Sense about Science is an independent campaigning charity that challenges the misrepresentation of science and evidence in public life. They advocate openness and honesty about research findings, and work to ensure the public interest in sound science and evidence is recognised in public discussion and policymaking.
I took part in a Standing up for Science workshop organized by Sense about Science in Brussels, Belgium on October 5th.
I have also become a member of the Voice of Young Science network.
VoYS is our unique and dynamic network of early career researchers across Europe committed to playing an active role in public discussions about science. By responding to public misconceptions about science and evidence and engaging with the media, this active community of 3,000+ researchers is changing the way the public and the media view science and scientists.
More information:
https://senseaboutscience.org
https://senseaboutscience.org/what-we-are-doing/voys/
Tuesday, November 13, 2018
Monday, November 5, 2018
Gender Studies Conference Trans in Transit in Turku
November 22 - 24
University of Turku and Åbo Akademi, Turku, Finland
Presentation "Feminist and trans activist sisterhood: a good practice example from Poznań, Poland"
Abstract:
The relationship between feminist and trans activism is more complicated than one might expect. Modern feminist theory considers gender to be a socially constructed and discursively maintained rather than biological category, which seems to be in agreement with the conviction that gender is about how one feels and identifies rather than what one’s body is like. Both women and trans individuals experience gender-based discrimination and oppression. However, some feminists have claimed that trans activism is detrimental to their cause, which has earned them the label TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminists). As early as in 1979, Janice Raymond condemned trans women for reinforcing traditional gender roles and contributing to the essentialization of gender identity. More recently, Sheila Jeffreys has argued for seeing transsexuality as harmful both to feminism and the lesbian and gay community (2014). Both feminist and trans activists have provided brilliant arguments against such views, with Julia Serano’s (2007) book among my personal favourites.
Academic debates are one thing, but activist practice is another. In this talk, I would like to present an example of sisterhood solidarity between feminism and female trans activism in the context of post-socialist Poland. A small but vibrant community of trans women in the city of Poznań is currently engaging in many projects that reach beyond trans activism, e.g. aiming at combating violence against women or empowering women for political participation. While actively engaging with and supporting the feminist movement, which is struggling under the current anti-feminist backlash common to Central and Eastern Europe, they are silently contributing to the visibility and social acceptability of transsexuality in their environment.
University of Turku and Åbo Akademi, Turku, Finland
Presentation "Feminist and trans activist sisterhood: a good practice example from Poznań, Poland"
Abstract:
The relationship between feminist and trans activism is more complicated than one might expect. Modern feminist theory considers gender to be a socially constructed and discursively maintained rather than biological category, which seems to be in agreement with the conviction that gender is about how one feels and identifies rather than what one’s body is like. Both women and trans individuals experience gender-based discrimination and oppression. However, some feminists have claimed that trans activism is detrimental to their cause, which has earned them the label TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminists). As early as in 1979, Janice Raymond condemned trans women for reinforcing traditional gender roles and contributing to the essentialization of gender identity. More recently, Sheila Jeffreys has argued for seeing transsexuality as harmful both to feminism and the lesbian and gay community (2014). Both feminist and trans activists have provided brilliant arguments against such views, with Julia Serano’s (2007) book among my personal favourites.
Academic debates are one thing, but activist practice is another. In this talk, I would like to present an example of sisterhood solidarity between feminism and female trans activism in the context of post-socialist Poland. A small but vibrant community of trans women in the city of Poznań is currently engaging in many projects that reach beyond trans activism, e.g. aiming at combating violence against women or empowering women for political participation. While actively engaging with and supporting the feminist movement, which is struggling under the current anti-feminist backlash common to Central and Eastern Europe, they are silently contributing to the visibility and social acceptability of transsexuality in their environment.
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
Conference in Baku
October 25 - 26
Azerbaijan University of Languages, Baku
International Conference Current Issues in Applied Linguistics
Presentation "The Language of Trees: on the Importance of Teaching Ecolinguistics"
Azerbaijan University of Languages, Baku
International Conference Current Issues in Applied Linguistics
Presentation "The Language of Trees: on the Importance of Teaching Ecolinguistics"
Some impressions from Baku
Wednesday, August 15, 2018
Conference Postcolonial Oceans
I am co-organizing the Joint Annual Conference of GAPS and IACPL Postcolonial Oceans. Contradictions and Heterogeneities in the Epistemes of Salt Water to take place on 30 May-2 June 2019 at the University of Bremen in Germany. For more information visit:
http://www.poco-oceans.uni-bremen.de
Call for papers
Postcolonial studies have a vested interest in embodied and discursive, social and political, historical and ecological dimensions of oceans. They foreground histories of colonization, imperial wars, the dispossession of territories, enslavement of people, and circulation of goods and ideas, in their entanglements with contemporary postcolonial societies, substantially shaping decolonial knowledge production, postcolonial literatures and academic discourses until today. In his interview on the third space, Homi Bhabha (1990) has pinpointed the inherent contradiction in the genesis of Western modernity: the progressive development of Western societies, individuals and thought traditions according to ideas and values that were monumentalized as the “Enlightenment” on the one hand, and the history of the West as despotic power pursuing various forms of colonial aggression and possession, on the other. Walter Mignolo (2000) and Paul Gilroy (1993) have likewise defined histories of colonization and enslavement as Western modernity’s well-concealed darker side. Studies of oceans and coasts have generated a variety of heterogeneous and