The aim of this one-day workshop is to engage critically with the under-researched topic of Soviet and post-Soviet sexualities. Prompted by the introduction of laws restricting the rights of LGBTQ citizens and the increase in homophobic violence in Russia and other post-Soviet states, there is a pressing need to understand attitudes towards non-normative sexualities,the lived experience of sexual minorities and the ways in which LGBTQ individuals and groups seek/have sought to negotiate/resist heteronormative structures and homophobia in the specific socio-political, cultural and historic contexts of the Soviet and post-Soviet space. The workshop will comprise papers from and debate among both established academics and research students from a range of disciplines and working on various aspects of the study of non-normative sexualities in the Soviet and post-Soviet space. The aim is to publish a special issue and/or an edited volume of the papers presented.

Confirmed speakers:

- Philip Bullock, University of Oxford

- Dan Healey, University of Oxford

- Alexander Kondakov, European University of St Petersburg

- Richard Mole, University College London

- Francesca Stella, University of Glasgow

If you would like to participate, please send an abstract of 200-300 words to Richard Mole at UCL (r.mole@ucl.ac.uk) by 1 September 2014. Papers from researchers based in the former Soviet Union will be particularly welcome. Funds are available to make a contribution (up to 100%) towards presenters’ travel and accommodation costs. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Richard Mole

UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies