Westernization of genderon-conformity and the limits of western theory: drag in the 1990s Poland

serdecznie zapraszamy na kolejne seminarium z cyklu “Gender i seksualność w nauce i praktyce społecznej”.

Tym razem będziemy gościć dr LUDMIŁĘ JANION, która wygłosi referat pt. “Westernization of gender non-conformity and the limits of western theory: drag in the 1990s Poland”

Czas: środa 19 lutego 2020 r., godz. 13:00

Miejsce: Instytut Filozofii i Socjologii PAN, Nowy Świat 72, sala 154

Język: angielski

Organizatorki: dr Marzena Adamiak, dr hab. Magdalena Grabowska, dr hab. Dorota Hall

ABSTRAKT WYSTĄPIENIA

The discussion about drag in the Polish 1990s media will serve us as a starting point to ponder over the meanings of gender variance during the post-1989 transformation. I will argue that drag lacked the western political meanings that focused on gender performativity and gay rights; instead, it assumed connotations specific to the time and place: drag queens turned out to embody the socioeconomic changes and widely shared class and geopolitical aspirations related to the 1990s westernization of Poland, but they also attested to the persisting distance between Poland and the imagined West. The meeting will be an opportunity to consider the limitations in applying western theoretical tools to the post-Soviet East.

LUDMIŁA JANION is an assistant professor at the American Studies Center, University of Warsaw, where she teaches gender and sexuality studies, methodologies of cultural studies, as well as American history and literature. She received her M.A. degrees in philosophy (Institute of Philosophy, UW) and American studies (American Studies Center, UW) and her Ph.D. in cultural studies (“Artes Liberales”, UW). In her doctoral dissertation, she analyzed the westernization of discourses of gender nonconformity during the transition era in Poland. She is a member of Gender/Sexuality in American Culture research group at the ASC, UW.