sometimes contradictory academic and public discourses from a range of different disciplinary perspectives, including postcolonial studies, the sociology of knowledge, anthropology, literary studies, linguistics and social studies of science and technology. A more systematic perspective on the relations between colonialism, postcolonialism, oceans and lands, rejecting and/or complementing one-sided terrestrial perspectives, emerged only gradually. Rupert Emerson, for instance, defines colonialism as “imposition of white rule on alien peoples inhabiting lands separated by salt water” (1969, 3), understanding salt water – in line with widespread Western ideas of seas and oceans – as separating lands, cultures, people and ideas. In contrast, Gísli Pálsson (1991, xvii) argues that different and isolated worlds were connected by colonial sea voyages into a “global but polarized network of power-relations”. Epeli Hau’ofa (1994; 2008), working from a perspective grown in a marine epistemology, understands diverse Pacific islands, cultures and environments as a network, not separated but linked by the ocean – a “sea of islands”. Extending this idea, Édouard Glissant’s (1997) “archipelagic thinking” shifts understanding the entire world as a connected archipelago, an epistemic shift that is a counterpoint to insular thinking and allows registering the heterogeneities and myriad entanglements and creolization processes in our globalizing world. Early anthropology saw the sea as “atheoretical”, while it became an explicit category of study in environmental history (Gillis 2004, 2011; Bolster 2012; Kehrt/Torma 2014), in geography (Steinberg 2001; Peters 2014, 2015) and maritime anthropology (Astuti 1995; Helmreich 2011). In the construed nature/culture divide, water appears as natural form and “uncontainable flux” as opposed to culture imagined as “land-based idiom”, or it is perceived as materiality to channel (nature) as opposed to being a medium of pleasure, sustenance, travel and disaster (culture) (Helmreich 2011). The nature/culture divide implicates water as one domain “open to control and colonization by the other” (Strathern 1980). Critical maritime history grappled with the opposition between a fully historicized land vs. a supposedly atemporal, “ahistorical” sea that is “outside and beyond history” and researches oceans as polymorphous and transnational contact zones (Klein/Mackenthun, eds. 2004). Indigenous seascape epistemologies are often approaches “to knowing through a visual, spiritual, intellectual, and embodied literacy of the ‘āina (land) and kai (sea)’”, explicitly stressing the nexus between sea and land, and knowing the ocean, wind, and land as interconnected system (Ingersoll 2016). Colonial exploration, colonization and (forced) migration via oceans have created cultural, linguistic and epistemic contact zones where transcultural processes, creole and pidgin languages, and pluriversal knowledges and narratives emerged, however implicated in a hierarchical power matrix (Pratt 1992; Warnke/Stolz/Schmidt-Brücken 2016). The sea prominently features in colonial literatures as both facilitating sea voyages and sustaining colonial myth-making (e.g. Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift, Herman Melville, Edgar Allan Poe), whereas in postcolonial literatures it often appears as lethal force enabling colonization and enslavement (e.g. Fred D’Aguiar, George Lamming) or life-giving force and as life itself, integrating all elements and beings (e.g. Eden Robinson, Patricia Grace, Linda Hogan, Alexis Wright). Contradictory and heterogeneous views and ideas of the ocean are commonplace, while knowledge production on and with oceans and saltwater appear to be under-researched through multidisciplinary scholarship. We want to extend the study of oceans and salt water as “theory machine”, an “object that stimulates theoretical formulation” (Galison 2003), and research saltwater knowledge systems, knowledge production and narratives from various epistemological, geographical, cultural and disciplinary perspectives. We are particularly interested in:
http://www.poco-oceans.uni-bremen.de
Call for papers
Postcolonial studies have a vested interest in embodied and discursive, social and political, historical and ecological dimensions of oceans. They foreground histories of colonization, imperial wars, the dispossession of territories, enslavement of people, and circulation of goods and ideas, in their entanglements with contemporary postcolonial societies, substantially shaping decolonial knowledge production, postcolonial literatures and academic discourses until today. In his interview on the third space, Homi Bhabha (1990) has pinpointed the inherent contradiction in the genesis of Western modernity: the progressive development of Western societies, individuals and thought traditions according to ideas and values that were monumentalized as the “Enlightenment” on the one hand, and the history of the West as despotic power pursuing various forms of colonial aggression and possession, on the other. Walter Mignolo (2000) and Paul Gilroy (1993) have likewise defined histories of colonization and enslavement as Western modernity’s well-concealed darker side. Studies of oceans and coasts have generated a variety of heterogeneous and sometimes contradictory academic and public discourses from a range of different disciplinary perspectives, including postcolonial studies, the sociology of knowledge, anthropology, literary studies, linguistics and social studies of science and technology. A more systematic perspective on the relations between colonialism, postcolonialism, oceans and lands, rejecting and/or complementing one-sided terrestrial perspectives, emerged only gradually. Rupert Emerson, for instance, defines colonialism as “imposition of white rule on alien peoples inhabiting lands separated by salt water” (1969, 3), understanding salt water – in line with widespread Western ideas of seas and oceans – as separating lands, cultures, people and ideas. In contrast, Gísli Pálsson (1991, xvii) argues that different and isolated worlds were connected by colonial sea voyages into a “global but polarized network of power-relations”. Epeli Hau’ofa (1994; 2008), working from a perspective grown in a marine epistemology, understands diverse Pacific islands, cultures and environments as a network, not separated but linked by the ocean – a “sea of islands”. Extending this idea, Édouard Glissant’s (1997) “archipelagic thinking” shifts understanding the entire world as a connected archipelago, an epistemic shift that is a counterpoint to insular thinking and allows registering the heterogeneities and myriad entanglements and creolization processes in our globalizing world. Early anthropology saw the sea as “atheoretical”, while it became an explicit category of study in environmental history (Gillis 2004, 2011; Bolster 2012; Kehrt/Torma 2014), in geography (Steinberg 2001; Peters 2014, 2015) and maritime anthropology (Astuti 1995; Helmreich 2011). In