Forum : return to Queer Iberia

S. Donnell

Resistance or repetition? This is the deceptively simple theoretical question that has concerned many scholars in the humanities and social sciences for several decades, and that constitutes the primary concern of participants in this Forum on queer approaches to the study of medieval and early modern Iberia. Do queer readings contest hegemonic understandings of the history and literature of Iberia? Or do they perpetuate outdated paradigms that venerate Spain's and Portugal's respective imperial pasts? What are the promises and perils of queer epistemologies? These questions were addressed at "Return to Queer Iberia", a symposium organized by Michael Solomon and sponsored by the Department of Romance Languages at the University of Pennsylvania (October 19-20, 2001). Many of its participants had contributed chapters to the groundbreaking collection Queer Iberia: Sexualities, Cultures, and Crossings from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, edited by Josiah Blackmore and Gregory S. Hutcheson (1999). This volume makes a major contribution to Iberian historical and literary studies, and is one of a handful of works that has brought theoretical sophistication to studies of sexuality within the field. The Forum presented here moves beyond the already exemplary contribution of Queer Iberia. Like the volume, it explores exciting new directions in medieval and early modern Iberian studies.