HERZLICHE EINLADUNG ZUR SUMMER SCHOOL/ INVITATION TO SUMMER SCHOOL
23 – 24 June 2025 at Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg
Multi-Perspectivity in Gender Studies?
Reviewing the Gender Studies Curricula from Southern and Northern Perspectives ZFG Oldenburg in cooperation with the Centre for Women and Gender Studies (CWGS) at Nelson Mandela University Gqeberha (South Africa).
What kind of knowledge do we produce in the Global North and the Global South? What kind of knowledge do we need?
We are delighted to welcome our colleagues from Nelson Mandela University and are looking forward to exciting discussions with Prof. Dr. Pumla Dineo Gqola (NRF SA-CHAIR in African Feminist Imagination NMU), Prof. Dr. Babalwa Magoqwana (Director CWGS), Prof. Dr. Mathabo Khau (Education) and Simran Juglal, MA (CWGS) and members of the ZFG (UOL) and guests: Prof. Dr. Almut Höfert, JProf. Friederike Nastold, Dr. Lydia Potts, Dr. Sylvia Pritsch, Carolin Eirich, MA and Dr. Malve von Möllendorf (Educational Sciences) and others. Dr. Pepetual Mforbe-Chiangong (hmt Rostock) will be joining for the final roundtable. (See full program below and attached).
The morning inputs and the final roundtable on Tuesday will be streamed online. Access to the live stream will be sent after registration.
Contact: Sylvia Pritsch (sylvia.pritsch@uol.de) or zfg@uol.de<mailto:zfg@uol.de>
PROGRAM 23.06.2025, Campus Haarentor, A14 1-111
09:30 Arriving and Coffee
10:00 Opening [hybrid]
JPROF. DR. FRIEDERIKE NASTOLD and DR. SYLVIA PRITSCH (ZFG/ UOL)
10:15 – 12:00 Dialogue I [hybrid]
* 10:15 Tracing European and Middle Eastern Histories of the Modern Concepts of “sex” and “gender”, PROF. DR. ALMUT HÖFERT (Institute of History/ Director ZFG/ UOL)
* 11:00 Key concepts in African Feminist Theory, PROF. DR. PUMLA D. GQOLA (NRF SA-CHAIR in African Feminist Imagination/ CWGS Nelson Mandela University)
Moderation: DARIUS RIBBE
12:00 – 13:00 Lunch break/ Mensa
13:00 – 14:30 Workshop 1
Transnational cooperation and the question of methods PROF. DR. MATHABO KHAU (Education, Gender & Sexuality Studies/ Nelson Mandela University) and DR. SYLVIA PRITSCH (Cultural & Gender Studies UOL)
Moderation: ANNE-GRETA SACHER
14:30 – 15:00 Coffee Break
15:00 – 16:30 Workshop 2
Knowledge Creation in the Time of Anti-Intellectualism SIMRAN JUGLAL, M.A. (Media Studies, Gender Studies; Nelson Mandela University) and CAROLIN EIRICH, M.A. (Cultural & Gender Studies UOL)
Moderation: LEA TERLAU
16:30 – 17:00 Coffee and Get Together
24.06.2025, Campus Haarentor, A03 1-117
09:30 Arriving and Coffee
10:00 – 12:00 Dialogue II [hybrid]
* 10:00 Human Rights and Gender Studies: Revisiting the History and Possible Futures, PROF. DR. BABALWA MAGOQWANA (Sociology/ Director CWGS Nelson Mandela University)
* 10:45 Gender Studies Curriculum-Development – Experiences at the ZFG Oldenburg, DR. LYDIA POTTS (Gender and Migration Studies/ EMMIR UOL)
Moderation: LAURA KAMPELMANN
12:00 – 13:00 Lunch Break/ Mensa
13:00 – 14:00 Workshop 3
Transnational Digital Learning Tools – the Example of DIGI-FACE PROF. DR. MATHABO KHAU (Education, Gender & Sexuality Studies/ Nelson Mandela University) and DR. MALVE von MÖLLENDORFF (Educational Science UOL)
Moderation: SARAH-ALYSSA MAY
14:00 – 14:15 Coffee Break
14:15 – 15:30 Roundtable [hybrid]
Multi-Perspectivity in Gender Studies? Reviewing the Gender Studies Curricula from Southern and Northern Perspectives
Participants: DR. PEPETUAL MFORBE CHIANGONG (hmt Rostock), SIMRAN JUGLAL, M.A. (Nelson Mandela University)
Moderation: JPROF. DR. FRIEDERIKE NASTOLD (UOL)
15:30 – 16:00 Official Closure and Get Together
16:00 Mixed Pre-/Postdoc Meeting (A01 0-005)
Multi-Perspectivity in Gender Studies?