the construed nature/culture divide, water appears as natural form and “uncontainable flux” as opposed to culture imagined as “land-based idiom”, or it is perceived as materiality to channel (nature) as opposed to being a medium of pleasure, sustenance, travel and disaster (culture) (Helmreich 2011). The nature/culture divide implicates water as one domain “open to control and colonization by the other” (Strathern 1980). Critical maritime history grappled with the opposition between a fully historicized land vs. a supposedly atemporal, “ahistorical” sea that is “outside and beyond history” and researches oceans as polymorphous and transnational contact zones (Klein/Mackenthun, eds. 2004). Indigenous seascape epistemologies are often approaches “to knowing through a visual, spiritual, intellectual, and embodied literacy of the ‘āina (land) and kai (sea)’”, explicitly stressing the nexus between sea and land, and knowing the ocean, wind, and land as interconnected system (Ingersoll 2016). Colonial exploration, colonization and (forced) migration via oceans have created cultural, linguistic and epistemic contact zones where transcultural processes, creole and pidgin languages, and pluriversal knowledges and narratives emerged, however implicated in a hierarchical power matrix (Pratt 1992; Warnke/Stolz/Schmidt-Brücken 2016). The sea prominently features in colonial literatures as both facilitating sea voyages and sustaining colonial myth-making (e.g. Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift, Herman Melville, Edgar Allan Poe), whereas in postcolonial literatures it often appears as lethal force enabling colonization and enslavement (e.g. Fred D’Aguiar, George Lamming) or life-giving force and as life itself, integrating all elements and beings (e.g. Eden Robinson, Patricia Grace, Linda Hogan, Alexis Wright). Contradictory and heterogeneous views and ideas of the ocean are commonplace, while knowledge production on and with oceans and saltwater appear to be under-researched through multidisciplinary scholarship. We want to extend the study of oceans and salt water as “theory machine”, an “object that stimulates theoretical formulation” (Galison 2003), and research saltwater knowledge systems, knowledge production and narratives from various epistemological, geographical, cultural and disciplinary perspectives. We are particularly interested in:
- imaginaries of the seas and oceans in various discourse formations as well as colonial, postcolonial and decolonial genealogies of ocean, coastal and marine spaces;
- contradictory and heterogeneous concepts of marine spaces; likewise pluriversal ocean and coast-related epistemologies;
- entangled colonial histories of oceans with regard to the Black, Red and White Atlantic, the Black Pacific, and early non-Western cross-ocean contacts; the circulation of ideas and goods and their role in shaping ocean-related epistemes;
- salt water spheres as zones of epistemic and cultural contact, neo- and postcolonial communicative practices and linguistic smoothness;
- linguistic overlaps and language contact, the universalist spread of colonial languages and their status in contact zones, the threat of local languages;
- the role of European Atlantic port cities (e.g. Bremen, London, Rotterdam, Antwerp) in colonial histories of oceans and the role of port cities outside Europe (e.g. Dakar, Cape Town, Dubai City, Hong Kong) in world trade and global relations, incl. changing discourses constituting such port cities;
- the ship as vessel enabling and as metaphor for colonization, enslavement, migration, global trade, scientific exploration and various forms of harvesting marine and ocean floor resources;
- ecological and resource-related aspects of oceans such as rising sea levels, hurricanes, earthquakes, overfishing, resource extraction, and ocean pollution;
- symbolic oceans in colonial literary and non-literary texts and postcolonial constructions of oceans and salt water epistemologies in literature, theatre, film, electronic and other media.
Friday, November 17, 2017
Baltu filoloģijas Poznaņā 70. gadu jubileja
Sīkāka informācija un programma šeit.
Saturday, July 1, 2017
The 12th Conference on Baltic Studies in Europe
19-21 June, 2017
Panel "Gender, history and media"
Researching constructions of femininity, masculinity and sexuality in Latvian social media discourses
This paper shall present the current state of the project “Constructing femininity, masculinity and sexuality in German, Latvian and Polish social media discourses”, realized since December 2015 at the University of Bremen. The study shows how discourse shapes popular constructions of social reality and contributes to their variations in different languages/countries, within the context and under the influence of diverging histories of political and economic systems, social change and movements, and power relations, with particular attention paid to the three countries' varying socialist legacies and current positions within the EU. This focus on historical intra- and inter-national power relations makes it possible to use critical and postcolonial approaches to language in order to trace continuity and change in discourses on gender and sexuality competing within and between German, Latvian and Polish societies. The use of social media guarantees access to various discourses, including those marginalized or absent in traditional mass media.
In accordance with the conference’s theme, the
presentation shall focus on the Baltic State included in the study, i.e.
Latvia. It will reflect on the discourses of the local LGBT community and its
opponents within the context of Latvia’s post-Soviet democratic development and
its nation rebuilding project.
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
Open Campus 2017
Under the supervision of Eeva Sippola and Kerstin Knopf
and the coordination of Joanna Chojnicka, a large range of
presentations and activities were offered to visitors at the pagoda of
Faculty 10. The postcolonial team was supported by the student
assistants Michaela Puschmann and Anna Todt as well as the members of
Stuga Anglistik.
Throughout the day, fortune-cookies and arabic sweets
were
handed around and a mini-cinema invited visitors to watch short movies
made by the students of MA Transnationale Literaturwissenschaft and a
poetry reading.
Presentations included Postcolonial Literary and Cultural Studies by Prof. Dr. Kerstin Knopf, Postcolonial Language Studies by Dr. Marivic
Lesho, Linguistic
Fieldwork in Papua New Guinea by Dr. Lidia Mazzitelli and Research-based learning
by BA-Student Michaela Puschmann. Many keen visitors could be found in our
workshop on the International Phonetic Alphabet, where participants had the
chance to read and write in IPA-Symbols.
INPUTS contributed to our pagoda by presenting their Guayana-
and Haiti-Projects, while Michael Claridge offered a photo-exhibition on the students' excursion to Shakespeare's London and on the most recent play by the Parliament of Foules, Doctor Faustus.
