Annual conferences of the academic organisation Gender Studies
Annual conferences of the academic organisation Gender Studies
4th Annual Conference "Cognition, Knowledge, Intervention"
On 14 - 15 February 2014, the fourth annual conference of the Gender Studies Association took place at the University of Paderborn / Centre for Gender Studies under the title "Erkenntnis, Wissen, Intervention".
3rd Annual Conference "Intimacy"
From 14 - 16 February 2013, the third annual conference of the Gender Studies Association took place at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt a. M. under the title "Intimacy".
2nd annual conference 'Hikes'
On 3 and 4 February 2012, the second annual conference of the Gender Studies Association took place at the Carl von Ossietzky University under the title 'Migrations. Migrations & Transformations from a Gender Studies Perspective'. The conference was hosted by the Centre for Interdisciplinary Women's and Gender Studies.
The conference papers are expected to be published in February 2013 in the series'Studien interdisziplinäre Geschlechterforschung', edited by the ZFG and the Centre for Gender Studies at the University of Bremen (ZGS) and published by transcript-Verlag.
- Annual conference 2012
Call for PapersMigrations. Migrations & transformations from a gender studies perspective
Second Annual Conference of the Gender Studies Association (Gender e. V.) at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Oldenburg (ZFG)
3-4 February 2012
Conference Report: Migrations. Migrations & Transformations from a Gender Studies Perspective
The political consequences of the many forms of migration from a gender studies perspective were at the centre of the 2nd annual conference of the Wissenschaftliche Fachgesellschaft Geschlechterstudien. The contributions from a wide range of disciplines, from art history and prehistoric archaeology to Computing Science, were discussed by over 100 participants from German-speaking countries.
Under the deliberately broad theme of 'Migrations', the migration not only of people but also of cultural artefacts as well as ideas and concepts between disciplines and cultures was examined, discussed across disciplines and questioned with regard to the possibilities and perspectives of feminist intervention.
Johannes Ismaiel-Wendt showed in an unconventional way that not only people and things, but also beats can go on a journey in his soundlecture "tracks'n'treks. Beweg-Gründe Genre und Gender", at the centre of which was the deconstruction of beat and gender.
The diverse contributions focused on the ambivalence of migratory movements, which can both soften and reinforce hierarchies and norms. Furthermore, it became clear how migration processes challenge (Western, predominantly white) gender studies and its central concepts and necessitate a constant re-examination of feminist theory and practice. The contributions by Miriam Trzeciak and Sabine Hess, for example, emphatically demonstrated that emancipatory interventions can easily turn into their opposite if they do not reflect on their categories. Both addressed the victimisation tendencies towards migrants as they have become established in the gender policy context and highlighted the need to rethink and differentiate concepts such as victim status and empowerment.
Nanna Heidenreich's contribution made it particularly clear that the concept of migration also needs to be re-examined in order to avoid victimisation and demarcation tendencies. Referring to feminist critiques of representation, she called for a "concept of representation that constitutively takes invisibility into account".
Anja Michaelsen also referred to the difficult conditions of feminist criticism, for example when the deprivileging of biological motherhood/relationships can no longer be clearly described as a goal in the context of transcultural adoption. She sees this example as exemplary of the difficulty of formulating clear gender policy demands in the face of the ambiguity of social relationships in the context of migration and globalisation.
The inter- and transdisciplinary enquiry into complex phenomena is an integral part of gender studies, but also poses new challenges time and again. For example, archaeologist Julia Koch was able to show how gender studies approaches have transformed prehistoric mobility research. At the same time, her presentation also made clear where the methodology of prehistoric archaeology - such as bone analysis, which assumes biological bisexuality - collides with the current understanding of gender.
In view of these challenges, the question of the fundamental discussion of the concept of gender and the question of uniform quality standards for gender studies was also a central topic in the discussion of the specialist society's self-image. Despite all the differences, there was agreement that such standards were desirable. Political interventions within and outside the academic community were also welcomed. The discussion will be continued at the next conference, which will be organised by the Cornelia Goethe Centrum in Frankfurt.
The conference concluded with the general meeting and the election of the new board of the professional association (see: www.fg-gender.de/wordpress/?page_id=121).
Sara Stadler
Scientific Society for Gender Studies
Founded in Berlin in 2010, the aim of the specialised society is to promote the establishment and further development of gender studies in German-speaking countries and, in particular, inter- and transdisciplinary exchange. Furthermore, the innovative potential that gender studies has brought to the academic field as an academic perspective across all disciplines for many years is to be made even more public and visible. For the programme, see also www.fg-gender.de.