Research seminars

With: Bastiaan Redert, University of Antwerp
Discussion: Cecilia Rizcallah, UCLouvainSaint-Louis Bruxelles & Samuel Defacqz, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles

Equal rights for LGBTQ+ individuals are increasingly contested across Europe, threatening the well-being of millions. In this context, LGBTQ+ organizations play a vital role, not only in advocating for equality policies but also in providing essential community services such as healthcare, safe spaces, and suicide prevention. Despite their importance, research on these organizations remains limited, especially regarding how their strategies and structures adapt to diverse national contexts. In a recently funded project, Bastiaan Redert bridges this gap by examining how national political environments influence the organization and strategies of LGBTQ+ interest groups in Europe. Using a combination of survey data and unique datasets, it explores how these groups navigate political and community-oriented roles. During this seminar, the project will be introduced, and some key findings will be presented and discussed. First, findings of preliminary studies show that in repressive contexts organizations focus shifts from political advocacy to community support. Second, in another study Bastiaan finds that when elite opinion is supportive towards LGBTQ+ equality, organizations favor insider strategies. Yet, in hostile settings, they often face barriers to political engagement and do not become more active in their communities. These findings suggest that hostile political contexts further silences already marginalized voices.

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Avec : Amandine Le Bellec
Discutant.e.s: Juliette Dupont, chargée de recherche F.R.S-FNRS, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles & Cyriac Bouchet-Mayer, Université de Montpellier, SantESIH, IMC

Chair: Sophie Jacquot, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles

Abstract: Cette communication retrace le rôle joué par l’Union européenne, en tant qu’arène militante, dans l’émergence du droit d’asile pour les personnes LGBTQI en Europe. A rebours d’une représentation essentiellement “technocratique” du débat communautaire, elle montre comment le militantisme LGBTQI a pu se déployer au sein des institutions européennes, mais aussi comment certaines approches et définitions ont pu progressivement s’y cristalliser voire s’y essentialiser. Il s’agit dès lors de reconnaître la centralité de la politisation, sous ses diverses formes, dans le renouvellement d’un militantisme qui se doit de se penser en termes de coalitions. 

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With Petra Meier (University of Antwerp) and Rylan Verlooy (University of Antwerp)

Discussion : Henry Maes (UClouvain)

Abstract: Anti-gender activism is increasingly gaining influence and power all over Europe. They are not only mobilizing public opinion in the streets, but have also entered state politics where they (attempt to) restrict women’s and lgbtq+ rights, reproductive rights, and migrants’ rights. In this presentation, we will shed some light on both anti-gender politics and feminist activism in Belgium, often characterized as a progressive and inclusive country. More specifically, we will zoom into 1) the role trans issues are playing in Belgian anti-gender mobilizations and how they are contested, and 2) how the field of the sayable limits resistance to anti-gender activism.

Link to video

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Avec Antoine Mégie (Université de Rouen)

Discutant.e.s: Chloé Thomas (UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles) & Denis Duez (UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles) 

Résumé: D’abord fantômes, puis seconds rôles et enfin organisatrices de filières jihadistes, les femmes sont apparues progressivement comme des personnages centraux des scènes d’audience dans les procédures d’accusation et de condamnations de la lutte contre le terrorisme. Depuis 2020, les « revenantes » ou « returnees » comme il est d’habitude de les nommer désormais dans plusieurs pays européens, focalisent une part importante des débats politiques, des problématiques judiciaires mais aussi des recherches académiques sur la lutte contre le terrorisme et la radicalisation. 

En ancrant notre analyse dans la filiation des travaux historiques et sociologiques relatifs à la violence et à l’engagement politique des femmes, et en écho à (…)

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With Maryna Shevtsova (KULeuven)

Discussants: Alexandra Ana (ULB) & Laura Luciani (UGent)

Abstract: By the second decade of the twenty-first century, the centrality of LGBTIQ rights to the so-called ‘European values’ is globally recognized. Nevertheless, many local actors in the EU and third countries do not see it as something positive. Some legal advancement or even a promise of such was met across the EU and its neighborhood by the rise of the so-called anti-gender movements, a growing coalition of conservative and religious forces, spreading hateful discourses to wedge public opinion, often targeting LGBTIQ people. The present talk will focus on the case of such movements and actors in the EU neighborhood, namely, in Georgia and Ukraine.  Since 2014, Russia’s war on Ukraine has transformed into a rhetorical battlefield between Russia and the imaginary West. It is no longer merely viewed as a geopolitical power struggle in the region but as a clash of fundamental values. The Western standpoint advocates for liberal ideals, highlighting LGBTQ rights and gender equality. Conversely, Russia positions itself as a defender of what it labels as ‘traditional family values’ and Orthodox Christian morals. This talk will focus on how this narrative, initially shaped and disseminated by Russia, has now permeated both sides. While there are apparent benefits from the mutual adoption of this discourse, such as creating political opportunities for LGBTQ and women’s rights activists in Ukraine (as well as in Moldova and Georgia) to advocate for more progressive legislation on sexual and gender equality, there is also a concern that too much emphasis on this specific discourse may overshadow or neglect the intricate dynamics at play.