At the end of the day, our team enjoyed the concert of Samy Deluxe
and celebrated a succesful and rewarding day. Thanks to everyone who
contributed - we are already looking forward to the next Open Campus!
[text by Michaela Puschmann & Joanna Chojnicka]
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Es meklēju trans*personas no Latvijas intervijām un sadarbībai
Sakarā ar savu projektu, kas īstenots Brēmenes universitātē, es pašlaik meklēju trans*personas no Latvijas, kurām ir blogi, vlogi, kuras piekristu intervijai ar mani vai varētu vēl savādāk ar mani sadarboties.
Sīkāka informācija:
Visām ieinteresētām personām
Mani sauc Joanna Chojnicka un no 2015. gada Brēmenes universitātē pētu sievišķības, vīrišķības un seksualitātes konstruēšanas strateģijas sociālo mēdiju diskursā Centrālajā un Austrumeiropā. Es meklēju transpersonas, kurām ir blogi/vlogi, kuras es varētu intervēt un/vai kuras būtu gatavas sadarboties ar mani mazliet ilgāk. Protams, es garantēju ievērot privātuma un konfidencialitātes, datu anonimizācijas/aizsardzības un ētikas standartus.
Es uzskatu, ka visā LGBTQ+ spektrā tieši transpersonām tiek pievērsts vismazāk uzmanības. Domāju arī, ka sarunās ar viņām trūkst šā svarīga jautājuma: kas ir sievišķība/vīrišķība? Ko tas nozīmē, būt sievietei vai vīrietim? Norādījumi uz atbildēm uz šiem jautājumiem atrodami stāstījumos, dzīves vēsturēs, stāstos par parastiem, maziem vai lieliem notikumiem, kuriem nav jābūt saistītiem ar dzimuma maiņas procesu. Tāpēc transpersonu blogi un vlogi ir ļoti svarīgs informācijas avots, un tas ir mans pirmais lūgums jums: man ir vajadzīgas transpersonu, kurām ir blogi/vlogi, www adreses un citas kontaktinformācijas.
Otrais lūgums ir saistīts ar manu pētījumu formu. Es ticu, ka zinātniskajam darbam nav tikai jāapraksta pasaule, bet arī jācīnās pret tās netaisnībām. Es gribu apvienot zinātni ar aktīvismu. Ja jūs nolemsiet sadarboties ar mani, es gribēšu jūs vienreiz vai vairākas reizes intervēt, un tās intervijas kļūs par manu informācijas avotu. Bet es arī jautāšu pēc palīdzības jūsu blogu/vlogu un interviju analizēšanā, un pēc jūsu vajadzībām, cerībām un uzskatiem par to informāciju interpretēšanu, prezentēšanu un izmantošanu. Es nekad neuzskatīšu savu viedokli par labāku vai svarīgāku un nekad nepublicēšu pētījuma rezultātus bez jūsu piekrišanas. Man ir svarīgs, lai mans darbs nebūtu aplūkots kā jūsu stāstu un piedzīvojumu izmantošana savas karjeras attīstības labā. Es gribu, lai no tā sanāktu kaut kas labs arī jums.
Es nevaru visu izskaidrot īsā tekstā, tāpēc sirsnīgi aicinu kontaktēties ar mani arī, ja jūs neesat pārliecinātas/ti, ka šāda darbība ir kaut kas priekš jums. Ļoti labprāt satikšos ar jums arī klātienē – būšu Rīgā no 15. līdz 20. martam 2017. Mēs varam runāt latviski vai angliski. Mani dati:
e-mail
Facebook
Informācijas par mani: https://uni-bremen.academia.edu/JoannaChojnicka.
Liels paldies jau iepriekš!
Sīkāka informācija:
Visām ieinteresētām personām
Mani sauc Joanna Chojnicka un no 2015. gada Brēmenes universitātē pētu sievišķības, vīrišķības un seksualitātes konstruēšanas strateģijas sociālo mēdiju diskursā Centrālajā un Austrumeiropā. Es meklēju transpersonas, kurām ir blogi/vlogi, kuras es varētu intervēt un/vai kuras būtu gatavas sadarboties ar mani mazliet ilgāk. Protams, es garantēju ievērot privātuma un konfidencialitātes, datu anonimizācijas/aizsardzības un ētikas standartus.
Es uzskatu, ka visā LGBTQ+ spektrā tieši transpersonām tiek pievērsts vismazāk uzmanības. Domāju arī, ka sarunās ar viņām trūkst šā svarīga jautājuma: kas ir sievišķība/vīrišķība? Ko tas nozīmē, būt sievietei vai vīrietim? Norādījumi uz atbildēm uz šiem jautājumiem atrodami stāstījumos, dzīves vēsturēs, stāstos par parastiem, maziem vai lieliem notikumiem, kuriem nav jābūt saistītiem ar dzimuma maiņas procesu. Tāpēc transpersonu blogi un vlogi ir ļoti svarīgs informācijas avots, un tas ir mans pirmais lūgums jums: man ir vajadzīgas transpersonu, kurām ir blogi/vlogi, www adreses un citas kontaktinformācijas.
Otrais lūgums ir saistīts ar manu pētījumu formu. Es ticu, ka zinātniskajam darbam nav tikai jāapraksta pasaule, bet arī jācīnās pret tās netaisnībām. Es gribu apvienot zinātni ar aktīvismu. Ja jūs nolemsiet sadarboties ar mani, es gribēšu jūs vienreiz vai vairākas reizes intervēt, un tās intervijas kļūs par manu informācijas avotu. Bet es arī jautāšu pēc palīdzības jūsu blogu/vlogu un interviju analizēšanā, un pēc jūsu vajadzībām, cerībām un uzskatiem par to informāciju interpretēšanu, prezentēšanu un izmantošanu. Es nekad neuzskatīšu savu viedokli par labāku vai svarīgāku un nekad nepublicēšu pētījuma rezultātus bez jūsu piekrišanas. Man ir svarīgs, lai mans darbs nebūtu aplūkots kā jūsu stāstu un piedzīvojumu izmantošana savas karjeras attīstības labā. Es gribu, lai no tā sanāktu kaut kas labs arī jums.
