Gender Research Seminar 2016: Moralities and the Intimate Life - 17-18 May, Ghent
Keynote lecture by Prof. Dr. David Eng(University of Pennsylvania, US, Department of English), 'Reparations of the Human'
with response by Prof. Dr. Sarah Bracke (VUB & UGent)
Havingan interdisciplinary focus, since 2010, this yearly course provides PhD and advanced MA students whose research is situated in or related to the field of Gender and/or Diversity Studies with in-depth and advanced training in contemporary Gender Studies and theory and methodology in related fields, such as Sexuality Studies, Cultural Studies, Postcolonial Studies, etc., next to general scholarly skills such as reading, writing, discussing and presenting. The course is not limited to issues of gender alone, but aims to attract students broadly interested in subjectivity, identity, diversity and agency and questions of (in)equality and power in society and culture from a critical research perspective. This year’s focus is on Moralities and the Intimate Life.
Other confirmed speakers: Dr. Jennie Bristow (University of Kent, UK; Visiting Research Fellow, Centre for Parenting Culture Studies, SSPSSR); Prof.Dr. Dilek Cindoğlu (Abdullah Gül University, Turkey, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences), Prof. Dr. Matt Cook (Birkbeck University of London, UK, Department of History, Classics and Archaeology) and Dr. Ilke Turkmendag (Newcastle University, UK, School of Law). For the programme, click here.
Brown Bag Seminar with prof. dr. Andreas Niehaus (Japanese Studies; Department of Languages and Cultures, Ghent University):
21 June 2016- 12:00-14:00 (title TBA) Room 100.038, Centre for Research on Culture and Gender - Rozier 44, 9000 Gent Open to everyone! You can bring your own lunch. More information. Register by sending an email to Nella van den Brandt
Transgender in Iran: Movie and discussion
27 June, 12:00-14:00 The Centre for Research on Culture and Gender of Ghent University will hold the ‘transgender in Iran’ movie and discussion on 27 June in ‘auditorium O’. The documentary ‘Be Like Others (also known as Transsexual in Iran)’ is a 2008 documentary film written and directed by Tanaz Eshaghian about transsexuals in Iran. It explores issues of gender and sexual identity while following the personal stories of some of the patients at a Tehran gender reassignment clinic. The film played at the Sundance Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival, winning three international awards. The documentary is about an hour long and is in English.
A discussion session (in English) will follow the viewing of the movie. Invited discussants include Dr. Joz Motmans, coordinator of the Transgender Infopunt and Dr. Ladan Rahbari.
Registration is required for attendance. Please register by sending an email to ladan.rahbari@ugent.be
New Publications
Recent publications by CRCG members. For information on how to access the articles or books, click the book or journal link.
Articles
Bucci, Fiorella (2015), 'The significance of care: How local worlds continuously change through global forces. An interview with Katrien De Graeve'. Rivista di Psicologia Clinica, (2)77-88.
De Graeve, Katrien & Christof Bex, 'Imageries of family and nation: a comparative analysis of transnational adoption and care for unaccompanied minors in Belgium'. Childhood doi: 10.1177/0907568215613421.
Joncheere, A. (2015). 'Over voorouders van zigeuners en authentieke slangenbezweerders: creatieve zoektocht naar de “traditionele” Kalbeliya-danseres in India'. Kunsttijdschrift Vlaanderen, 64 (november), 53–55.
Sudarmanti, Rini, van Bauwel, Sofie. & Longman, Chia (2015). 'Women's empowerment: examining leadership communication of women entrepreneurs in Indonesia and the USA'. Malaysian Journal of Communication, 31(1), pp. 153-170.
Toldy, T., Giorgi, A., & van den Brandt, N. (eds.) (2015). 'Gendering the Secular: Interventions in Politics, Philosophy and Movements'. Religion and Gender. 5(2), pp.129–134. doi: http://doi.org/10.18352/rg.10130
Book Chapters
Rahbari, L. (2016). 'Premarital Dating Relationships in Iran'. in Constance L. Shehan (Ed.), The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Family Studies. pp. 1620-1624. Wiley Blackwell, DOI: 10.1002/9781119085621.wbefs235
Van den Brandt, N. & Huygens, E. (2015). 'Humanisme, Feminisme en Religie in Vlaanderen: Een Exploratie van Humanistisch Feministische Houdingen ten aanzien van Religie met een Focus op de 'Islamkwestie'. In: G. Coene & M. van den Bosche (red.), Vrij(heid) van Religie, Brussel: VUBPress, pp. 155-178.
Welcome to Nina Callens! From March 2016 to February 2017 she will carry out a study on ‘intersexuality’ commissioned by the Flemish Minister of Equality Policies and the federal state secretary of Equality.
