Suchergebnisse

Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in Wrocław, Poland, the paper analyzes grassroots workings of European sexual citizenship. Against this backdrop, it attempts to problematize a concept of Europeanization as vertical and horizontal diffusion which spreads specific ideas, practices, and institutions among actual and prospective EU Member States. Whereas (neo)liberal LGBT rights, seen as a symbol of Europeanness, have definitely inspired struggles for sexual freedom in Poland, abstract notions of Europe and Europeanization do not form an important point of reference, at least at a local level. Moreover, premises of European sexual citizenship are in many ways contested by non-heteronormative persons unwilling (or unable) to use this frame for the conceptualization of their own experiences. On the other hand, because the EU and neoliberalism constitute significant antagonists of Polish right-wing nationalism, this allows for a certain resignification of interrelated phenomena criticized elsewhere as 'homonormative' and 'homonationalist.' While these phenomena undoubtedly trigger specific inclusions and exclusions, they also have the potential to contribute to critical citizenship. Consequently, instead of grasping Europeanization in a teleological way, the paper argues for taking it as an image that may fuel social change, variously conceived of.

This article addresses anthropological involvement in a political sphere constituted by the politicization of "difference" in European modernity projects, and in this context, especially conflicts related to gender, sexuality, race, nationality/ethnicity, or religious beliefs, which result in visions of antagonized, political Others. The author refers to the autoethnographic perspective and discusses her own disciplinary practices from the mid-nineties to today, pointing to the positive and negative sides of those practices. She first discusses the idea of critical anthropology as an element of academic activist debates within gender and queer studies. Then she looks at a more academic position, which makes critical anthropology into an instrument for creating images of a better future. Ultimately, she advocates a vision of critical anthropology that focuses on affective agency, thanks to which conflicting factions may perceive shared experiences and feelings. She does not assume that this kind of critical engagement is capable of bringing about broader social or political change, but believes it could make a contribution to acceptance of the Other on the micro-scale.

Résumé En Pologne, si la nécessité de construire la société civile est une question fréquemment évoquée dans le discours public depuis 1989, aux yeux de beaucoup sa structuration reste insatisfaisante. Le débat relatif au mouvement gay et lesbien suscite la même réaction. Les matériaux recueillis par l'auteure au cours de ses enquêtes parmi les groupes de gender et de queer studies d'une université polonaise montrent toutefois que, même invisibles, le genre et la sexualité sont importants dans la Pologne d'aujourd'hui. Mais, pour donner une visibilité à l'invisible, la société civile ne doit pas être assimilée aux seules organisations non gouvernementales qui jouent un rôle de médiateur entre les citoyens et l'État. Le genre et la sexualité ne peuvent pas être considérés comme des catégories identitaires fondant l'activisme politique. Pour construire la cohésion sociale, les liens informels entre les individus, interpersonnels, comptent tout autant. Si la diversité des opinions sur l'identité et l'efficacité des stratégies politiques engendre des conflits, elle n'exclut pas la possibilité d'actions communes en faveur des droits des minorités sexuelles.

Sex is often regarded as a dangerous business that must be rigorously controlled, regulated, and subjected to rules. Sexual acts that defy acceptable practices may be seen as variously defiling, immoral, and even unnatural. They may challenge and subvert both cultural preconceptions and the social order in a politics of sexual transgression that threatens to transform permissible boundaries and restructure bodily engagements. This collection of essays explores acts of sexual transgression that have the power to reconfigure perceptions of bodily intimacy and the social norms of interaction. Considering issues such as domestic violence, child prostitution, health and sex, teenage sex, and sex with animals across a range of settings from contemporary Oceania, the Pacific, South Africa, and southeast Asia to Euro-America, this book should interest all those who question the "naturalness" of sex, including public health workers, clinical practitioners and students of sex, sexuality, and gender in the humanities and social sciences