In this gender studies project, we develop methods for conducting queer visual history to write queer and trans history. We research how gender and sexual diversity have been expressed by analysing archived photographs and contextual ego-documents of first-wave feminists, female couples, wartime photographers, and bachelors. In our project, we develop and apply interdisciplinary methods to interpret the appearances, homes, dwellings, and environments apparent in such pictures by drawing from affect studies, new materialism, and human geography. Our project theorises the possibilities of queer visual history to study queer lives. We will, among other publications, coauthor a handbook for studying the past by using visual history. The knowledge we produce will add a historical angle to the current understanding of uncharted gender and sexual diversity and present it as a varied social phenomenon that changes over time.
Funding
Contact persons
Tuula Juvonen
University LecturerCall for Papers: Visual History Now Conference (8-9 October 2026)
Visual History Now: Using photographs to study the history of gender, sexuality, and space
Dates: October 8–9, 2026
Location: Tampere University
Call: Much like historical texts, historical photographs need particular tools, competences, and methods for analysis to unfold their making, uses, and reception. And just like texts, photographs can be used in multiple ways to answer diverse questions. If we want to think beyond textual sources, what are the means to analyse this form of visuality? How can we make sense of historical photographs and interpret their content for historical analysis?
We invite scholars who are using historical photographs in their research on gender, sexuality, and space to gather and present their papers at the Visual History Now Conference. We hope to receive abstracts for papers that, for example,
- use innovative methods to approach historical archives, combining photographs and other sources
- queer the methods of analysis of gender and sexuality in historical photographs
- scrutinize, by which means we can extract information from, photographs
- provide a novel take in approaching materiality in the photographs
- incorporate affect-based approaches in photographic analysis
- propose inventive uses of photography for public history offer other inspiring perspectives that ignite new paths to study visual history
The engaged keynote speakers are Professor Elspeth Brown, University of Toronto and Academy Fellow Tiina Männistö-Funk, University of Turku.
You may propose a single paper or a panel with 3–4 papers. Please include in your one-page submission:
- Title and an abstract of a paper (300 words)
- The title of a proposed panel (if any)
- Short bio (100 words)
- Contact information
Please submit your proposal by March 31, 2026, to picme [at] tuni.fi (picme[at]tuni[dot]fi). We will notify you about the decisions by April 15th, 2026.
Organizers:
Finnish Research Council funded project The majority without a motor: Non-motorized mobility, Finnish living environments and spatial equality, 1950–1990 (2021–2027; 341029) led by Tiina Männistö-Funk
Finnish Research Council funded project Picture Me: Presenting queer visual history (2025–2029; 368235) led by Tuula Juvonen