Queer and Trans Migrations: Histories, Representations, and Politics - Einzelansicht

Over the last few decades, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ) refugees and migrants have steadily emerged as a visible constituency within discourses, representations, and debates surrounding migration and asylum policies, humanitarianism, and LGBTIQ politics. Moreover, discussions around queer and trans* migration/asylum have intensified and taken on an unprecedented transnational dimension, spurring debates and rifts within LGBTIQ activism, politics, the media, research, and governments’ migration agendas. Debates often fall within two polarized camps: A discourse that celebrates the “West” as the savior of LGBTIQ migrants and refugees escaping their “inherently” homo- and transphobic countries; and a counter-discourse that argues that the “West” instrumentlizes LGBTIQ migrants and refugees in order to construct itself as a gay-friendly haven through producing homophobia as a problem of other (mostly Arabo-Islamic) contexts.

This course introduces students to these discourses and their genealogies through engaging with a variety of texts/materials (journalistic, visual, academic, activist, etc.) and different fields (queer and trans* studies, migration/refugee studies, humanitarianism studies). Through this course, students will gain a substantial understanding of the intersections between gender, sexuality, and migration in general, while delving deeper into the particular ways these intersections manifest in relation to mobility, belonging, the nation-state, citizenship status, race, ethnicity, family, religion, and class.

Anmerkung zur Kurssprache: Die Veranstaltung findet zwar auf Englisch statt. Sie können aber auch auf Deutsch diskutieren und Fragen stellen, da der Dozent Fadi Saleh gut deutsch versteht und spricht!

For any questions, please get in touch with Fadi Saleh: saleh2@potsdam.de

Due to the current circumstances, we kindly ask you to be patient with further information about the introductory session and course information.