Queer Pasts: What’s Queer in Queer History?

Anjali Arondekar: Archives of Dissent: Sexuality.Caste.History

Suturing histories of caste and sexuality to archives of dissent in South Asia, this talk rearranges the grammar of our ethical engagements with the past and present. At stake here are the historical vernaculars  that found the evidentiary regimes of rights and representation for minoritized subjects.What I offer here are intimations of andolan/dissent, meditations that move between the heady inspirations of protest and the stultifying violence of archival practices. Andolan is a movement in Hindustani music, an alankar (combination/ornamentation of notes) that oscillates between one fixed note and its counterpart, touching, suffusing, all that lies in between. Let us imagine such a history together.

Matt Cook: Entangled Tales: Making Queer History Since the 60s

This lecture brings Queer Beyond London (2023), which Matt co-authored with Alison Oram, into conversation with his forthcoming Writing Queer History (2026). It stays close to the details of queer lives lived in four English cities since the 1960s and in the process gives an account of the collaborative, cross-cutting historical practice that has developed to account for them. He argues that these lives and these modes of history making are more than a muted echo of each other and that this is part of the power of queer history  as we confront attempts by the authoritarian right to eviscerate our complex past.

Keynote panel

• Professor Elspeth Brown, University of Toronto
• Professor Tone Hellesund, University of Bergen
• Rita Paqvalen, Executive Director at Culture for All Service
• Dr. Julian Isenia, University of Amsterdam
• Associate Professor Sam Holmqvist, Södertörn University
• Professor Ulrika Dahl, Uppsala University

• Professor Rikke Andreassen, Roskilde University (PI of Queer women in Denmark in 1880-2020)
• Associate Professor Michael Nebeling Petersen, University of Copenhagen (PI of The Cultural History of AIDS in Denmark)
• Associate Professor Camilla Bruun Eriksen, University of Copenhagen
• Postdoc Tobias de Fønss Wung-Sung, University of Copenhagen
• Postdoc Marie Lunau, Roskilde University
• Academic officer Marie Ahlberg Andersen, University of Copenhagen
• Research Assistant Sofia Keller Bakhsh, Roskilde University
• Student helper Rosa Tygstrup Greiffenberg, University of Copenhagen

University of Copenhagen, South Campus (21 May and 23 May)

Roskilde University (22 May)                      

Roskilde is a twenty-minute train ride from central Copenhagen. We recommend accommodation in Copenhagen during the conference.

University of Copenhagen, South Campus

Karen Blixens Plads 8
DK-2300, Copenhagen S

View directions.

View on map of the Faculty of Humanities - South Campus.

View map of South Campus (pdf).

View map of all campuses at University of Copenhagen.

Roskilde University, Department of Communication and Arts

Kommunikationsvej 41
DK-4000, Roskilde
Building 41

Arrival by train from the Central Station (København H) to Trekroner St.

The nearest train station is Trekroner Station. It takes around 15 minutes to walk from the station to Building 41.

How to get from Copenhagen Central Station (København H) to Trekroner Station

The regional train departs four times per hour usually from track 7 or 8 at Copenhagen Central Station. The train ride is approximately 20-25 minutes.

To arrive for registration at 09:00 on Thursday 22 May, we suggest to take the train at 08:41 am from track 8.

Upon exiting the station, head straight across Trekronervej toward the Trekroner Centre. Follow the path through the centre, cross the bridge over Trekroner Allé, and continue towards Trekroner Lake. Once at the lake, take the path to the right, following the lakeside. After passing the ball field, turn right and walk up toward the library. Continue until you reach RUC's main entrance at the "Square Root." Enter through the large portal, and follow the signs leading to Building 41. The walk from the station to Building 41 should take approximately 15 minutes.If you are late, you have to take a train on your own.

You can check out trains with the final destinations of Roskilde Station and Næstved Station. You can also plan your journey via Rejseplanen.

How to acquire a train ticket

Read more about the different options for tickets to public transportation here.

Always buy a ticket before boarding the train and keep the ticket with you in case a conductor asks to see it.

You can buy your bus, train and metro tickets online.

You can also buy your ticket on the go using the app "DOT Mobilbilletter". Click "Indstillinger" (settings) followed by "Sprog" (language) to select the English version. From there you can select the fare you need and enter your credit card details.

Using the DOT app, you can also buy the City Pass Large, which allows you to travel freely in Copenhagen and the greater Copenhagen area, which includes Roskilde, for your choice of either 24, 48, 72, 96, or 120 hours (prices range from 160-600 DKK).

Tickets can also be bought in ticket machines, which accept Danish cash and the most common credit cards, or 7-Eleven kiosks at the train and metro stations.

How to get from Trekroner Station to Building 41:

Directions can be found using the interactive map of Roskilde University Campus: MazeMap.

Arrival by car

Please note that at Roskilde University you are only allowed to park where there are blue parking signs.

The closest available parking space is at P3.

Download a parkning permit

Please be advised that transportation to Roskilde University is the responsibility of the attendee, and the conference does not cover this expense.