Series of Public Lectures ‘Intersectionality, space and conflict: transforming identities and gendered group boundaries Organised by Dr. Ulrike M Vieten Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation and Social Justice, Queen’s University Belfast Email:
[email protected] Tel: 028 9097 2528 Office: 0G.003, 22 University Square
Scope of the series Since the early 1980s, British feminist social theory analysed intersecting complexity though as Nira Yuval-Davis (2006: 194) remarks, ‘apparently, without noticeable effect on policy makers’. In fact, a broader European recognition of the theme of social complexity emerged only in the late 1990s and in the beginning of the 21st century while acknowledging the research on intersectionality undertaken by US black feminists, most prominently Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw (1991). Crenshaw introduced the term ‘intersectionality’ stressing that single-axis discrimination (e.g. gender) left black women, who experienced violence, outside the focus group ‘woman’. Since its conceptual departure in a judicial context, intersectionality has become a buzz word, and got an academic and interdisciplinary life of its own. Looking at the potential of intersectionality for discussions and policy in Northern Ireland we have to take on board the political and social legacy of the Troubles as well as thinking of the ways a (post-) colonial lens might be usefully applied to the ‘post’-conflict society: to what degree are we looking at
group specific claim makings in contemporary struggles about resources, and how does this relate to internal group diversity? Who speaks on whose behalf? How do class, religion, gender, (dis)ability and age, for example, intersect? What are the experiences and living conditions of women and / or members of minoritised and vulnerable groups regarding employment, housing, education, social services and so forth, across Belfast, and the country? What lessons can we learn from dynamics identified in other spaces and localities, also going beyond Northern Ireland? The feminist concept of ‘intersectionality’ provides a conceptual and methodological toolbox capturing the plurality of individual subjectivities while also shedding light, on the structural order of social inequality. Making ‘gender’ and the feminist methodological tool of intersectionality more visible a series of public lectures will discuss how intersectionality and gender theory are conceptualized and applied in research dealing with inclusion, political representation of women and minorities, socio-economic justice and social conflict transformation, in Northern Ireland and beyond. The six guest lectures, planned for March to May 2016 and October to December 2016. This series will introduce international scholars, who engage prominently with the concept ‘intersectionality’ from different disciplinary and analytical angles. All lectures will start at 4.30pm and end at 6pm.
Date & Time & Location 9 March 2016Lanyon Building –
Lecture Title
Speaker
Intersectionality and Women’s Equality in Post-Conflict Northern Ireland
Mrs Eilish Rooney Transitional Justice Institute, Ulster University, Belfast
Gender Democracy, Women and Social Justice
Professor Yvonne Galligan Director of the Centre for the Advancement of Women in Politics, Queen’s University Belfast
Masculinities, Minorities and Diversity
Dr Baukje Prins Citizenship & Diversity,
Old Staff Common Room 21 April 2016 – Lanyon Building – Old Staff Common Room 18 May 2016 –
Graduate School
De Haagse Hogeschool/Netherlands
TR6 19 October 2016 - Intersectionality, Christianity and Sexuality Room to be
Professor Angelia Wilson School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester
confirmed later 17 November 2016
Intersectionality, Migration and Every-day Bordering
Professor Nira Yuval-Davis Director of the Centre for Research on Migration, Refugees and Belonging (CMRB), University of East London
EU Anti-Discrimination Law and Intersectionality
Professor Dr Dagmar Schiek Jean Monnet ad personam Chair in EU Law and Policy, and Director of the Centre of European and Transnational Legal Studies, Queen’s University Belfast
Lanyon Building – Great Hall 14 December 2016 Lanyon Building – Canada Room & Council Chamber