Es nevaru visu izskaidrot īsā tekstā, tāpēc sirsnīgi aicinu kontaktēties ar mani arī, ja jūs neesat pārliecinātas/ti, ka šāda darbība ir kaut kas priekš jums. Ļoti labprāt satikšos ar jums arī klātienē – būšu Rīgā no 15. līdz 20. martam 2017. Mēs varam runāt latviski vai angliski. Mani dati:
Informācijas par mani: https://uni-bremen.academia.edu/JoannaChojnicka.
Liels paldies jau iepriekš!
Monday, June 20, 2016
Baltic Pride 2016!
The Baltic Pride is an annual event organized each year by a different Baltic country - Estonia, Lithuania or Latvia. This year it took place in Vilnius, Lithuania from June 16th to June 19th.
The Baltic Pride 2016 is accompanied by the LGBT* cultural/social festival “Kreivės”, taking place from June 13th to June 23th. See the website of the festival.
An interesting initiative is the Pride House, offering the following events each day of the Baltic Pride week:
Intersex: medicine, sociology, psychology, advocacy – On Monday at 3 PM
Official Rainbow InfoPoint and Pride House opening – On Monday at 5 PM
Staying safe, healthy and fabulous (LT) – On Tuesday at 3.30 PM
All the shades of sexuality – On Tuesday at 5.45 PM
Beyond gender binarism: between “he” and “she” (LT/EN) – On Wednesday at 1 PM
Bisex speed-dating (LT) – On Wednesday at 9 PM
Building bridges, not walls: how to be a good ally – On Thursday at 2 PM
#IDAHOTby: queer representation in Belarus – On Thursday at 9 PM
Joy of sport for all – On Friday at 4 PM
TOUCH – On Friday at 7 PM
#BP16 closing brunch – On Sunday at 12 PM
It is impressive that the organizers have taken an effort to represent other "letters" than the usual L & G, by devoting an event to intersex persons or organizing the bisex speed-dating: one does not often see the "B" standing on its own!
Worth mentioning are also initiatives aimed against the traditional binary thinking (Beyond gender binarism, All the shades of sexuality) that is still often employed also by people critical of heteronormativity (binary thinking about gender by the LGB community to the exclusion of trans* and inter* persons, binary thinking about hetero- and homosexuality to the exclusion of bi-, pan-, asexuality).
Supporters
It's important that the Baltic Pride found support from many political and cultural institutions. Although the Lithuanian Government was not represented in the Saturday March, the Vice-Minister of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania Julius Pagojus spoke at the Baltic Pride conference on Friday, and the Mayor of Vilnius Remigijus Šimašius published a video in which he welcomes the Pride participants in Vilnius. Some representatives of the Lithuanian Parliament and Vilnius City Council participated in both the conference and the parade.
Baltic Pride was supported by numerous embassies located in Vilnius: Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK and the USA.
Other supporters: Human Rights, Amnesty International, the Harvey Milk Foundation, EuroPride Madrid 2017. The full list can be found here.
Baltic Pride March
The march started off at Lukiški Square at 1 PM and reached the Bernardine Garden around 3 PM, passing through the most popular and touristy places in Vilnius (Gedimino Prospektas, the Cathedral). It was a happy, colourful, vibrant march! There were a few protesters who, dark and moody, provided an amazing contrast to the lively (and lovely) crowd.
There were some police here and there but their assistance was unnecessary. The most violent thing I saw was a man showing the crowd the middle finger. The crowd sent him kisses back!
Spectators and passers-by were not divided from the march and could join it spontaneously - many of them did.
Some photos:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154253224150489.1073741837.807245488&type=1&l=f94aca55d9
Photos shared by the European Greens:
https://www.facebook.com/EuropeanGreens/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1237343119612107
Photos shared by the organizers - LGL:
https://www.facebook.com/lgl.lt/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10154298176669650
The Baltic Pride 2016 is accompanied by the LGBT* cultural/social festival “Kreivės”, taking place from June 13th to June 23th. See the website of the festival.
An interesting initiative is the Pride House, offering the following events each day of the Baltic Pride week:
Intersex: medicine, sociology, psychology, advocacy – On Monday at 3 PM
Official Rainbow InfoPoint and Pride House opening – On Monday at 5 PM
Staying safe, healthy and fabulous (LT) – On Tuesday at 3.30 PM
All the shades of sexuality – On Tuesday at 5.45 PM
Beyond gender binarism: between “he” and “she” (LT/EN) – On Wednesday at 1 PM
Bisex speed-dating (LT) – On Wednesday at 9 PM
Building bridges, not walls: how to be a good ally – On Thursday at 2 PM
#IDAHOTby: queer representation in Belarus – On Thursday at 9 PM
Joy of sport for all – On Friday at 4 PM
TOUCH – On Friday at 7 PM
#BP16 closing brunch – On Sunday at 12 PM
It is impressive that the organizers have taken an effort to represent other "letters" than the usual L & G, by devoting an event to intersex persons or organizing the bisex speed-dating: one does not often see the "B" standing on its own!
Worth mentioning are also initiatives aimed against the traditional binary thinking (Beyond gender binarism, All the shades of sexuality) that is still often employed also by people critical of heteronormativity (binary thinking about gender by the LGB community to the exclusion of trans* and inter* persons, binary thinking about hetero- and homosexuality to the exclusion of bi-, pan-, asexuality).
