• Studies of attitudes or norms influencing queer lives
• Spaces of queer life in the Nordics as well as migration to or from these contexts
• Cultural representations of Nordic queer identities and movements
• Historical developments of queer identities, lives and movements

We expect all contributions to discuss the Nordic and the national context, as well as how these contextual aspects can be related to global developments both politically and scientifically.