Following the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ in Europe in 2015, certain discourses have gained popularity and severity: Discourses that invoke women’s and LGBTIQ+* rights in order to advance anti-immigrant discourses and policies. These debates juxtapose an allegedly ‘progressive’ women- and LGBTIQ-friendly European culture against allegedly 'backward', sexist and homophobic immigrant cultures. Particularly, immigrant men become stigmatized as sexist and homophobic aggressors, while both Western and immigrant women emerge as victims in need of saving.
In this course students engage with the question how such discourses (re)produce gendered, sexualized and racialized nationalisms by constructing, selecting, educating and disciplining migrant subjects. Furthermore, they investigate how the opposition constructed between European and non-European cultures shapes citizenship in general and processes of in- and exclusion in/from European nation states in particular. Through text discussions as well as media and image analysis, the course seeks to trace (post-)colonial continuities concerning the mentioned debates and sheds light on how those who are perceived as migrant subjects negotiate these discourses in their everyday lives.
The course carefully introduces basic concepts from the interdisciplinary fields of postcolonial, gender and queer studies and is hence also suitable for students with no previous knowledge in these areas.
* LGBTIQ+ = Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, queer/questioning, and more
The course takes place biweekly.
Semesters:
Level:
MA
Themes:
Disciplines:
ETCS:
5
Subjects:
Gender Studies
University Type:
Universities