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74661-01 - Seminar: Decentralizing Decolonial Feminisms: Perspectives From Eastern European Arts and Activism (3 CP)
| Semester | spring semester 2025 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers |
Anna Hodel Laszlo (anna.hodel@unibas.ch, Assessor)
Lilit Khandakaryan (lilit.khandakaryan@unibas.ch) |
| Content | This course is jointly taught by Anna Hodel and Lilit Khandakaryan (Groningen University). This course explores decolonial feminist practices, discourses, and transformative theoretical approaches in Eastern European contexts, with a particular focus on the visual and performative arts, and literature and their intersections with activism. Through critical engagement with post-socialist Eastern European perspectives, the course invites students to explore alternative frameworks rooted in local histories, cultural contexts, and lived experiences and to understand how these voices contribute to the decentralization and dewesternization of feminist and decolonial narratives. Additionally, the course examines the positioning of post-socialist Eastern European voices within the broader feminist dialogue between the Global North and South, assessing how these perspectives challenge and contribute to existing global feminist frameworks. After a few brief spotlights on the socialist feminist 20th century (including Alexandra Kollontai and early Soviet feminism in the 1920s, feminist movements in literature and art in the 1960s, for example in Yugoslavia and Poland), the seminar focuses primarily on the post-socialist period, following the development of movements and artistic positions and networks in Eastern Europa after 1990/91 that combine female and decolonial perspectives. The focus is, amongst others, on international women's networks in the wars in Yugoslavia, Chechnya and Georgia, feminism and the New Ukraine since 1991, feminist poetry in the post-Soviet space, the female face of the Belarusian protest movement 2020/2021, feminist anti-war resistance in the context of the Russian war against Ukraine, artists of the Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art and of Queering Yerevan. EXKURSION / STUDY TRIP: Following the course and creditable via a Learning Contract with additional 3 CP, an excursion to GEORGIA and ARMENIA will take place. Students will have the opportunity to visit local art institutions, alternative art education spaces, and have meetings with artists, activists, and art collectives. The plan is to carry out the excursion in the first week of July 2025. |
| Learning objectives | Students will finish the course with a nuanced understanding of (post-socialist) Eastern European decolonial feminist thought, art, and activism. They will also develop academic skills for critically engaging with decolonial feminist practices and discourses. |
| Bibliography | A detailed reading list will be announced at the beginning of the semester. Initial insights can be gained, for example, in: Rajan, R.S. and Park, Y.M., 2000. Postcolonial feminism/Postcolonialism and feminism. In H. Schwarz and S. Ray, eds. A Companion to Postcolonial Studies. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Mohanty, C.T., 2003. Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity. Durham and London: Duke University Press. Azoulay, A.A., 2019. Potential History: Unlearning Imperialism. London: Verso. Harutyunyan, Angela. 2017 The Political Aesthetics of the Armenian Avant-Garde: The Journey of the ‘Painterly Real’. Manchester Univ Press. Tlostanova, M. (2018) What Does it Mean to be Post-Soviet? DecolonialArt from the Ruins of the Soviet Empire, by Madina Tlostanova, Durham and London: University Press. Nikolay R. Karkov & Zhivka Valiavicharska (2018): Rethinking East European Socialism: Notes Toward an Anti-Capitalist Decolonial Methodology, Interventions, DOI: 10.1080/1369801X.2018.1515647 Tlostanova, M., Thapar-Björkert, S., & Koobak, R. (2016). Border thinking and disidentification: Postcolonial and postsocialist feminist dialogues. Feminist Theory, 17(2), 211–228. |
| Admission requirements | No requirements. All texts and materials will be available in translations (to English resp. German). |
| Language of instruction | German |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Course auditors welcome |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Monday | 16.15-17.45 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 117 |
Dates
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Monday 17.02.2025 | 16.15-17.45 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 117 |
| Monday 24.02.2025 | 16.15-17.45 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 117 |
| Monday 03.03.2025 | 16.15-17.45 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 117 |
| Monday 10.03.2025 | 16.15-17.45 | Fasnachstferien |
| Monday 17.03.2025 | 16.15-17.45 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 117 |
| Monday 24.03.2025 | 16.15-17.45 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 117 |
| Monday 31.03.2025 | 16.15-17.45 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 117 |
| Monday 07.04.2025 | 16.15-17.45 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 117 |
| Monday 14.04.2025 | 16.15-17.45 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 117 |
| Monday 21.04.2025 | 16.15-17.45 | Ostern |
| Monday 28.04.2025 | 16.15-17.45 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 117 |
| Monday 05.05.2025 | 16.15-17.45 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 117 |
| Monday 12.05.2025 | 16.15-17.45 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 117 |
| Monday 19.05.2025 | 16.15-17.45 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 117 |
| Monday 26.05.2025 | 16.15-17.45 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 117 |
| Modules |
Modul: Ethnographien (Bachelor's degree subject: Anthropology) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: Slavic Studies) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: English) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: German Language and Literature) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: French Language and Literature) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: Spanish Language and Literature) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: Italian Language and Literature) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: German Literature) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: Latin Philology) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: Nordic Philology) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft MA (Master's Studies - Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences) Modul: Literatur im Zusammenspiel der Künste und Medien (Master's degree program: Literary Studies) Modul: Literaturtheorie (Master's degree program: Literary Studies) Modul: Slavische Kulturwissenschaft (Master's degree subject: Slavic Studies) Modul: Slavische Literaturwissenschaft BA (Bachelor's degree program: Eastern European Studies) Modul: Slavische Literaturwissenschaft BA (Bachelor's degree subject: Eastern European Cultures) Modul: Slavische Literaturwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: Slavic Studies) Modul: Theorien der Geschlechterforschung (Master's degree subject: Gender Studies) Modul: Theory and General Anthropology (Master's degree subject: Anthropology) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Slavistik |