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When feminist film scholar Laura Mulvey famously described classical Hollywood cinema as an art form dominated by a male gaze which objectifies women, she forgot to specify “Women under 35”. 75% percent of the audience of mainstream Hollywood cinema are between 14 and 30 years old, and starring roles for women are reserved for actresses largely in that age bracket. By contrast, European cinema increasingly seems to offer important roles for women over sixty, and stories, which validate and expand on the experience of ageing people of all genders. This partially reflects the fact that European cinema consists mostly of arthouse films, and that the audience for arthouse cinema has been ageing over the last decades.

Gewalt gegen Frauen, Mädchen und dissidente Körper wurde in den letzten Jahren zu einem zentralen politischen Thema feministischer Bewegungen rund um den Globus. Unter dem Hashtag MeToo und dem Slogan ‚Ni una menos‘ prangerten Zigtausende den Fortbestand geschlechtsbezogener Gewalt an. Vor allem feministische Bewegungen in den Amerikas haben die Frage der Gewalt angesichts drastischer Zahlen von sexuell-sexualisierter Gewalt und Morden an Frauen und trans*Personen in den Mittelpunkt ihrer Mobilisierungen gestellt und auch begrifflich neu zu bearbeiten versucht.

In the midth of capitalism‘s multiple crises and the following political charges,emancipatory ideas and practice are under pressure. Not limited to the Global North feminism – in singular as well as in plural – is opposed by right wing populism and authoritarianism whilst the new anti-genderism is coupled with strong expressions of racism. At the same time, feminism is challenged by neoliberal appropriations when ‘lean-in’ feminism or certain gender mainstreaming politics ignore the radical astute and visionary potential of earlier feminisms.

This lecture series focuses on alternating interdependencies between (current) refugee migration and gender relations. The lectures will mainly place emphasis on two Questions: How is gender related to migration and under what circumstances are refugee and mobility practices connotated as male or female? Secondly, how and in what ways are individuals institutionally and socially defined and labeled as ‘refugees’ and/or ‘migrants’? A focus on mutual constitutions of migration and gender relations allows to reconstruct and analyse specific frames of masculinity and femininity in the context of contemporary refugee mobilities.

Over the past few years, materialism has re-emerged as a topic of interest in the context of feminist activism and research. This ‘material turn’ manifests itself in the context of analyses of gender relations, labour, and transnational capitalism as well as in feminist studies of biopolitics and ‘nature’. Materiality is also addressed in feminist theories of sciences which understand bodies and the environment beyond notions of performativity. Furthermore, contemporary global struggles of women in different locations center on material conditions of life, such as access to and the right to food, water, land, labour, health, social security and the right to self-determination regarding one’s body and sexuality.

The transformation of gender relations in post-socialist Europe is rooted in the entangled histories of state- and post-socialism. Gender equality was the official goal of the socialist rule and a target achieved in particular with regard to women’s participation in employment. However, after the end of the bi-polar world order the post-socialist countries of Europe have not only been confronted with new transnational gender discourses, but also with stabilization of patriarchy and re-traditionalization of gender norms.