Rethinking sexuality in Nordic and Post-Soviet contexts: A symposium

This symposium gathers Nordic and Post-Soviet scholars in gender and sexuality studies at the intersection of media studies, human geography and history, with an emphasis on transnational perspectives on sexuality, past and present. Two days of invited speakers and discussion, free of charge!

PROGRAM
Thursday, September 29 (room: MB 503)

9.45 Coffee
10.15 Conference opening: Jenny Sundén & Kirill Polkov

10.25-11.10 Introduction
“Framing devices for rethinking sexuality across Nordic and Baltic contexts”
Jenny Sundén, Susanna Paasonen & Katrin Tiidenberg

11.10-12.00 Michal Pitoňák (independent scholar in the field of geographies of sexualities and a chair of the Prague based NGO Queer Geography)
“Crossroads of insights: Uneasy stalemate of LGBT+ activism in Central and Eastern Europe”
(Chair: Jenny Sundén)

12.00-13.15 Lunch

13.15-14.50 “SEX ACROSS BORDERS” (Chair: Susanna Paasonen)

Laura Saarenmaa (Senior Lecturer, Media Studies, University of Turku)
“From fantasies to reality: Enabling Nordic sex tourism”

Mariah Larsson (Professor of Film Studies, Linnaeus University)
“Pornography and transnationality: The case of Hälle, Sweden in the 1970s”

14.50-15.20 Coffee

15.20-17.00 “SEX (EDUCATION) AND REPRODUCTION” (Chair: Katrin Tiidenberg)

Kristina Birk-Vellemaa (MA student, Ethnology, Folkloristics and Applied Anthropology, Tartu University)
“A girl became a woman: Experiences of sex education and its effect on sexual self-determination in the narratives of Estonian women born 1971-1981”

Ulrika Dahl (Professor of Gender Studies, Uppsala University)
“Sex or babies but never both? Reflections on geographies of sex and kinship among queer parents and scholars”

Friday, September 30 (room: MB 503)

9.45 Coffee

10.15-11.50 “TRANSNATIONAL LESBIAN IMAGINARIES” (Chair: Ulrika Dahl)

Rebeka Põldsam (PhD student, Department of Ethnologym University of Tartu) & Riikka Taavetti (Senior Lecturer, Gender Studies, University of Turku)
“‘I never was this theoretical lesbian type’: Memories and experiences of Estonian-Finnish lesbian community from the early 1990s”

Tuula Juvonen (Associate Professor of Gender Studies, Tampere University)
“Positioning Finnish homosexuality in transnational contexts”
11.50-13.00 Lunch

13.00-14.35 “QUEER COMMUNITIES IN CRISIS TIMES” (Chair: Kirill Polkov)

Łukasz Szulc (Lecturer in Digital Media and Society, Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield)
“Queer migrants making sense of Brexit”

Michael Nebeling Petersen (Associate Professor at the Center for Gender, Sexuality, and Difference, University of Copenhagen)
“Visualizing AIDS: Affective histories of the AIDS epidemic in Denmark”

14.35-15.05 Coffee

15.05-15.55 Kristian Møller (Assistant Professor, Roskilde University)
“Safe space and harm reduction in club culture: A transnational study”
(Chair: Jenny Sundén)

15.55-16.45 Closing remarks and future collaborations
Jenny Sundén, Susanna Paasonen & Katrin Tiidenberg