Supporters
It's important that the Baltic Pride found support from many political and cultural institutions. Although the Lithuanian Government was not represented in the Saturday March, the Vice-Minister of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania Julius Pagojus spoke at the Baltic Pride conference on Friday, and the Mayor of Vilnius Remigijus Šimašius published a video in which he welcomes the Pride participants in Vilnius. Some representatives of the Lithuanian Parliament and Vilnius City Council participated in both the conference and the parade.
Baltic Pride was supported by numerous embassies located in Vilnius: Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK and the USA.
Other supporters: Human Rights, Amnesty International, the Harvey Milk Foundation, EuroPride Madrid 2017. The full list can be found here.
Baltic Pride March
The march started off at Lukiški Square at 1 PM and reached the Bernardine Garden around 3 PM, passing through the most popular and touristy places in Vilnius (Gedimino Prospektas, the Cathedral). It was a happy, colourful, vibrant march! There were a few protesters who, dark and moody, provided an amazing contrast to the lively (and lovely) crowd.
There were some police here and there but their assistance was unnecessary. The most violent thing I saw was a man showing the crowd the middle finger. The crowd sent him kisses back!
Spectators and passers-by were not divided from the march and could join it spontaneously - many of them did.
Some photos:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154253224150489.1073741837.807245488&type=1&l=f94aca55d9
Photos shared by the European Greens:
https://www.facebook.com/EuropeanGreens/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1237343119612107
Photos shared by the organizers - LGL:
https://www.facebook.com/lgl.lt/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10154298176669650
Sunday, June 19, 2016
Baltic Pride 2016 Conference
The one-day conference program was very intense - next to welcome addresses and keynote speeches by politicians and activists, it offered sessions on global, European, Lithuanian and Baltic-regional levels of considering and working for human rights (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th session, respectively). We heard the following speakers:
Welcome addresses:
Julius Pagojus – Vice-Minister of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania
Jutta Schmitz – Ambassador of Germany to Lithuania
Vladimir Simonko – Executive Director of the National LGBT* Rights Organization LGL
Bert van der Lingen - Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Lithuania
Kajsa Ollongren – Deputy Mayor of City of Amsterdam
Nils Muižnieks – Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights (video)
Keynote speeches:
Stuart Milk – President of the Harvey Milk Foundation
Ulrike Lunacek – Vice-President of the European Parliament and Co-Chair of the EP’s LGBTI Intergroup
1st session:
Moderation: Tomas Vytautas Raskevičius – Policy Coordinator (Human Rights) of the National LGBT* Rights Organization LGL Lithuania
Tanuja Munnoo – Provincial Manager of the South African Human Rights Commission
Ashley Fowler – Program Coordinator for HRC Global at Human Rights Campaign, USA
Helen Kennedy – Executive Director of the EGALE Canada Human Rights Trust
2nd session:
Moderation: Alexander Schuster – Lecturer in Law at the University of Trente, Italy
Erwann Binet – Member of the French National Assembly
Monica Cirinna – Member of the Italian Senate
Robert Wintemute – Professor of Human Rights Law at the King’s College London
3rd session:
Moderation: Natalija Bitiukova – Deputy Director of the Human Rights Monitoring Institute (Lithuania)
Danutė Jočienė – Judge of the Constitutional Court in Lithuania
Vytautas Mizaras – Professor of Law at Vilnius University, Attorney at law
Dalia Kuodytė – Member of the Lithuanian Parliament
Marija Aušrinė Pavilionienė – Member of the Lithuanian Parliament
4th session:
Moderation: Birutė Sabatauskaitė – Director of the Lithuanian Center for Human Rights
Imre Sooäär – Member of the Estonian Parliament
Ilze Vinkele – Member of the Latvian Parliament
Aušrinė Armonaitė – Member of the Vilnius City Council
Worth emphasising is the participation of a representative of the Lithuanian government, especially when considering Lithuania being the worst country in the EU when it comes to legal protection of LGBT* rights. Also, the Mayor of Vilnius, Remigijus Šimašius wrote an open letter to the participants of the March on Saturday, June 18th.
Some photos from the event:
welcome addresses:
Ulrike Lunacek speaking right after the touching and intense talk by Stuart Milk (sitting) dedicated to the victims of the Orlando shooting
the organiser, V. Simonko
prof. Wintemute
a representative of Lithuanian politics
the venueMonday, June 13, 2016
New MA Programme in Endangered Languages and Language Documentation
Sunday, June 5, 2016
Poco is on
Nowa strona Studiów Postkolonialnych na Uniwersytecie w Bremie - jednostki, w której pracuję - właśnie pojawiła się w Internecie:
Jaunā Brēmenes universitātes Postkoloniālo Studiju (vienības, kur strādāju) mājaslapa ir jau internetā:
Thursday, May 19, 2016
Workshop at the CORACI Festival Lüneburg
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Tęcza nad Bałtykiem
Dziś wrzucam mój artykuł "Tęcza nad Bałtykiem" opublikowany w dwumiesięczniku Replika nr. 50 (2014). Tekst dotyczy sytuacji osób LGBT w krajach bałtyckich - Litwie, Łotwie i Estonii.
Miłego czytania!
Link do artykułu
Miłego czytania!
Link do artykułu
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
New position at the University of Bremen
I will work on the project entitled "Constructing femininity, masculinity and sexual identity in German, Latvian and Polish social media discourses". I am going to be a member of the Postcolonial Language Studies team led by prof. Eeva Sippola and the Institute for postcolonial and transcultural studies (INPUTS).
Here's a link to the website of the Third Bremen Conference on Language and Literature in Colonial and Postcolonial Contexts held by my new institution on March 15th-18th in Bremen: BCLL#3
Website of the project: CEE-ities*.
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Poland's Linguistic Heritage / Dziedzictwo językowe Rzeczypospolitej
At present, the following languages are included:
- Latgalian
- Polish Yiddish
- Wilamowicean / Wymysorys
- Hałcnovian as the remnant of the Bielitz-Bialaer Sprachinsel.