About the Intersex/ction project:
"It is estimated that one in 2,000-4,500 people is intersex or has a difference of sex development (DSD), used to describe the state of being born with a combination of characteristics (e.g. genital, gonadal, and/or chromosomal) that are typically presumed to be exclusively female or exclusively male. A diagnosis of intersex/DSD in a child or adolescent is increasingly being understood as a traumatic event for parents, who report levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms that are comparable to those reported by parents of children diagnosed with other conditions such as cancer. Parent distress can be amplified by shock that intersex/ DSD was even a possibility and never previously having heard of it; confusion and misconceptions about the origins of DSD; and the belief that maintaining secrecy about the condition is required to ensure their child's healthy psychosexual development. In a number of diagnoses, it is furthermore unclear whether some (irreversible) medical interventions are necessary for the child's physiological and/or psychological health, or whether these procedures are primarily cosmetic and/or potentially physiologically and mentally harmful. While medical and surgical management recommendations have shifted over the past 50 years, the bodies of affected children, to paraphrase the feminist artist Barbara Kruger (1989) remain a battleground. A recent consensus statement (Chicago, 2005) calls for child- and family-centered care delivered by a multidisciplinary team of providers and with inclusion of psychological/emotional support to help parents prepare to make decisions that are in the best interest of their child. However, this optimal type of care requires that the differing perspectives of all stakeholder groups (e.g. parents, health care providers, affected individuals, support and advocacy groups) be further understood. In Belgium, to date, stakeholders’ beliefs have not been systematically assessed. In light of the growing international political attention for social, legal and human rights issues in relation to intersex/DSD, the Centre for Sexology and Gender (Ghent University Hospital) together with CRCG have been commissioned by the Flemish Minister of Equality Policies and the federal state secretary of Equality to investigate the challenges and needs of the varying stakeholders. The research project (2016-2017) applies an interdisciplinary approach and hopes to provide the basis for an optimized medical, legal and social support system in Belgium."
Contact:
Dr. Joz Motmans (Centre for Sexology and Gender/Transgender infopunt UZGent)
Prof. dr. Chia Longman (CRCG) and dr. Nina Callens (CRCG)
Welcome to Fadi Saleh!
From March until August, CRCG welcomes Fadi Saleh (University of Göttingen) as a visiting fellow. He will be working on his PhD-project: 'What are Middle Eastern and North African queer persons doing when they are NOT suffering: an ethnography of the everyday lives of Syrian queer refugees in Istanbul'
"In my PhD project, I contend that, there is a need to rethink, deconstruct, and denaturalize the often-mainstreamed, constantly-circulated image of the “MENA queer person” as one who is the effect of and is defined only by curiously “permanent” and “uninterrupted” suffering, misery, and pain. To illustrate this problematic, I focus on Syrian queer/LGBTI refugees in Istanbul, Turkey as my primary example. In my ethnographic fieldwork, conducted in Istanbul between August and December 2015, I follow the everyday lives of Syrian queer refugees to explore how narratives of suffering are adopted and perpetuated, yet problematized in ways that expose their constructedness and (political) limitations. In a second step, I trace the lines of flight that divert from this representational model and map out the emergent trajectories that emphasize positive affects, unfamiliar histories, and the open-ended potential of (doing an ethnography of) the everyday to force us to rethink MENA queer politics, historicization practices, and knowledge production outside of/alongside narratives of suffering."
Permanent Training Programme:
Religious Traditions of India
Lecture series on Tuesday evening from 19:30 to 21:30
KANTL, Koningstraat 18, Ghent
12/04 Fanatics vs Pacifist? Rethinking the fortunes of Digambara Jainism under Muslim rule (Tillo Detige) 19/04 Tradition & Technology - Resisting and Embracing Media Innovation in South Asian Religious Contexts (Tine Vekemans) 26/04 The recognition of Vedic authority in Nyaya tradition (Agnieszka Rostalska) 03/05 Interior Religion: A Religious Paradigm in Early Modern North India (Monika Horstmann)
Open to everyone! Entrance fee: 3€ (free entrance for Ghent University students and staff)
Vacancy Utrecht University:
Postdoc in Religious Studies and Gender Studies
Project information: Beyond ‘Religion versus Emancipation’. Gender and Sexuality in Women’s Conversion to Judaism, Christianity and Islam in Contemporary Western Europe.
You will carry out the subproject ‘Women’s Conversion in Comparative Religious Studies Perspective: the Formation of Religious Gender Scripts‘, which provides a conceptual framework for the comparative analysis of women’s conversion narratives and practices in Western Europe. Specifically, the focus is on how ‘religious gender scripts’ are created and the ways in which they inform notions and practices of women’s conversion. It analyses how these scripts are currently being transformed through specific conflicts by which religious communities distance themselves from mainstream secularised society.
For further information about the vacancy, click here or contact prof. dr. Anne-Marie Korte
DiGeSt: Call for Papers #7
Deadline for Issue #7 (2017) article submissions: 10 July 2016 - contributions to What Are You Reading: 10 September 2016
Please also consider subscribing to the journal: A subscription for one year (two issues or one double issue) costs 35 EUR and 25 EUR for students. Please send your name, address and affiliation to info@academiapress.be.
