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Modernization of Sexuality and the Construction of Deviance in Soviet Lithuania

Project description

The modern discourses of sexuality in Europe

Homophobia is widespread in Eastern Europe. The LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) community in Eastern Europe faces official and unofficial discrimination. The EU-funded MoSeLit project will explore the construction of queer sexuality as ‘deviance’ in medical, criminological, educational, and other discourses and practices in Soviet Lithuania (1945-1990). It will also study the production of queer subjectivities and the boundaries of agency of queer people in the context of socialist modernisation. The findings will shed light on the concepts of sexuality and gender within the Cold War context as well as the modern history of sexuality in Europe.

Objective

While the hostile attitudes towards LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) people in Eastern Europe are often attributed to the legacy of the Soviet past, scholarly research on the history of sexuality and its management in state-socialism is still lacking. The main goal of this research project is to provide the first rigorous historical analysis of the construction of queer sexuality as “deviance” in medical, criminological, educational, and other discourses and practices in Soviet Lithuania (1945-1990). Besides from this goal, additional objectives of this project are: 1) to analyse the production of queer subjectivities and the boundaries of agency of queer people in the context of socialist modernization, thus questioning the assumption about the Soviet period as merely repressive; 2) to contribute to a more nuanced and less heteronormative historical understanding of the development of modern sexuality in the Soviet Union through a close engagement with queer and feminist theory; 3) to develop a conceptual toolbox, informed by postcolonial and decolonial approaches, to the historical study of sexuality in the context of Soviet Lithuania, in this way broadening the Western-centered theoretical framework of queer studies; and 4) to join the scholarly debates on sexuality and gender within the Cold War context, the modern history of sexuality in Europe, and the cultural history and intellectual history of state-socialism. In order to achieve these goals and objectives, the project combines archival research with oral history in the examination of the construction of sexual “deviance” and the limits of queer resistance in the context of Soviet Lithuania. Employing the insights from queer and postcolonial studies, the research will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the development of modern discourses of sexuality and contemporary queer identities in Europe, and will question the narrative of modernization as sexual liberation.

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MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020

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Coordinator

UNIVERSITAT WIEN
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 174 167,04
Address
UNIVERSITATSRING 1
1010 WIEN
Austria

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Region
Ostösterreich Wien Wien
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 174 167,04
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