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Organisation: Laure Clément-Wilz (UPEC) & Sophie Jacquot (UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles)

Où ? Paris, Cité internationale, Maison de l’Ile de France

Résumé: Alors que l’Union européenne se présente comme une organisation régulatrice de l’égalité hommes-femmes, cette journée d’études interdisciplinaire cherche à questionner ce postulat. L’Union européenne et ses politiques ont-elles paradoxalement des effets discriminatoires sur les femmes et sont-elles porteuses de représentations paternalistes? Le langage de l’Union, à travers les concepts qu’il mobilise, entretient-il des phénomènes de (…)

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With: Oriane Calligaro is an Associate Professor in Political Science at ESPOL and a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe, Bruges. She is also an Associate Researcher at the Université libre de Bruxelles (CEVIPOL) and Co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Politique européenne.

Discussants: Marta Bucholc (University of Warsaw) and Raphaële Xenidis (Sciences Po)

Abstract: Numerous civil society organizations (CSOs) have been involved in the design of European anti-discrimination norms and policy tools. This seminar focusses on the advocacy coalitions and knowledge networks created in the last decades at the initiative of the Open Society Foundations (OSF), together with several European NGOs and think tanks. The goal is to analyze the advocacy strategies of this coalition to put controversial policy issues on the EU’s agenda, like ethnic data collection, ethnic profiling, or islamophobia, but also to promote a specific approach to these issues: intersectionality.

We show how OSF allows CSOs to exist and professionalize, and subsequently to build their expert knowledge and make it visible in the EU policy-making process. OSF actively promotes “advocacy triangles” between academic, activist, and institutional actors, through which contentious causes gain in credibility and acceptability in the EU arena. We attempt to trace the creation of such triangles and the circulation of knowledge and norms from academic/activist realms to EU policy documents and actions, in particular through the case study of intersectionality.

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Andréa Delestrade est doctorante, en co-tutelle entre le European Institute de la London School of Economics (LSE), et l’université d’Essex. Sa thèse explore les contradictions de l’Europe comme espace simultanément universel et particulier, contradictions qui sont exposées par la question de l’incarnation de l’Europe. La matérialité des corps confronte les discours, notamment phénoménologiques, d’universalisme européen, et ses exclusions, en particulier sous le prisme de la race, du genre, et de la sexualité.

Discutante: Florence Delmotte (UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles)

Résumé: Le mythe d’Europe semble représenter un mythe fondateur, à la fois de l’Europe comme espace géo-philosophique, mais aussi de l’Union Européenne, étant régulièrement mobilisé comme outil discursif dans les politiques symboliques de l’UE. Cette présentation souhaite revenir aux fondations philosophiques et politiques du mythe, en se concentrant notamment sur sa dimension genrée. Une analyse féministe du mythe d’Europe découvre ce mythe à la fois comme l’espoir d’un certain universalisme européen, que ce soit comme fondement de toute civilisation (Maison de l’Histoire Européenne, 2016), comme mouvement universel vers l’étranger et l’inconnu (Patočka, 2002), ou comme capacité à aller par-delà de toute particularité (Gasché, 2009), mais soutient, dans le même mouvement, des exclusions et un certain particularisme européen, notamment en invisibilisant la différence sexuelle (Morales, 2007). Par une analyse détaillée du mythe dans ses trois mouvements – l’enlèvement, le viol, et la naissance–, l’exposition mêlera représentations philosophiques, politiques, et esthétiques de ces mouvements et tentera de tirer les implications possibles de ces lectures pour et dans les imaginaires européens. Ces implications, à leur tour, peuvent informer les fondements d’une philosophie politique féministe de l’Europe – une perspective qui reste largement marginale dans les études européennes.

