Gender and sexuality are undergoing an intense politicisation, transformed into a key field of social, cultural and political economic conflict amidst multiple crises. In many parts of the world, rights recently won by gender and sexual minorities are being rolled back and coalitions dominated by the far right are forming against a supposed “gender ideology”. These coalitions are mobilising in defence of traditional ideas around biological sex, gender roles and relations, and the heterosexual family. In Germany and beyond, queer and trans people are being assaulted on their way to and from Pride parades, gay bars and other institutions are being attacked, and drag performers demonised. At the same time, global queer and trans movements are mobilising, and not just in defence of existing rights and liberal forms of recognition. They are also developing new notions of queer and trans liberation, building on the histories and insights of earlier movements: movements that tied the struggles of gender and sexual minorities to those against precarity and gentrification, racism and misogyny.

For over 30 years, Queer Studies has examined the power of gender and sexual norms – and the ways they are challenged. However, many of the key anglophone works have never been translated into German – with a lasting impact on the field’s reception in Germany. The volume Queer Studies: Schlüsseltexte, edited by Mike Laufenberg and Ben Trott, makes important contributions available in German for the first time. They offer crucial insights into a queer rethinking of the critical analysis of capitalism, disability, racism, gender relations, geopolitics, activism, and “identity politics”. The volume includes some of the most influential works of queer of colour critique and queer diaspora studies, queer Marxism, queer negativity and queer crip theory.

The book premiere and show will present, comment and reflect on a number of the texts – with readings by the Volksbühne ensemble, performances, short lectures and special guests.

Queer Studies: Schlüsseltexte will be published in the series suhrkamp taschenbuch wissenschaft in September 2023 with texts by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Cathy J. Cohen, Judith Butler, José Esteban Muñoz, Ann Cvetkovich, Robert McRuer, Kevin Floyd, Lee Edelman, Roderick A. Ferguson, Gayatri Gopinath, Petrus Liu, and Karma R. Chávez in their German translation.

Hosts: Mike Laufenberg & Ben Trott

Readings: Margarita Breitkreiz, Banafshe Hourmazdi, and others

Performances: Olympia Bukkakis, Hungry

Special Guests:
Edna Bonhomme on queering relationships and eros
Sabine_ Hark on lesbian visibility and lesbian activism in the AIDS crisis
Omar Kasmani on queer diaspora and migrant belonging
Isabell Lorey on queer theory, identity and materialism
Maxi Wallenhorst on the style of queer theory and trans Marxism

After show party DJ: kursiv