Gender and Queer Studies

The Department of English and American Studies has a strong focus on gender and sexuality, and includes the findings, methodologies and theories of Feminist, Gender and Queer Studies in teaching as well as research. Our special interests in the transdisciplinary fields of Feminist, Gender and Queer Studies include:

  • critical approaches to gender identities, deconstructivist approaches to gender, gender fluidity, gender and trans*gender representations, Trans*gender Studies, trans*gender parenthood, trans* rights, reproductive politics, Masculinity Studies
  • feminist and queer movements, their history and presence in the Anglophone context and beyond, Black and intersectional feminism, Black womanism, Afro-Futurism
  • analysis and deconstruction of heteronormative white supremacist patriarchy in cultural production (media, film, fiction, graphic novels, comics) and materials for English language teaching; intersectional and postcolonial approaches to genre, epistemology, feminist science fiction, early modern female writing
  • gender, sexuality and disability, heteronormative ablebodiedness, ableism in film, media and literature
  • LGBTQ+, Sexuality Studies & Queer Theory, anti-social Queer Theory, queer approaches to affect and vulnerability, queering family and kinship, queer(ing) visibility, queer(ing) narratology, queer reading as a methodology
  • Ecofeminism

Research Cooperations

Our research collaborations include the research platform “GAIN - Gender: Ambivalent In_Visibilities,” at the University of Vienna, “_The Unnatural Tragedy_ (course, theatre performance, and film),” University of Sheffield (UK), “Queer Theory and Literary Studies,” a collaboration between the University of Vienna, Humboldt University Berlin, and the University of Warsaw.

Centers & Research Projects