NOISE Summer School: The miraculous (dis-) appearing Act of Sexuality; Mapping the Study of Sexuality in Europe, 1960-2010

While Europe has not experienced an equivalent to the highly polarized U.S. feminist "sex wars" (late 70's through the 80's), those decades certainly initiated a time - in various parts of Europe - when sexuality became a densely debated and highly prioritized theme, both in society and in academia. In the past five decades we have seen moments when sexuality and desire were at the forefront of the individual and the collective imagination; at other times, sexuality appeared to be latent, 'normalized', almost disappearing from view.

Currently, same-sex desire in many circles no longer seems to be lodged in transgressive realms, but has come down to earth in the form of nuclearized families and consumerism, while simultaneously we are also, on a large scale, confronted with pornified manifestations of female sexuality. These are just some of the issues that we would like to address at this 19th Summer School. We would like to engage in a discussion of how to make sense of the multitudes of bewildering and seemingly disparate issues in the field of sexuality, but also, on a very basic level, explore the different ways in which "girls are having fun" these days! Academically, since the 1960's, we have seen a gradual emergence of Gay and Lesbian Studies, and later we witnessed a still unfolding Queer Studies.

The Summer School emphatically engages with the European relation between these two broad bodies of knowledge production. These fields of study, by necessity, embody a space of encounter between various liberatory discourses, located in various disciplines, thus the school will be actively inter- and multidisciplinary. The aim of this year's Summer School is to map the different approaches within a European realm that have been taken to Sexuality/Gay and Lesbian/Queer Studies: What are the questions that researchers have asked? Which methods have been used in such studies? Are there differences in themes to be discerned in different parts of Europe? And which themes have been missing so far and need to be addressed urgently?

Period
22-08-2011 - 02-09-2011 (2 weeks)

Target group
Master and PhD students

Course aim
This advanced training course offers a diversified, but coherent program of study from an interdisciplinary perspective. The aim of this years Summer School is to map different approaches within a European realm that have been taken to Sexuality/Gay and Lesbian/Queer Studies, from 1960- 2010. At the end of the course students will have gained knowledge on subject matter, aims and methods of various researchers in these fields; they will have been exposed to interdisciplinary and intersectional perspectives within the domains of the academic study of sexuality, and the activism and art in the field of sexuality.

Students will be able to form a view on differences in themes addressed in Europe and on themes that are still missing and that need to be addressed urgently. Students will study, discuss and apply cutting-edge feminist theories to interrogate and undersatnd old and new sexual phenomena in their changing historical and geo-political contexts.

Credits
7.5 ECTS creditsCertificate of Attendance

Course fee
EUR 850: Course

EUR 1185: Course + housing

Course leader
Prof. Dr. Rosemarie Buikema

Scholarships
A NOISE grant is available for one student (EU-citizens only) from every NOISE partner university. The grant includes a tuition fee waiver and partial financial contribution to travel and accommodation. Please note that you will have to pay a contribution

Utrecht University
Address: PO BOX 80148
Postal code: 3508 TC
City: Utrecht
Country: Netherlands
Website: http://www.utrechtsummerschool.nl
E-mail: summerschool@uu.nl
Phone: 0031302534400