Sexual Citizenship, Oral History, and the Archive in 1970s Central and Eastern Europe
University of Warsaw, September 20-22, 2018
Thursday, September 20: Symposium Day 1
14:00 Optional visit to The POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, ul. Mordechaja Anielewicza 6
“The Muranów Lily”: audioguide art by Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay
Those interested please write to sexual.citizens.doing.oral.history@gmail.com by Monday, Sept. 17.
University of Warsaw Rectorate Building – Casimir Palace, Joachim Brudzinski room (ground floor), ul. Krakowskie Przedmiescie 26/28
17:00hrs – Opening remarks
Glyn Davis, University of Edinburgh, and Fiona Anderson, University of Newcastle
Lecture by Franko Dota, University of Rijeka – ‘The Socialist Homosexual Citizen in Yugoslav Legal and Medical Debates (1960-1984)’
Film screening by Karol Radziszewski, independent artist – ‘Afterimages / Kruzing’ [Powidoki / Kruzing],
followed by Q&A led by Aleksandra Gajowy, University of Newcastle
Friday, September 21: Symposium Day 2
UW American Studies Center, Al. Niepodleglosci 22, room 116
9:30hrs lecture
Dobrochna Kalwa, University of Warsaw – ‘In the Service of Herstory. Oral history and the construction of feminist collective memory in Poland’
10:30hrs coffee break
11:00hrs session 1
Elena Likhomanova, Podruzhestvo, and Ksenia Gushchina, Moscow State University – ‘Across the Decades: Narrative Interviews with Soviet Feminists and Lesbians of 1970s and 1980s’
Magdalena Staroszczyk, University of Warsaw – ‘‘No one talked about it’: the paradox of lesbian identity in pre-1989 Poland’
Ladislav Zikmund-Lender, Society of Queer Memory, Prague – ‘“I Love Shakespeare’s Sonnets and I am looking for someone to read them with.” The Role of Culture in Czechoslovak Queer Memories from the 1960s to 1980s’
Karolina Morawska, University of Warsaw – ‘Images of queer men in the 1970s Poland – four portraits’
13:00hrs lunch
14:00hrs lecture
Katerina Lišková, Masaryk University – ‘Conceptualizing Socialist Sexual Citizenship. The case of male homosexuality and male sexual deviance in Czechoslovakia’
15:00hrs coffee break
15:30 – 17:30hrs session 2
Agnieszka Koscianska, University of Warsaw – ‘“Currently, homosexuality is not considered a deviation, but a psychosexual otherness:” homosexuality, therapy, and sex education in late state socialist Poland’
David Kurkovskiy, Fellow at the Centre of East European Studies, University of Warsaw – ‘Gay sex “scandal” before gay went global: a closer look at the Soviet anti-sodomy law, international responses and “queer” cultural artifact in the case of Sergei Parajanov’
Jedrzej Burszta, University of Warsaw – ‘Coming Out to a Queer Life: individual voices and urban queer networks in 1970s Poland’
Tomasz Basiuk, University of Warsaw – ‘Conceptualizing Male Homosexual Identity in 1970s Poland. Some findings from oral history interviews and from letters sent to HOSI Vienna’
Saturday, September 22: Day 3
UW American Studies Center, Al. Niepodleglosci 22, room 116
9:30hrs Lecture
Sarah Schulman, The City University of New York – ‘Let The Record Show: ACT UP and The Enduring Relationship of AIDS’
10:30hrs coffee break
11:00hrs session 3
Aleksandra Gajowy, Newcastle University – ‘The Palace and The Toilet: Cruising queer desire in the urban space of socialist Poland’
Blazej Warkocki, Adam Mickiewicz Univesity – ‘Transgresje as a Queer Archive in the Context of Narratives About Pre-1989 Poland’
Mateusz Król, University of Silesia – ‘Queens and Faggots, Petites Folles et Pedales – what happens when Lubiewo is translated into English and French?’
13:00hrs lunch
Duzy Pokój, ul. Warecka 4/6 (enter from ul.Kubusia Puchatka).
18:00hrs Performance
Agnieszka Koscianska and Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay. – “You, doctor, are my only rescue! / Jest pan, panie doktorze, jedynym ratunkiem!”