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Speaker: Julia Vassileva (Tallinn University)

Discussants: Charlotte Dahin (UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles) & Maria Martin de Almagro (UGent)

Abstract: The seminar discusses the role of the EU in including women in peace processes in its neighbourhood region and beyond. It addresses the question why the number of women in such processes often remains low. Generally, the need to include women in peace processes is recognised in international and EU policy documents; but verbal normative commitments often do not translate into actual presence of more women. The key argument is that there are several explanations for such lack of inclusion in peace processes: (1) elite-dominated hard power negotiation structures, (2) cultural factors, (3) need for empowerment and linking the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) agendas, and (4) insufficient implementation of commitments made to include women under the existing policy and legal framework. The seminar also stresses the need to be aware of those reasons and address them, in order to give a voice to women in peace processes (to ‘unmute’ them). 

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With: Serena D’Agostino, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Centre for Migration, Diversity and Justice (CMDJ) at the Brussels School of Governance (BSoG), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)

Discussants: Pauline Cullen, Associate Professor of Sociology at the Centre for European and Eurasian Studies, Maynooth University

Abstract: In the last decade, intersectionality has become increasingly present in the EU equality agenda. From a very embryonic, implicit and often misunderstood concept in European policy-making in the early 2000s, intersectionality is now a core cross-cutting principle in political and policy debates about equality, anti-discrimination and human rights. At first glance, one could even dare to talk about a novel approach based on intersectionality mainstreaming. Yet, it is crucial to remain cautious, as a substantial mainstreaming of intersectionality might not be as easy as it seems.

This essay stimulates reflection on the mainstreaming of intersectionality in contemporary EU equality policies. In particular, it builds on past and current academic debates about the application of intersectionality to (European) policy-making to think critically about both the promises (e.g. improving the quality of policies) and perils (e.g. increasing the risk of depoliticization and co-optation of intersectionality) of this approach. Doing so, it uses illustrations from the recently adopted ‘Union of Equality’ strategies, with particular emphasis on the policies addressing Romani women – where  a lack of ‘intersectional thinking’ was previously acknowledged (D’Agostino 2015).

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With: Markus Thiel is Professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the Green School of International and Public Affairs at Florida International University, Miami. He also directs FIU’s EU-Jean Monnet Center of Excellence. His research interests are the political sociology of the EU and European Politics more generally, Identity Politics and LGBTI Politics.

• Organisation: Sophie Jacquot (Université Saint-Louis – Bruxelles)
• Chair and mediator: Serena D’Agostino (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)
• Discussion: David Paternotte (Université libre de Bruxelles)

Book Description

“This book critically analyzes the European Union’s promotion of LGBTI rights in the international arena. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex rights are heavily contested across the globe, with over 70 countries criminalizing same-sex relations and at least 10 imposing the death penalty.

The book details how the EU, based on different member state positions, attempts to jointly formulate and implement guidelines for the external promotion of LGBTI rights. It also problematizes the various normative and policy-based Eurocentric prescriptions to further these rights. Drawing on an international political sociology framework infused with queer theoretical thought, the author investigates the apparent normative tensions emerging from Europe’s promotion of LGBTI rights as liberal human rights and the ensuing pushback by culturally and politically conservative states. He examines the compatibility of EU institutional and member states’ conceptions of LGBTI rights and the more general question of the EU’s normative agenda-setting power on the world stage. He then explores the external policy areas in which LGBTI rights promotion is formulated and diffused – namely in development and foreign aid, in enlargement and neighbourhood policies, and in other international organizations. In conclusion, the author suggests viewing the contention surrounding LGBTI rights within broader governance contexts, and thus reimagining rights promotion in a more holistic manner.

This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of LGBTI and Human Rights, European Politics, and International Relations.”

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Avec : Nicolas Moizard, professeur à l’Université de Strasbourg (Institut du travail). Spécialiste de droit social français et européen, il travaille notamment sur les discriminations et sur la relation individuelle et collective du travail. Sur le sujet en lien avec le séminaire, il a notamment publié « La proposition de directive sur la transparence salariale entre les femmes et les hommes, avancées et incertitudes », Revue de droit du travail, 2021, p. 431-440.

Discutantes : Frédérique Bartlett (CGT), Veronika Lemeire (Université de Hasselt)

Avec : Bérengère Marques-Pereira (ULB) est sociologue. Elle est notamment spécialiste de la citoyenneté sociale et politique des femmes en Europe et en Amérique latine, et des processus de politisation et de décision sur le droit à l’avortement. Elle a créé le groupe « Genre et politique » de l’ABSP.

Bérengère Marques-Pereira nous présente son ouvrage paru en 2021, intitulé L’avortement dans l’Union européenne : acteurs, enjeux et discours.