Weave LAP Bilateral German-Polish Research Cooperation (2023-2026): Queer Theory in Transit: Reception, Translation, and Production of Queer Theory in Polish and German Contexts
Queer Theory in Transit
Reception, Translation, and Production of Queer Theory in Polish and German Contexts
Weave LAP Bilateral German-Polish Research Cooperation (2023-2026)
funded by DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) and NCN (Narodowe Centrum Nauki / National Science Center Poland)
PI (HU Berlin): Prof. Dr. Eveline Kilian
PI (University of Warsaw): dr habil. Tomasz Basiuk prof. ucz.
Queer Theory in Transit is dedicated to queer theory in the humanities, with an emphasis on cultural and literary studies. Since the 1990s, critiques of heteronormativity and queer theory production in the US have been instrumental in forming and formulating queer theoretical approaches in various academic disciplines in Europe to a point that locally produced concepts and antecedents were often ignored. This project focuses on Polish and German translations and receptions of, as well as contributions to queer theory. It addresses and makes productive the tension between the origins of this body of theory in US-American academia and its subsequent reception, adaptation and appropriation in very different geographical, political and cultural contexts. It takes the example of Poland and Germany to trace and compare the key processes of adoption, modification and resistance governed by the historical specificities in these two countries. This includes a closer inspection of the ways US-American perspectives and knowledge production have been linked to and integrated in local theoretical traditions and how they have affected the ongoing local production of queer theory as it emerges in response to local discussions and issues. This research set-up will firstly allow us to stress interconnections and divergences between these two European countries and, secondly, to develop a critical perspective on US-American cultural hegemony that historically has been viewed very differently in Poland and Germany and that in recent times has more generally become a debated issue with changing political landscapes in Europe and in a more global framework. The project calls on Edward Said’s discussion of traveling theory, which strongly emphasizes the importance of local contexts in formulating and applying theoretical concepts.
HU Team:
Prof. Dr. Eveline Kilian
Postdoctoral Researcher:
Dr. Janin Afken
Doctoral Researcher:
Konstantin Helm
Felix Schmidt
Associated Researcher:
Tijana Ristic Kern
Maria Olive Alexopoulos
Student Assistant:
Luca Michael