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Kompetenz­zentrum Frauen in Wissenschaft und Forschung

Conducting history of sexuality, gender diversity and queer ‒ concepts, theory and methods

Zeitraum:
Ort: online or hybrid format
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Call:

"Course description: This doctoral course focuses on the theoretical and methodological questions of conducting research on the histories of sexualities, gender diversity or queer. During the past decades, the study on the history of sexuality and gender diversity has grown into an internationally recognized and diverse field, producing rich theorization on how to address past sexualities and gendered subjectivities in their various forms, temporalities and locations. Hence, the theoretical approaches developed in this field have been applied to varying geographical and temporal contexts. In addition, the histories of gender diversity in the context of for example, trans and intersex experiences, have often been developed in connection to queer history.

This course is open for doctoral candidates whose work is connected to the topics of sexualities, gender diversity or queer in history, working under any discipline, on any historical period and any geographical area. The course consists of participating in the conference “Histories of Sexualities, Gender Diversity, and Queer in the Nordic and Baltic Region” (25-26 October), either with your own presentation or without one, and a one-day workshop following the conference (27 October) which focuses on the participants’ own dissertation work. During the workshop, participants will receive expert feedback on their papers (dissertation chapters, article manuscripts, work-in-progress) from the teachers and other doctoral candidates.

The course is free of charge and will take place at the University of Helsinki or, situation demanding, via Zoom. The participants need to cover their own travel and accommodation expenses. SKY-doctoral students (University of Helsinki) will have a prioritized entry to the course, but it is open to other PhD students from universities in Finland and abroad. The maximum number of admitted students will be 6 to allow sufficient time for engagement with each students’ work during the workshop. 

Teachers:  Andrés Brink Pinto is Associate Professor (Docent) in history at Lund University. Since 2019 he is working as a researcher at the department of Gender Studies, Lund University, on a project dealing with the policing of homosexuality in Stockholm 1944-1968 (grant no VR 2018-01161). Previously he has done research on youth riots, militant antifascism and norms of class, gender and sexuality within the Swedish communist movement.

Julian Honkasalo is an Academy of Finland postdoctoral research scholar in gender studies, University of Helsinki. Honkasalo obtained their PhD in gender studies at the University of Helsinki in 2016, with a dissertation on feminist interpretations of Hannah Arendt. They obtained a second PhD in political science at the New School for Social Research in 2018, with a dissertation on Hannah Arendt and biopolitics. The dissertation was awarded with the New School's Hannah Arendt Award in Politics. Honkasalo's current, postdoctoral research focuses on contemporary offshoots of twentieth-century race hygiene, gender norms and eugenic discourse from a Foucaultian perspective. A key question of interest in the project is understanding how minorities resist biopolitical violence.

Riikka Taavetti is a postdoctoral researcher in gender studies at the University of Helsinki. She works currently in research project titled Sexuality and democracy: Exploring the links and re-thinking the concepts for feminist politics (SEXDEM), funded by the Kone Foundation. Her research addresses political debates concerning same-sex sexuality in Estonia and Sweden from the late 1980s to 2010s. Her research interests include Estonian and Finnish history of sexuality, queer history, politics of memory and oral history. She has also conducted research on the history of sex research in Finland and Sweden. 

Practicalities: For applying to the course, please send an abstract of your paper (max. 200 words) and personal information via e-form by 15 August 2021: https://elomake.helsinki.fi/lomakkeet/111976/lomake.html   

In case your work is connected to Nordic and Baltic region and you wish to propose a paper to the conference, please see the conference Call for Papers and submit your proposal by end of May 2021: https://www2.helsinki.fi/en/conferences/histories-of-sexualities-gender-diversity-and-queer-in-the-nordic-and-baltic-region/call-for-papers    

Decisions of acceptance for the course will be made by 1 September 2021.

Attending the course will require you to: 

  1. Send a paper (max 3000 words) by 11 October 2021.  
  2. Attend the conference on 25-26 October.
  3. Read your fellow students’ papers to participate in the discussions the seminar day 27 October. The papers will be circulated among the workshop participants, so all can comment and discuss.

For further information, please contact the main organizer of the course: Riikka Taavetti, riikka . taavetti (a) helsinki.fi."