Reviewing the Gender Studies Curricula from Southern and Northern Perspectives (23 -24 June 2025) By the Centre for Interdisciplinary Women’s and Gender Studies (ZFG) at the Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg (Germany) and the Centre for Women and Gender Studies (CWGS) and DSI-NRF SARChI Chair in African Feminist Imagination Nelson Mandela University (South Africa)
In times of increasing nationalization and isolation, the Summer School addresses the important question of how transnational academic cooperation, here in the context of gender studies, is possible and can be shaped in a meaningful and solidary way. These questions are linked to discourses of transnational feminisms and their demands for the decolonization of knowledge and, at the same time, take on a current urgency due to local and global attacks on academic freedom in general and gender studies in particular.
These concerns are concretized with regard to the production and exchange of academic knowledge under the sign of multiperspectivity: Which forms of knowledge are practiced, which are used? How can canonized content – i.e. mostly Western-oriented – and indigenously classified knowledge be brought together? How could this be reflected in the respective curricula? By examining the fundamentals of gender studies in transnational/ transcultural contexts, the need for a more in-depth exchange on theoretical and methodological principles and their communication for inter- and transnational cooperations are addressed.
Studies of German-speaking countries have already shown that no binding or generally accepted canon of gender studies has been established. The situation in intercultural and transcultural contexts appears all the less self-evident. The unilinear transfer of knowledge from the Global North to the Global South, which went unquestioned for a long time, has been delegitimized by post- and decolonial approaches. Particularly in the context of intersectional, queer-feminist gender studies, a rethinking began in German-speaking countries in the mid/late 1980s at the latest, which was increasingly demanded from the 2000s/2010s onwards in order to enable the inclusion of anti-racist and decolonial approaches and corresponding researchers. However, this was not necessarily implemented in the curricula, and knowledge of and about African thinkers and forms of knowledge in particular is still only marginally available.
In (South) African contexts, on the one hand, the problem arises of developing alternatives to the still dominant, Western-hegemonic discourses, for example by reactualizing indigenous knowledge. On the other hand, it is important to continue to facilitate the connection to prevailing canons in order to be able to participate in the relevant discourses both nationally and internationally and thus be competitive. This in turn raises the question of the relationship between knowledge qualified as indigenous and knowledge qualified as European, as well as the classification itself. Furthermore, the joint exchange should serve to focus on the multi-perspectivity of forms of knowledge. Similarities and differences, couplings and intersections should be worked out in order to imagine common strategies.
With this in the background, the Summer School raises the question of the basis on which research and teaching can come together, where also the cooperation between the centres has proved successful so far and where gaps have emerged and how they can be filled if necessary. Linked to this is the question of how the respective curricula can benefit from an exchange. This is directly relevant not only for the local Women's and Gender Studies programs, but also for the profiling of offers for the exchange of teachers, researchers and students.
The planned exchange of knowledge is to be initiated and tested using various formats during the two-day summer school. Both days will open with dialogues on theoretical and methodological developments in gender studies relevant to South Africa and Germany, which will be explored in greater depth in the subsequent workshops and brought together and expanded in a roundtable at the end of the event. The workshops are to be conducted in teams of two – with one person from each institution.
Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung (ZFG)/
Centre for interdisciplinary Women’s and Gender Studies
Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg
D-26111 Oldenburg
Homepage: uol.de/zfg
Mail: zfg@uni-ol.de
Tel: +49 (0)441/798 4316
Instagram: @zfg_uni.oldenburg
Facebook: ZFG - Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung