Queer Herstories of struggle and survival in Romania: From Communist criminalization to contemporary anti-gender movements in SEE spaces

Q-SEERA, Queer Herstories of struggle and survival in Romania: From Communist criminalization to contemporary anti-gender movements in SEE spaces, is an interdisciplinary and novel research project which uses cutting-edge methodologies and adds unique knowledge that goes beyond the state of the art regarding queer (LBT+) women’s lives in SEE.

By looking at a previously unresearched topic – the intimate and social lives of queer Romanian women under communism and during the ‘transitional 90s’ – and by comparing the results with research from the SEE region, the project explores how Romania stands out from other SEE and EU countries, unpacking differentiated inequalities across the region.

It proposes new understandings of the rapid rise in anti-gender politics in Romania and other SEE countries through excavating novel knowledge on marginalized women’s lives, struggles and strategies of survival.

This is done by gathering original and unique data from interviewing old(er) women, archival and text analysis through a micro historical approach, combined with a comparative analysis of gender norms related to sexuality in both communist and post communist Romania and the SEE.

An innovative theoretical framework is developed in order to successfully deal with European challenges regarding policies and political discourses involving gender and sexual minorities, from a transnational perspective.

This is achieved by connecting the ways in which the Romanian state enforced homophobia and sexism during communism and until its admission into the EU, looking at how these state-sanctioned social behaviors trickle until today, and by relating these findings on gender and sexuality with the roots of anti-gender movements in the SEE region.

In the current context of rising threats against gender-related studies, academic freedom, minority rights and democracy, this project brings an essential and timely contribution to strengthening transnational and comparative regional studies.