Race and Racism in Gender Studies - Embodying Racist Tensions in Nordic Feminism(s)

Send your declaration of interest for this roundtable discussion via the submission form

Abstract

The aim of the roundtable is to reveal some of the tensions between Nordic gender studies and research on race and racism, such as in the fields of critical race, anti-racist, and decolonial studies. Moreover, we aim to explore the potential a stronger focus on race, racialization and racism within gender studies holds for the development of the field.

With the particular focus on ‘embodying racist tensions in Nordic feminism(s)’, the roundtable will particularly turn towards and discuss the experiences of minoritized and racialized anti-racist scholars who work within the field of gender and feminist studies in the Nordics. We aim to highlight the role and importance, yet also difficulties, of embodying a racialized minoritized position within feminist debates as well as open a space for exploring collective strategies of support and solidarity. Such interventions are necessary to move the field towards new theorizations of racism(s) in the Nordics that go beyond dominant notions of racism as (un-)conscious bias and lack of representation.

The roundtable builds the basis for a special issue in the Danish journal Kvinder, Køn og Forskning to be published in 2023. The roundtable may explore among other themes:  

  • methodological perspectives of working as a minoritized scholar and embodied methods for anti-racist research
  • analysis of and theory developments on gendered and sexualized forms of racism, as well as contextualized expressions of racism(s) in the Nordics targeting for example Black, Muslim and Indigenous populations
  • reflections on racialized formations in relation to the Nordic colonial past and present
  • exploration of manifestations of anti-racist activism and research incl. its forms of expression, resistances to it and critical reflections on it

The roundtable will consist of maximum six participants. We invite declarations of interest from scholars who wish to contribute to the roundtable. If you are interested in contributing, please submit a 300-word declaration of interest highlighting how your work fits with the theme of the roundtable. Please remember to include your name and affiliation.

Organizers

Bontu Lucie Guschke is a PhD Fellow at Copenhagen Business School, Department of Organization. Her research centers on harassment and discrimination in contemporary organizational work settings. Empirically, she works with data from Danish universities. Her focus lies within the research field of feminist and anti-racist critical organization studies, including perspectives from queer feminist theories and Black feminist thought. Bontu is also part of Copenhagen Business School’s Diversity and Difference Platform and works on research projects in the area of gender and sexuality studies, including intersectional perspectives and norm-critical approaches to diversity work.

Iram Khawaja is Associate Professor in Educational Psychology at Aarhus University, Department of Education. Her research has focused on 1) Religiosity, community and belonging amongst Muslim children and youth 2) Societal understandings of inclusion, marginalization and diversity in relation to racialized minorities 3) Processes of othering and racialization in education. Within these areas, Khawaja has worked with a poststructuralist conceptualization of community, a wider definition of inclusion as linked to (non)belonging and an understanding of religiosity and Muslimness as a racialized category. Moreover, her work is concerned with strategies of working with anti-racist, critical and engaged pedagogical approaches in education.

Lene Myong is professor at Centre for Gender Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Stavanger. Her scholarship examines the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and kinship, the biopolitics of transnational adoption and the continued impact of assimilation, racialization, and racism in the Nordics. Her work has been published in journals such as NORA: Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research, Ethnic and Racial Studies, and Nordic Journal of Migration Research.

Published Sep. 21, 2021 10:48 AM - Last modified Sep. 21, 2021 3:01 PM