Online-Vortrag: Right-Wing Populism and Gender (Not Only) in the USA 

9. Juni, 18 Uhr:
Vortrag von Prof. Julia Roth (Universität Bielefeld):
"Right-Wing Populism and Gender (Not Only) in the USA"

Informationen zum Vortrag:
In current struggles over cultural hegemony, right-wing populist discourse is marked by an omni-presence of topics related to gender and sexuality. With particular focus on actors in the USA and the Americas, the talk thus discusses the ways in which diverse actors of what will be called the ‘right-wing populist complex’ use gender in order to catapult a variety of arguments into the public sphere. Suggesting a first set of Right-Wing Populist Patterns of Gendering, the talk pursues the question how seemingly emancipatory arguments function in right-wing populist discourse, especially in performing a modernization paradigm, while simultaneously, and in often paradoxical ways, promoting a program of re-traditionalization. Therefore, often, gender arguments – like the sexual freedom of  “autochtonous” women – are used to justify anti-immigration and racist politics, most famously Donald Trump with his claim to keep the “Mexican rapists” out of the US through his wall. One’s own society can thus be depicted as “already fully emancipated” in contrast to the alleged “backward” social order of (immigrant) Others. Through this ethnosexist twist, the talk argues that gender provides right-wing populist discourse a useful tool for affectively bridging seemingly paradoxical arguments around belonging, access to resources and welfare, anti-immigration and demography, and transferring them onto the gender hierarchy. Simultaneously, following the populist logic of polarization, feminists, gender scholars and LGBTQI activists are turned into “internal enemies” who allegedly provide a threat to children and the heteronormative family. Since they presumably keep the “right” women from reproducing, feminists and “gender ideology” are furthermore made responsible for endangering the (reproduction and homogeneity of) the nation and thus turn into an existential threat. 

Informationen zur Referentin:
Julia Roth is Professor of American Studies with a focus on Gender Studies and Inter-American Studies at Bielefeld University, Germany. Previously, she was a postdoctoral fellow in the research project "The Americas as Space of Entanglements" in Bielefeld and in the interdisciplinary network "desiguALdades.net - Interdependent Inequalities in Latin America" at Freie Universität Berlin, as well as a lecturer at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Universität Potsdam, and Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico. Her research focuses on postcolonial, decolonial and gender approaches, intersectionality and global inequalities, anti-racist feminist knowledge from the Caribbean and the Americas, gender and citizenship, and right-wing populism and gender. In addition to her academic work, she organizes and curates cultural and political events (e.g., the theater festival “Women/Images of the Americas on the Move" in Berlin 2010; 2014 and 2016 BE.BOP - Black Europe Body Politics with Alanna Lockward, "De-Heimatize Belonging" at the Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin). 

Die Vortragsreihe:
Populistische Tendenzen haben in den letzten Jahren in vielen Teilen der Welt und verstärkt durch die Covid-Krise stark zugenommen. Dabei hat Populismus viele Facetten, vom politischen Rechtspopulismus bis hin zu Populismus in den Medien. Expertinnen und Experten verschiedener Fachrichtungen aus Deutschland, Frankreich, Italien, Österreich, Großbritannien, den USA und Kanada geben ihre spezielle Sicht auf dieses Phänomen in öffentlichen Online-Vorträgen wieder. Die Vorträge (deutsch, englisch oder französisch) werden organisiert von der AG Populismus der Universität des Saarlandes gemeinsam mit Kooperationspartnern innerhalb und außerhalb der Universität.

Ab dem 5. Mai finden die Vorträge immer mittwochs, 18-20 Uhr, statt. Insgesamt gibt es elf Termine und eine Abschlusssitzung mit Filmvorführung im Online- oder Hybrid-Format. Details werden rechtzeitig auf der Webseite (s.u.) bekannt gegeben. Die Teilnahme ist kostenlos. Die interessierte Öffentlichkeit ist herzlich eingeladen.

Weitere Vorträge:
16. Juni 2021:The Politics of Fear. The shameless normalization of far-right discourse 
Em. Prof. Ruth Wodak (Lancaster University)
23. Juni 2021:Ökonomie und Rechtspopulismus
Prof. Gustav Horn (Universität Duisburg-Essen)
30. Juni 2021: La quatrième vague populiste: face à la mondialisation 
Prof. Bertrand Badie  (Universités à Sciences Po Paris)
7. Juli 2021: Democratic Vistas: Transatlantic Anxieties in an Age of Populism
Prof. Till van Rahden (Université de Montréal)
14. Juli 2021: Rhetoric or reality? Populist parties between communication overpromising and policy making 
Dr. Giorgia Bulli (Università degli Studi di Firenze)
21. Juli 2021: Populism is over. Digital Fascism and Trump's Afterlives 
Dr. Simon Strick  (ZeM-Brandenburgisches Zentrum für Medienwissenschaften)
28. Juli 2021: Frankreich/Belgien, 2017, Originaltitel: "Chez Nous", Regie: Lucas Belvaux
Filmabend im Kino 8 ½

Alle Infos unter: https://bit.ly/3vxhZBK

Weitere Informationen erteilt:
Dr. Thomas Schmidtgall
Tel.: (0681) 30270433
E-Mail: thomas.schmidtgall(at)uni-saarland.de