[ecrea] Workshop 'Sexualities, media and politics in post-socialist countries'

The 2014 Eurovision victory by Conchita Wurst sparked a vigorous debate 
in the media across Europe and especially in post-socialist states. It 
ranged from explicitly homophobic remarks to conflation of the 
performance with nation-building and geopolitics (the pronounced 
anti-Western sentiment, the links to ongoing turmoil in Ukraine e.g. a 
Facebook statement that ‘a bearded woman stopped the war in Ukraine’, 
http://www.svoboda.org/contentlive/liveblog/25381481.html). This one-day 
workshop focuses on this intersection of sexual minorities, media and 
politics in post-socialist countries and offers a platform to reflect on 
these and wider issues related to the topic. The themes include:

The representation of sexual minorities in various traditional 
(television) and new media (online forums of traditional newspapers, 
blogs,  twitter, etc.) in post-socialist space;

Homophobia, xenophobia and hate language in post-socialist media;

The West as seen by the post-Soviet countries:  the growing anti-western 
sentiment and its intersection with sexual minorities issues (e.g. Gayrope);

Western media representations of post-Soviet homophobia and Putin’s 
‘traditional values’ agenda

How the post-socialist states project themselves onto the West: sexual 
minorities, media and popular culture (e.g. Eurovision 2014);

Sexual minorities, politics and the wider set of issues in post-Soviet 
space (e.g. the links to the decadent Europe and ‘post-Euromaidan’ 
Ukraine in Russian media sphere; Gay-Europe and the far-right in Russia 
and other post-socialist states, etc.);

Non-hegemonic sexuality, media and transnational diaspora with reference 
to post-socialist states;

Redefinition of gender contracts and norms in post-socialist states and 
the role of media;

Media discourse, national identity and sexual minorities in 
post-socialist states;

Media and identity politics in post-socialist states: strategies of 
sexual and gender minorities;

Media and the politics of sexual and gender citizenship in Eastern and 
Western Europe.



The workshop ‘Sexualities, media and politics in post-socialist 
countries’ is held on Friday, 11th July, at the Department of Media and 
Communications, the University of Leicester. It open to academics, 
researchers and students interested in this topic and it is envisaged as 
a forum for discussion (rather than a formal event). The long-term aim 
is to use the workshop to create a network for future project 
opportunities. The participation is free. However the places are 
limited. Please, contact Dr. G.Miazhevich ((gm223 /at/ le.ac.uk)) to reserve 
your place by the 7th of July 2014.





Programme





10.30               Tea and coffee

11.00               Introductions



11.10               Plenary and discussion



                       Professor Stephen Hutchings (University of 
Manchester)

                       Contesting Russia’s LGBT Rights Problem in a 
Media Converged Environment: BBC World, RT and the Sochi Olympics



12.00               Lunch



12.45             Session 1: Sexualities, media and politics in 
post-socialist states



Richard Mole (UCL) Russian LGBT migrants in Berlin: between the 
ethno-national and the queer diasporas

Jon Binnie (Manchester Metropolitan University) Queer critical 
geopolitics beyond homonationalism? Conceptualising Western media 
representations of homophobia in post-socialist contexts

Paul Jordan (University of Cardiff) We are one? Discourse and politics 
in the Eurovision Song Contest



14.00               Coffee break



14.15               Session 2: Sexualities, media and politics in 
post-Soviet states



Francesca Stella (University of Glasgow) In the name of the nation: 
sexual nationalism and homophobia in Putin’s Russia

Galina Miazhevich (University of Leicester) Locating post-Soviet 
homosexuality at the intersection of its semi/official mediations and 
individual identification practices: the case of Belarus and Lithuania

Evgenia Ivanova (University of Oxford) My G-string on the Political 
Ring: Bodyfication of Citizenship in Political Calendars

15.30             Summary, reflections and future planning

16.00             End



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