‘Love, Love, Peace, Peace’: Political and Queer Theory in the Eurovision Song Contest
19 May 2023, University of Edinburgh
Keynote: Dr Catherine Baker (University of Hull), ‘Eurovision and LGBTQ+ Visibility in City Space’
The Eurovision Song Contest will be celebrated in Liverpool in May 2023 for the 67th time. Hosted this year by the UK on behalf of Ukraine, Eurovision clearly continues to play a central political role in Europe and beyond, while voting is going to be opened for the first time to viewers across the world. Eurovision has started to be studied academically in recent decades, and there is much room to explore further aspects of this major historical and cultural event, especially in light of the rapidly changing politics in Europe, the tensions between celebrations of inclusivity and growing social polarisations, and recent developments in critical studies.
This one-day interdisciplinary workshop will bring together scholars from various fields in the humanities and social sciences to offer new perspectives on the politics of Eurovision. It will be held six days after the Grand Final of Eurovision 2023. Papers are invited from scholars who work on different aspects of the Eurovision Song Contest, including but not limited to:
Eurovision and the Russia-Ukraine war
Eurovision, ‘Pan-Europeanism’ and ‘Europeanness’
Eurovision, ethnicity and the rise of the European far-right
Gender, sexuality and ‘camp’ culture
LGBTQ+ politics and queer international relations; ‘pink-washing’ and ‘homo-nationalism’
Eurovision, race and identity
Eurovision, ‘the west’ and utopianism
Shifts in music and language in recent Eurovision performances
Major rule changes in Eurovision 2023, countries’ withdrawals, and the contest’s future
Political economy, the role of Eurovision in reflecting and generating geopolitics
Eurovision and COVID-19
Eurovision’s global audiences, Australia, the US, the Middle East and China
Please send 150-word abstracts for individual 15-minute papers, and 50-word bios, by 1 February 2023, to elad.carmel1@mail.huji.ac.il. Panel proposals will also be welcomed, so please use this address to discuss this prior to submission. The workshop is planned to be held in-person, but if you would like to present virtually, please note that in your submission. Some small bursaries may be available for PhD students and unaffiliated or unwaged researchers.
Organiser: Dr Elad Carmel (IASH, University of Edinburgh and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem). This event is supported by the Susan Manning Workshop Fund from the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh.