LGBTQI+ Rights in International Politics and the Global South

There are relatively few venues for researchers to share their LGBTQI-focused work in progress and get feedback from scholars who specialise in LGBTQI-related research. This workshop will provide a space for such focused conversations and to help build and broaden the global epistemic community. We are holding it online to avoid the problem of the high cost of in-person participation and exclusionary visa regimes that often make it difficult for scholars to take part. 

Workshop papers should focus on some aspect of LGBTQI+ rights in international politics and/or in the Global South. Papers may be rooted in any social science discipline or be interdisciplinary and may contain any mix of theoretical or empirical focus. All methodological and theoretical approaches are welcome. Papers could address one or more dimensions of any of the following areas, which are provided solely as illustrations and not meant to constitute an exhaustive list: 

• Sexual and gender diversity in any aspect of development cooperation, humanitarian action or conflict/peacebuilding, either generally or in specific cases 
• Issues related to LGBTQI+ rights or inclusion/exclusion in a specific country or region of the Global South, including activism, advocacy and social movements 
• LGBTQI+ rights in customary, domestic or international law or in regional or international fora (whether pro or anti) and efforts to change those laws 
• Transnational support for or opposition to LGBTQI+ rights, including from states, international organisations and CSOs 
• International norm diffusion and resistance regarding LGBTQI+ rights 
• Migration, displacement and asylum related to sexual and gender minorities 
• Non-Western identities based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, or sexual characteristics 
• Lived experiences of sexual and gender minorities in the Global South, including relating to family/kinship, healthcare, religious institutions or state institutions 
• Colonial legacies, decolonial perspectives and LGBTQI+ rights 
• Digital technologies, social media and LGBTQI+ organising 
• Research methods and ethical issues in LGBTQI+ research in the Global South 

Workshop Format and Participation 

The workshop will take place on two half-days, scheduled on consecutive days. We will organise the timing to best accommodate participants’ respective time zones. Panels will be designed thematically, comprising three to four presenters and one discussant per panel.

Circulating a reasonably advanced paper two weeks in advance will be a condition of participation in the panel. As a central goal of the workshop is to help scholars move their work towards publication, papers should not have already been published or accepted for publication prior to the workshop. 

The workshop is open to scholars at any stage of their career. We particularly welcome submissions from scholars based in the Global South, early-career researchers (including graduate students) and scholars from groups underrepresented in academia. There will be no registration fee, but it will be a closed event, i.e., open only to registered participants, to whom papers will be circulated in advance. Participants will be expected to attend the majority of the sessions. 

Abstract Submission 

If you would like your paper to be considered for the workshop, please send your name, position/institutional affiliation, paper title and abstract of about 200–250 words to Stephen Brown at the email address below no later than 20 September 2026. Abstracts should outline the research question(s), tentative argument, methods, evidentiary basis and original contribution. Authors will be notified of the outcome of their submission within two weeks of the deadline. 

If you have any questions, including regarding the fit of your paper, please do not hesitate to contact Stephen Brown. 

Organisers 

• Stephen Brown, University of Ottawa (Canada) / University Alliance Ruhr (Germany), brown(at)uottawa.ca 
• Dennis Dijkzeul, Ruhr University Bochum (Germany), dennis.dijkzeul(at)ruhr-uni-bochum.de 
• Morgane Rosier, Université du Québec à Montréal (Canada), rosier.morgane(at)courrier.uqam.ca 

Host Institution 

College for Social Sciences and Humanities, University Alliance Ruhr, Essen, Germany 

www.college-uaruhr.de

Call for Papers (PDF)