Queer Herstories of struggle and survival in Romania: From Communist criminalization to contemporary anti-gender movements in SEE spaces

Project Information

Q-SEERA

Grant agreement ID: 101022731

DOI

10.3030/101022731

Project closed

EC signature date 6 April 2021

Start date 1 October 2021

End date 30 September 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 214 158,72

EU contribution

€ 214 158,72

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITETET I STAVANGER
Norway

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Q-SEERA (Queer Herstories of struggle and survival in Romania: From Communist criminalization to contemporary anti-gender movements in SEE spaces)

Reporting period: 2021-10-01 to 2023-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Q-SEERA, “Queer Herstories of struggle and survival in Romania: From Communist criminalization to contemporary anti-gender movements in SEE spaces” studied the rise in anti-gender politics in Romania and other South-East European (SEE) countries to help address a growing climate of intolerance. It offered a comparative analysis of gender norms related to sexuality in both communist and post-communist Romania and SEE countries. An innovative theoretical framework was developed for tackling European challenges concerning policies and political discourses involving gender and sexual minorities from a transnational perspective. The project added unique knowledge that goes beyond the state of the art regarding queer (LBT+) women’s lives in SEE. By looking at a previously unresearched topic – the intimate and social lives of queer Romanian women under communism and during the ‘transitional 1990s’, the project explored how Romania stands out from other SEE and EU countries, unpacking differentiated inequalities across the region. The main objective was to gather original and unique data from interviewing queer women, archival and text analysis through a micro historical approach, combined with a comparative analysis of gender norms related to sexuality in both communist and post communist Romania and the SEE.
The conclusions of this MSCA project apply to both the scientific and social realms. Firstly, through interviews and archival research, as well as internet archaeology, the project has discovered and recovered important stories of queer women and trans persons during communist Romania and in the decades following it. Secondly, it connected those personal stories with the ongoing activist work made by these persons since the beginning of the 90s, placing itself in a paradigm of reparation against the previous invisibility of many such activist efforts. Efforts often rendered anonymous by mainstream LGBT+ NGOs that were reluctant (at first) to support and promote alternative projects and types of activism. Q-SEERA also began exploring the dynamic between mainstream LGBT+ and grassroots activism, following the line of how respectability politics affected the (soft) incipient policies and strategies for human rights advancements. Having Romania as a central case study offered the possibility of a more nuanced transnational comparative perspective over activism and political shifts concerning human rights in South Eastern Europe. By simultaneously looking at how anti-gender movements were formed in Romania and in the region, Q-SEERA highlighted how women and trans led initiatives did actively work to oppose right-wing initiatives, even though they had access to less resources and visibility than the mainstream organizations and institutional bodies.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Q-SEERA met and exceeded its initial objectives and expected outcomes. In total, the PI gave and organized 13 public talks (both within and outside international conferences) in connection to the project, organized one international conference (with over 120 participants, offline and online) financed through the project, organized 3 workshops, and an international conference at the host institution. In term of publications, the PI published two monographs, one chapter in collective volume, and developed two peer-reviewed articles (available as pre-print, awaiting publication in Q4 2023). All publications are Open Access and/or available on Zenodo repository. The data collection and analysis activities (WP1, WP2 and WP3) were carried out at the seconding institution in Romania and part of the interviews were done online (via Zoom), as some participants were residing outside of Romania. The secondment offered the opportunity to access a vast LGBT+ archive which was vital in implementing the analysis (WP3) and the comparative analysis (WP4). The PI has kept all the scanned documents accessed during the seconding periods (Dec 2021-Feb 2022 and Oct-Nov 2022) as well as the interview transcripts and recorded audio materials on external encrypted HDD and followed the guidelines and recommendations of both GDPR, EU, and NSD in managing the data. The training (WP5) provided by the host institution enhanced the skills and prospects of the PI in different areas: academic writing, management, project writing, supervision. In terms of dissemination of the results, several online platforms were used: the project´s website (created and maintained by the PI during and after the project completion), the Centre for Gender Studies website, QueerFemSEE International conference´s website and their dedicated social media outlets: Q-SEERA and QueerFemSEE Facebook pages, UiS and the Centre for Gender Studies´s Twitter, newsletter and Facebook pages.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Objectives:
1. To discover and record narratives and lived experiences of queer Romanian women during and after communism; Outcome: new knowledge and deeper understanding of minoritized women’s lived experiences under communism and the transition period (late 1990s and early 2000s).
2. To discover informal associations, networks and groups which represented safe spaces for these queer women and compare them with similar groups from the post communist spaces. Outcome: new insights on social groups and collective forms of resistance to populist and anti-gender norms.
3. To analyse and interpret the data obtained through archival research at the seconding institution. Outcome: new comparative knowledge (complementing objectives 1 and 2) of different socio-political aspects of queer women’s lives under the communist and transition periods in Romania.
4. To connect the archival material to the narratives and to the existing literature on queer women in the SEE region and critically analyse this in relation to contemporary anti-gender movements (see the first two objectives). The aim is to develop a broad-based, thorough understanding of the situation of queer women under communism and the “transition” period. Outcomes: a correlation between the narratives and the historical context; a comparative analysis on the SEE spaces in relation to the current developments in anti-gender movements and policies.
IMPACT
The results of this project have been consistently communicated during the two years of the grant; it has produced novel knowledge in its area of research, reinforced networks and established new networks in the field of transnational queer and gender studies. For example, the second edition of QueerFemSEE international conference attracted participants from over 25 countries, both from SEE and beyond. The interest and valuable knowledge shared during the first two editions are important reasons for continuing the work for further editions. Together with the second edition co-organizers, the PI is preparing the conference proceedings to be published in 2024 in a special issue of Feminist Critique: East European Journal of Feminist and Queer Studies. At the same time, the MSCA fellowship opened the PI´s access to academic networks beyond SEE, as she established connections and was invited to speak in different universities in Scandinavia (Gothenburg University, Malmö University, Oslo University). This facilitated the dissemination of Q-SEERA project results.

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