“Passing, it seems, threatens to call attention to the performative and contingent nature of all seemingly ‘natural’ and 'obvious’ identities.” - Linda Schlossberg
About the Conference
The goal of this conference is to explore passing as a politically loaded activity that challenges the seemingly intimate relationship between vision and knowledge, between seeing and knowing. The political strength of passing lies in its ability to disrupt structures of identification through which social life has historically been regulated, causing deep social anxiety. As such, we specifically want to question the intricate work that passing does and unravel its socio-political significance.
The idea of passing has been traditionally associated with mixed-raced individuals in the United States, whose appearance allowed them to be classified in different racial groups, mainly “white.” Passing remains a vibrant and relevant research topic in US scholarship, particularly with the emergence of ethnic studies as an academic field. The purpose of the conference is to broaden the conversation about passing beyond the US scope in order to examine how passing is experienced in different national and cultural contexts. Moreover, we want to extend the focus from racial passing to enquire as well how passing has been used to make sense of other social relations such as class, gender and sexuality, which have been at the core of feminist scholarship.
We feel this conference is both timely and provides a safe space for graduate students and early career researchers, working across a range of disciplines in the UK and beyond to debate and build valuable connections.
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