Workshop on Challenges for Gender Studies in Germany and Turkey
On Friday, February 14, 2020, a workshop on challenges for gender studies in Germany and Turkey will take place at Freie Universität Berlin. Scholars from Freie Universität Berlin and BLB Gender at Sabancı University in Istanbul will be presenting their research priorities in gender research and their current work on various topics in gender research. They will discuss new challenges and perspectives. The workshop is public, and admission is free. The workshop language is English.
In spite of their geographical distance, Germany and Turkey are two nations that have deeply rooted relationships in political, economic, social, and cultural areas. The connections between the two countries have been widely discussed at different levels for decades – from recruiting Turkish “guest workers” in the 1960s to more recently, when a large number of exiled Turkish scholars came to Germany. However, a critical gender perspective is rarely used.
Despite the obvious differences in gender roles and regardless of the different social, cultural, and political circumstances in Germany and Turkey, there are common problems. They include gender-based violence and an uneven hierarchical distribution in the workplace or special problems for migrants and LGBTQI+ individuals. LGBTI+ is an abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersexual and includes other sexual and social gender identities.
More recently, conservative or politically motivated attacks have threatened gender equality and institutional gender research in numerous places including Hungary, Poland, Spain, Croatia, and Slovenia. Such discourses are also widespread in Germany and Turkey. Under the heading “gender ideology,” various equality reforms and gender mainstreaming are mobilized in education, including higher education.
The workshop aims to give attendees an opportunity to exchange scholarly and international perspectives on theoretical and practical perspectives for the investigation of similar topics in different sociopolitical contexts.
Time and Location of the Workshop “Contemporary Challenges to Gender Studies in Germany and Turkey”
- Friday, February 14, 2020, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Seminar Center, Room L115, Otto-von-Simson-Straße 26, 14195 Berlin