Making sense of feminist (de)politicisation in anti-gender times

You are warmly invited to join us for a seminar on “Making sense of feminist (de)politicisation in anti-gender times” featuring Dr Demet Gülçiçek (LSE & University of Warwick)

This seminar is a hybrid event which can be accessed:

• face to face in A0.05 (Social Sciences Building, University of Warwick)
• online on Teams (following this link)

Abstract:

In recent years, commentators in many countries have discussed the rise of so-called “popular feminism”, often understood as a ‘Western product’. But if we explore popular feminism in more nuanced ways, what do we see? In this paper, I approach popular feminism as something that circulates around different contexts, and which is articulated, celebrated, ridiculed and/or rejected in local negotiations. Criticising the assumption that the ‘real effect’ of popular feminism happens in the West, I suggest thinking about its affective travels. To do so, I draw on fieldwork conducted in Turkey with people who engaged with feminism mostly through Western popular media, not feminist movements. Although popular feminism is often associated with depoliticisation, individualism and neoliberalism, my fieldwork shows that what seems ‘depoliticising’ can have politicising articulations, especially when considered against the broader backdrop of the alarming rise of anti-gender movements in Turkey. Based on such a framework, the talk will provide a critical analysis of the relationality between popular feminism and anti-gender movements.

Speaker Bio:

Demet Gülçiçek is an honorary researcher at the Centre for the Study of Women and Gender. She holds her PhD from University of Warwick, and masters and bachelor degrees from Middle East Technical University, Turkey, all in sociology departments. She also works as an Assist. Prof. in Munzur University, Turkey and is a visiting fellowLink opens in a new window at Gender Studies department in LSE. Her research interests include feminist historiography, affect theory, and popular feminisms. Her book titled Travelling Theory and Women's Movements in Turkey: Imagining EuropeLink opens in a new window is published with Routledge. She is a co-editor of Feminist Tahayyül (Feminist Imagination) Journal and served in the board of AtGender.