Intersectional Histories (HEC-AS-TERHIS-23)

HEC-AS-TERHIS-23

Description

Histories of gender, race, sexuality and disability are crucial, fascinating, and multifaceted – and they often went unacknowledged in overall accounts of the past. Taking historical approaches to these different topics as our vantage point, the seminar not only explores various forms of discrimination like racism, sexism, ableism, ageism, cis- and heteronormativity, but also engages with the struggles against such powerful systems, thereby addressing the dynamics of activism and identity formation as well as questions around normalization and tokenization. Our conversations will highlight transdisciplinary perspectives that allow us to trace complex trajectories, to diversify early modern as well as modern histories by focusing on experiences and subjectivities that have long been marginalized, and to ask what different histories such endeavours may generate. Along the way we will discuss secondary readings as well as primary sources and encounter some expert guest speakers. Our concluding fieldtrip will explore the potential of anti-racist, anti-sexist and anti-ableist criticism in situ, as it were, in present-day pre-Christmas Florence.