The Herder Institute Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe, Institute of the Leibniz Association, in collaboration with the Max Weber Foundation, the German Historical Institute Warsaw (DHI), and its Prague Branch, and the Faculty of Humanities at Charles University in Prague, warmly invites scholars, including early-career researchers such as PhD candidates and postdoctoral fellows, to contribute to the starting-point conference “Queer Histories of East Central Europe in the 20th Century.”
This meeting will serve as an initial platform for participants to conceptualize their research papers. A follow-up event, organized in partnership with the Herder Institute, the Faculty of Humanities at Charles University, and DHI in Prague or Warsaw, will provide an opportunity to present developed papers and contextualize them alongside additional contributions. The outcome of these two events will be a special issue edited by Dr. Jaromír Mrňka and Dr. Denisa Nešťáková.
While queer histories have been increasingly studied in Western contexts, gender and sexual diversity in East Central Europe remain underexplored, often marginalized by dominant national narratives and shaped by intersecting forces of ideology, repression, and resistance. This event aims to amplify research on the experiences, identities, and activism of LGBTQ+ individuals and communities within the historical and political landscapes of East Central Europe. We wish to examine queer lives and identities in relation to broader socio-political transformations in East Central Europe:
The late Habsburg, Russian, and Ottoman Empires: The regulation of gender and sexuality in imperial legal and medical discourses, and the lived experiences of queer individuals in multi-ethnic imperial societies.
Interwar sexual modernity and nationalisms: The interplay between legal reforms, sexology, and the growth of urban queer subcultures alongside the rise of authoritarian nationalisms and eugenic discourses.
World War II and occupation regimes: Queer experiences under Nazi, fascist, and Stalinist occupations; the persecution of LGBTQ+ individuals in camps and prisons; queer holocaust experiences.
State socialism and the politics of gender and sexuality: The shifting policies of socialist states towards homosexuality, gender nonconformity, and sex work; medical and psychiatric regulation of LGBTQ+ lives; transnational exchanges within and beyond the Eastern Bloc.
Post-socialist transitions, European integration, and backlash politics: The legal, social, and cultural transformations affecting LGBTQ+ communities after 1989
Colonial legacies, migration, and transnational perspectives: How histories of empire, displacement, and migration shaped queer identities across borders
We also welcome contributions that challenge conventional historical periodization and instead explore alternative temporalities of queer experiences, the persistence of social practices across political ruptures, and the ways in which queer lives and identities have been shaped by non-linear, cyclical, or overlapping historical processes.
We invite contributions engaging with broad range of themes, including but not limited to:
Regulation of sexuality and gender identity
Queer subcultures, networks, and spaces
Activism, advocacy, and queer politics
Intersectionality and queer belonging
Queering historical methodologies
Cultural representations and media
Comparative, transnational, and postcolonial perspectives
This conference aims to move beyond national frameworks and engage with the fluidity, hybridity, and interconnectedness of queer histories, emphasizing intersectional and interdisciplinary approaches.
We are committed to fostering an intellectually stimulating and inclusive environment, where emerging scholars can receive constructive feedback and mentorship from established researchers in the field. We particularly welcome interdisciplinary and intersectional approaches that offer nuanced understandings of queer histories in the region.
Recognizing the diverse realities of academic mobility, the conference will accommodate both in-person and hybrid participation. However, we encourage in-person attendance to facilitate informal discussions and networking.
Accommodation for two nights will be provided. Some travel funds will be available upon request. Applicants should indicate if they would like to be considered for reimbursement of travel costs. The event will be held in English.
Please submit an abstract (250 words) and a short biography (100 words) in a one pdf file by 30 April 2025 with the subject QUEER HISTORIES to forum@herder-institut.de . Accepted participants will be notified by 30 May 2025. The conference will take place on 26-27 August 2025 at the Herder Institute, Marburg, Germany.
For any inquiries, please contact forum@herder-institut.de. We look forward to your submissions and to advancing the discourse on queer histories in East Central Europe.
Charles University
Faculty of Humanities
Pátkova 2137/5
182 00 Praha 8 - Libeň
Czech Republic