The choice, range and content of the project's web portal are dynamic and, as such, will likely be enriched and expanded over time.
The website can be accessed here.
Na Uniwersytecie im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu realizowany jest projekt dokumentacji zagrożonych języków (Dziedzictwo językowe Rzeczypospolitej).
Baza dokumentacji zagrożonych języków zawiera informacje i materiały dotyczące zagrożonych odmian językowych stanowiących językowe dziedzictwo Rzeczypospolitej w ujęciu diachronicznym i synchronicznym, (z wyjątkiem gwar i dialektów samej polszczyzny), świadczących o bogactwie językowym Polski i różnorodności jej językowych kontaktów.
Do pierwszych analiz bardziej szczegółowych i do uruchomienia bazy danych dokumentacyjnych zostały wybrane następujące języki:
- język łatgalski
- polski jidysz
- wilamowski z Wilamowic
- hałcnowski jako ginącą pozostałość bielsko-bialskiej enklawy językowej.
Repertuar, wymiar i zawartość portalu mają charakter dynamiczny i z pewnością w przyszłości będzie ulegał on uzupełnianiu i rozszerzaniu.
Link do portalu
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Tęczowa Ryga. Czy Łotwa się zmienia?
Polecam artykuł Tomasza Otockiego o Europride w Rydze, opublikowany w Przeglądzie Bałtyckim:
Europride pokazuje jak bardzo Łotwa zmieniła się przez ostatnich 10 lat. W 2005 roku 50 maszerujących Łotyszy zostało obrzuconych przez kilkutysięczny tłum kontrdemonstrantów. W tym roku te proporcje się odwróciły.
Europride pokazuje jak bardzo Łotwa zmieniła się przez ostatnich 10 lat. W 2005 roku 50 maszerujących Łotyszy zostało obrzuconych przez kilkutysięczny tłum kontrdemonstrantów. W tym roku te proporcje się odwróciły.
Friday, May 23, 2014
Mans raksts portālā Skapis.eu
2014. gada 22. aprīlī LGBT jauniešu portālā "Skapis" tika publicēts mans raksts "Gendera ideoloģija Polijā?".
Kā raksta paši "skapieši", Projekts “Skapis” ir svaigs un līdz šim nebijis koncepts Latvijā, kas paredzēts LGBT jauniešiem, viņu draugiem, ģimenēm, kā arī skolotājiem un sociālajiem darbiniekiem un, protams, arī citiem interesentiem. Projekts palaists internetā 2011. gada sākumā. Projekta mērķis ir jauniešu izglītošana par lesbiešu, geju, biseksuālu cilvēku un transpersonu jautājumiem, sniedzot vienkāršas un skaidras atbildes uz šķietami sarežģītiem jautājumiem. Informācijas pasniegšanas veids sākotnēji var šķist pārāk vienkāršots vai pat bērnišķīgs, taču jāatceras, ka mūsu mērķis ir skaidrot jautājumus, kas daudziem liekas pārāk sarežģīti, intīmi un pat noslēpumā tīti.
Nosaukums SKAPIS nav izvēlēts nejauši. SKAPIS ir tā vieta, kur cilvēki bērnībā slēpjas, vēlāk dzīvē daudziem tā ir vieta, kur tiek slēpta seksuālā orientācija, tādēļ arī pastāv teiciens “iznākt no skapja” jeb vairs neslēpt savu seksuālo orientāciju. LGBT un seksualitātes jautājumi nav saistīti tikai un vienīgi ar seksu, tie ir arī personas būtības jautājumi, personības iezīmes, ko nav iespējams slēpt vai mainīt. Mēs vēlamies radīt drošu un visiem pieejamu informācijas avotu, kas, pēc visu interesējošo jautājumu noskaidrošanas, iespējams, palīdzēs “iznākt no skapja” un būt brīviem. Projektu vada LGBT un viņu draugu apvienība “Mozaīka”. Šī projekta ietvaros ir izveidota jauniešu grupa “Skapis”, kurā piedalīties ikviens, kā arī atbalsta grupa un individuālās konsultācijas, kur LGBT jauniešiem iespējams saņemt kvalificētu palīdzību.
Īpaši iesaku iepazīties ar e-žurnālu Skapis (http://skapis.eu/jauniesi/zurnals/). Publicēti jau 8 numuri.
Kā raksta paši "skapieši", Projekts “Skapis” ir svaigs un līdz šim nebijis koncepts Latvijā, kas paredzēts LGBT jauniešiem, viņu draugiem, ģimenēm, kā arī skolotājiem un sociālajiem darbiniekiem un, protams, arī citiem interesentiem. Projekts palaists internetā 2011. gada sākumā. Projekta mērķis ir jauniešu izglītošana par lesbiešu, geju, biseksuālu cilvēku un transpersonu jautājumiem, sniedzot vienkāršas un skaidras atbildes uz šķietami sarežģītiem jautājumiem. Informācijas pasniegšanas veids sākotnēji var šķist pārāk vienkāršots vai pat bērnišķīgs, taču jāatceras, ka mūsu mērķis ir skaidrot jautājumus, kas daudziem liekas pārāk sarežģīti, intīmi un pat noslēpumā tīti.
Nosaukums SKAPIS nav izvēlēts nejauši. SKAPIS ir tā vieta, kur cilvēki bērnībā slēpjas, vēlāk dzīvē daudziem tā ir vieta, kur tiek slēpta seksuālā orientācija, tādēļ arī pastāv teiciens “iznākt no skapja” jeb vairs neslēpt savu seksuālo orientāciju. LGBT un seksualitātes jautājumi nav saistīti tikai un vienīgi ar seksu, tie ir arī personas būtības jautājumi, personības iezīmes, ko nav iespējams slēpt vai mainīt. Mēs vēlamies radīt drošu un visiem pieejamu informācijas avotu, kas, pēc visu interesējošo jautājumu noskaidrošanas, iespējams, palīdzēs “iznākt no skapja” un būt brīviem. Projektu vada LGBT un viņu draugu apvienība “Mozaīka”. Šī projekta ietvaros ir izveidota jauniešu grupa “Skapis”, kurā piedalīties ikviens, kā arī atbalsta grupa un individuālās konsultācijas, kur LGBT jauniešiem iespējams saņemt kvalificētu palīdzību.
