Call for papers: Queering Family Violence

A special issue to be published in 2023 by the Journal of Family Violence

Co-editors: Marianna Muravyeva, University of Helsinki, Finland and

Alexander Sasha Kondakov, University College Dublin, Ireland

Deadline for abstracts: 01 April 2022

Family violence has been mostly theorised and studied as a heterosexual problem. Indeed, the family has persistently appeared to be a heteronormative concept. Yet, with the legal recognition of same-sex marriages in many European, Latin American, and North American countries, the body of literature on family and dating violence in same-sex relationships has started to grow. There has been little attempt, though, to offer new theoretical perspectives on violence in queer settings. The goal of this special issue is, therefore, twofold. On the one hand, we intend to propose and review new theoretical issues stemming from the recognition of violent incidents within queer relationships. On the other, we welcome empirical research conducted within any methodological approach to family and dating violence where LGBT+ people are engaged as both victims and perpetrators.

The idea of this special issue results from a series of workshops on Queering Family Violence (supported by the Joint Committee for Nordic Research Councils for the Humanities and the Social Sciences (NOS-HS)) where leading scholars in the area and early career researchers discussed the studies of violence against LGBT+ people within the family in the past and present-day societies.

In this special issue, we investigate violence not only in same-sex families but in families of various types, including heterosexual families, where queerness is part of the picture. Hence, we invite contributions that look at official same-sex families or unofficial cohabitations, a family with queer children, or a heterosexual family where one of the parents comes out as gay. Or, perhaps, potential authors would like to look at violence queerly and investigate the role of non-intimate family members in violence such as domestic animals or even plants. These perspectives add new reflections to the studies of violence: they bring in the variety of queer aspects of family relationships.

We also widen our scope and turn the focus not only on younger LGBT+ people but also on older ones. There is very little research on intimate partner violence (IPV) among older LGBT+ couples, although they surely face abuse and neglect in both institutional and private settings. In studying elderly people, we also invite potential authors to consider a broad definition of family violence, especially violence against parents. This intersectional perspective may also include various ways of queering family violence in relation to race, able-bodiedness, gender, working class, and other markers of a historically disadvantaged social position.

Overall, we invite potential authors who look at dynamics of violence in families that include queer members, at existing prevention and intervention programmes related to such violence, and new theoretical issues of queering family violence. We intend to assess the prevalence of abuse, conceptualise queer family violence, and highlight possible ways to improve public policy and social services regarding well-being.

If you find resonance of these topics in your own work, we invite you to submit an abstract of your proposed article of no longer than 800 words (including the paper’s title, references, and author’s name, affiliation, and contact details). Please submit your abstracts as a Word-processing document attachment to email at queeringfamilyviolence@gmail.com with the subject line ‘Queering Family Violence: Special Issue.’

Possible topics of your papers could include but are not limited to:

Theoretical approaches to queering family violence
Violence between queer intimate partners
Violence against queer children
Violence against queer elderly
Dating violence in queer relationships
Cisgendered heteronormativity of narratives about intimate partner violence
Forms of violence and violent dynamics of intimate queer relationships
Violent encounters between strangers: dating apps, cruising sites, and queer life
Health and violent queer relationships
Intersectionality and queering family violence

The special issue is expected to primarily include original articles, which can be no longer than 35 double-spaced pages (inclusive of references, tables, figures, etc.). In addition, systematic reviews (which can be no longer than 40 pages inclusive of references, tables, figures, etc.) are also welcome, as are brief case examples and brief reports of research (which can be no longer than 20 pages inclusive of references, tables, figures, etc.).

The Journal of Family Violence (JOFV) is a peer-reviewed publication committed to the dissemination of rigorous research on preventing, ending, and ameliorating all forms of family violence. All authors will be expected to follow the JOFV instructors for authors, found at https://www.springer.com/journal/10896/submission-guidelines.

Invitation to submit a manuscript is not a guarantee of publication. Invited authors will also be expected to serve as a reviewer for other papers to be part of the special issue. There is no requirement regarding the nationality of the researchers and papers do not necessarily need to have been presented at the Queering Family Violence workshops.

Procedure and Planned Timelines

1 April 2022: Abstracts should be submitted via email to queeringfamilyviolence@gmail.com.
15 April 2022: Authors will be notified of acceptance of abstract and invitation to submit a full paper.
22-24 June 2022: Selected authors may attend a writing workshop on Queering Family Violence in Reykjavik to work on their final drafts.
15 October 2022: Deadline for submission of full papers online via the JOFV Editorial Manager website.
1 February 2023: Notification sent of acceptance/acceptance subject to revisions.
1 April 2023: Deadline for submission of revised manuscripts.
1 May 2023: Notification of acceptance for full publication.