Tampereen yliopiston sukupuolentutkimuksen oppiaine järjestää yhteistyössä Suomen Sukupuolentutkimuksen Seuran (SUNS), Suomen Miestutkimuksen Seuran (SuMS), Suomen Queer-tutkimuksen Seuran (SQS) ja Transtutkimusverkoston kanssa 2.-3.5.2024 Paluu Juurille 2024 -konferenssin Tampereen yliopistossa.
Individuals under evaluation: interrogating gender, sexuality, and personality
Chairs: Valtteri Vähä-Savo (Tampere University), Virve Peteri (Tampere University) & Joa Hiitola (University of Oulu)
The workshop focuses on situations where individuals’ ‘inner truth’ is scrutinized by experts and public officials. Some examples of these kinds of evaluations are the diagnostic process that individuals seeking gender-affirming treatment have to undergo and the assessment of asylum seekers’ sexual orientation/gender identity in asylum claims, and the use of personality tests in working environments. These evaluations and tests, while seemingly objective, are deeply embedded in societal structures of power, creating and reinforcing norms around gender, age, class, ethnicity, physical capacity, and sexuality. This workshop seeks to examine how these institutional practices, which convert personal experiences and characteristics into measurable data, are not merely neutral assessments but are intertwined with cultural meanings and power dynamics. We are interested in the role of these evaluations in shaping identities and the ways they contribute to the construction of idealized gendered subjects. We invite presentations that focus on, for example, the official guidelines guiding different assessments and tests, the social interaction during evaluations, the experiences and strategies of the people being assessed, the public discussion concerning assessments, the history of these epistemic practices, etc. While the main focus is on sexuality, gender identity, and personality, the workshop is also open to scholars studying other kinds of evaluative practices that concern phenomena that are difficult to objectify (e.g. challenging medical and psychiatric diagnoses).
Presentations can be held in Finnish or English. Esitelmän voi pitää suomeksi tai englanniksi.