Complete series details and registration links at https://myumi.ch/RpDJX

Moderator: Anita Kurimay, Associate Professor of History and Director of Gender and Sexuality Studies, Bryn Mawr College

Speakers:

Feruza Aripova, Visiting Scholar, Columbia University

Kamil Karczewski, Fellow, Institute of Historical Research, School of Advanced Study, University College London

Irina Roldugina, UCIS Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pittsburgh

Roman Utkin, Assistant Professor of Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, Wesleyan University

Many efforts have been made over the past several years to diversify Eastern European and Eurasian studies. This new spotlight surfaces research that has been conducted by many scholars for much longer, highlighting their commitment to telling stories and honoring perspectives of diverse and minority communities. Their work reveals that while there is no unified queer experience in the region, there is often a one-size-fits all state response to the reality of queer lives in many nations within the region.

How can a queer-studies focus advance conversations about decolonization in East European and Eurasian Studies? To address this question, Queer Focus will have seven virtual panels featuring speakers from various disciplines and institutions. Panelists and participants will explore how gendered regimes were constitutive of Russo-centric relationships of power, defining the region and how we study it, as we collectively grapple with what it means to re-examine our current research, teaching, and institutional practices.

Panel 2 of the series will take a historical view of queer studies within the region, with a special look at the role and availability of archives.