Feminist Methodologies I: Remembering the Future: Gender and Sexuality in the Authoritarian Politics of Memory

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Brief Description

The manipulation of historical memory is a central element of contemporary anti-gender, authoritarian, and neoconservative movements and governments in Eastern Europe and Eurasia, as well as on a global scale. Such manipulation takes place through a number of recurring techniques and modalities including public education projects; the construction of new monuments; the creation of new national holidays; the rewriting of history textbooks; the consolidation of messaging across trusted institutions; the censorship of the media; the utilization of popular media and entertainment for reeducation and propagandizing purposes; and the demonization of critical discourse across the board. The manipulation of historical memory is particularly prominent in the deployment of aspirational national ideals around gender, sexuality, and reproduction, as well as in the shaping of concrete policy aimed at resurrecting an imagined bygone era of stability and prosperity rooted in heteronormativity and the prioritization of family. This roundtable will offer a multidisciplinary critique of contemporary memory politics in the region, examining how a gendered vision of an imagined past and ideal future is disseminated by political, religious, and cultural institutions and leaders. Speakers will pay particular attention to the transnational nature of these developments, including links and overlaps between strategies and narrative tropes utilized in gendered historical discourse across Eurasia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and the United States as authoritarian trends spread and deepen.

Sub Unit

• Gender/LGBTQ Studies

Chair

• Zosha K Winegar-Schultz, U of Minnesota

Roundtable Speakers

• Allison Brooks-Conrad, U of Pennsylvania

• Diana Dukhanova, College of the Holy Cross

• Erin K Krafft, U of Massachusetts Dartmouth

• Mirela Tanta, Millikin U