Register for this Zoom panel at http://myumi.ch/m7jPN

Complete series details at https://myumi.ch/RpDJX

Moderator: Alexandra Novitskaya, Title VIII Research Fellow, Kennan Institute/Woodrow Wilson Center, Research Affiliate at Indiana University

Speakers:

Randall Rowe, Assistant Professor of Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, University of Cincinnati

Evgeny Shtorn, Doctoral Candidate in Political, Societal and Cultural Change, University of Helsinki

Mariya Levitanus, Lecturer in Counselling and Psychotherapy, University of Edinburgh

Maryna Shevtsova, FWO Senior Post-Doctoral Fellow, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

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 six 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 5 of the series will examine the role of migration within queer studies in Eurasia and Eastern Europe.