Īpaši iesaku iepazīties ar e-žurnālu Skapis (http://skapis.eu/jauniesi/zurnals/). Publicēti jau 8 numuri.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Audycja w Dwójce
Dnia 7. listopada 2010 r.
o godz. 16:00 w programie drugim Polskiego Radia odbyła się audycja o
Łotwie, jej kulturze i muzyce w ramach cyklu "Słuchaj Świata".
W
rozmowie poruszyliśmy wiele ciekawych tematów, m.in. sytuacja etniczna i
językowa na Łotwie, tożsamość narodowa Łotyszy, znaczenie, jakie dla
Łotyszy ma kontakt z naturą, łotewska kultura śpiewania, najciekawsze
miejsca i rzeczy do zrobienia na Łotwie, omówiliśmy również parę
stereotypów o Łotyszach i zdradziliśmy, jakie jest najlepsze łotewskie
piwo i jaką potrawę można zjeść jedynie tam.
Zdaję sobie sprawę, że od emisji programu minęły już prawie cztery lata, jednak większość omawianych w nim tematów wciąż jest aktualna, a muzyka nigdy się nie starzeje :)
Zapraszam więc do wysłuchania programu:Zdaję sobie sprawę, że od emisji programu minęły już prawie cztery lata, jednak większość omawianych w nim tematów wciąż jest aktualna, a muzyka nigdy się nie starzeje :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlrn_agVSsY
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Latviešu pretestības diskurss
Mana projekta "Attitudes towards confessional and sexual minorities in the changing Latvian, Lithuanian and Polish media discourse" ietvaros es esmu pievērsusies arī tā saucamajam pretestības diskursam (discourse of dissent). Pretestības diskurss ir tas, ko rada minoritātes pašas par sevi, par savām problēmām, reaģējot uz vairākuma diskursu.
Lai īstenotu šo projekta daļu, esmu savākusi latviešu geju un lesbiešu diskursa piemērus internetā. Tie ir blogi, LGBT organizāciju mājas lapas un video (promocijas) filmas. Diemžēļ šis saraksts nav tik garš, kā līdzīgu blogu, mājas lapu un filmu poļu valodā saraksts. Vairākos blogos sen nav bijuši jauni ieraksti vai to ir ļoti maz. Tomēr uzskatu, ka ir vērts tos pētīt. Aicinu apskatīt šos interesantos materiālus!
Blogi:
Lai īstenotu šo projekta daļu, esmu savākusi latviešu geju un lesbiešu diskursa piemērus internetā. Tie ir blogi, LGBT organizāciju mājas lapas un video (promocijas) filmas. Diemžēļ šis saraksts nav tik garš, kā līdzīgu blogu, mājas lapu un filmu poļu valodā saraksts. Vairākos blogos sen nav bijuši jauni ieraksti vai to ir ļoti maz. Tomēr uzskatu, ka ir vērts tos pētīt. Aicinu apskatīt šos interesantos materiālus!
Blogi:
BLV1. Ar prieku pa(r) dzīvi. http://klab.lv/users/puisis/
BLV2. Baltais Bērns. http://baltaisberns.blogspot.de/
BLV3. Cilvēks no skapja. http://skapjcilveks.blogspot.de/
BLV4. G*blogs. http://neatkarigais.net/
BLV5. Geju vēstis. Jankas dienasgrāmta, LGBT ziņas, homoseksualitātes
propaganda. http://veestis.wordpress.com/
BLV6. Kāda puiša ieraxtu žurnāls, kas paslēpts zem matrača.
http://zemmatraca.blogspot.de/
http://zemmatraca.blogspot.de/
BLV7. Kāda puiša noslēpumu antresols. http://antresols.com/
BLV8. Kārlis Streips: pārdomas par dzīvi.
http://karlisstreips.blogspot.de/
BLV9. Melleņu naktis. http://mellenunaktis.wordpress.com/
BLV10. Mozaīka. http://mozaikasvalde.blogspot.de/
BLV11. Par cilvēku ar lāstu. http://klab.lv/users/exiled/
BLV12. Putekļiem noklātā dvēseles iela.
http://naktsizkliedzklusumu.blogspot.de/
http://naktsizkliedzklusumu.blogspot.de/
BLV13. Rendijas blogs. http://homosexuality.wordpress.com/
BLV14. Skaļi nepateiktais. http://mareksnroses.blogspot.de/
BLV15. Skatiens atslēgas caurumā. http://ziemciete.blogspot.de/
BLV16. Smilinglatvian’s blog. Mana virtuālā piezīmju grāmatiņa.
http://smilinglatvian.wordpress.com/
http://smilinglatvian.wordpress.com/
BLV17. Subalterns. http://subalterns.wordpress.com/
BLV18. Un skrien VējaSkrējējs gar likteņa jūras malu...
http://vejaskrejejs.blogspot.de/
http://vejaskrejejs.blogspot.de/
BLV19. Vecais vilks. http://vecaisvilks.blogspot.de/
Mājas lapas:
WLV1. Gay.lv. http://www.gay.lv/zinas/
WLV2. Marta Resursu centrs sievietēm. http://marta.lv/
WLV3. Mozaīka. http://www.mozaika.lv/lv/jaunumi/
WLV4. Skapis.
http://www.skapis.eu/
Filmas:
Uzdošu tev pāris
jautājumus...
Kas tev nāk
prātā, kad saku...
Homo@lv
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)