Doctoral Intensive Seminar: The Power of Words. Construction of Gender and Sexuality in Language
Language plays a crucial role in shaping identities, communicating societal norms, and expressing individuality. It is also central to the construction of gender, but this topic has received relatively little attention in the Estonian context. The focus will be on how language constructs and reinforces values and norms related to gender and sexuality across different contexts, how these norms are reproduced and challenged, and how gender and sexuality intersect with other aspects of identity such as nationality and ethnicity.
Through lectures, seminars, group discussions, and hands-on workshops, we will explore topics including:
- The social construction of gender and sexual identities through language
- Overt and covert sexist language practices
- Methodological and ethical considerations in researching language, gender, and sexuality
Date: April 10–12, 2025
Location: University of Tartu, Jakobi 2 (April 10 and 12 Jakobi 2-114, April 11 Jakobi 2-130)
The seminar will be held in English only.
The detailed schedule will be added soon.
Registration is open until March 7, 2025. Acceptance notifications will be sent on March 10.
Participants can earn 2 ECTS credits. All attendees will give a 10–15-minute flash presentation on their research topic or related questions, which will be discussed in a friendly and supportive atmosphere.
Who should attend?
This intensive seminar aims to support doctoral students’ research in the intersections of language, gender, and sexuality. It also welcomes those who are new to language and sexuality studies, as well as anyone seeking an open and inclusive space to explore these topics in depth. Prior knowledge of linguistics is not required.
Format
Each day begins with a lecture, a seminar or workshop led by the invited speakers. The afternoons feature short presentations by participating doctoral students, which will be integrated into broader discussions linking the seminar content to their own research. April 12th will be a half-day session, ending around noon.
Invited speakers
Associate Professor in Sociolinguistics, University of Nottingham
Dr Lucy Jones is Associate Professor in Sociolinguistics at the University of Nottingham. She is a discourse analyst and linguistic ethnographer working on a range of topics relevant to language, gender and sexuality. Her published research includes normativity and identity construction amongst LGBTQ+ youth, homophobic discourse in relation to same-sex marriage and HIV prevention, critical discourse analysis of how trans athletes in elite sport are represented within the news media, and lesbian identity construction. Her monograph Language and LGBTQ+ Youth: Analysing Marginalised Identities through an Intersectional Lens investigates the role of intersectionality in the identity construction of queer British youth, and is in press with Bloomsbury. Dr. Lucy Jones will give a taught lecture on intersectionality and a workshop on ethics in LGS research.
Taught lecture “Intersectionality in language, gender and sexuality research”
This session will introduce the feminist theory of intersectionality and identify, key issues that have been explored in contemporary language, gender and sexuality scholarship. Dr Jones will draw on her own research with LGBTQ+ youth to demonstrate how marginalised identities can be explored robustly via an intersectional framework.
Workshop “Ethics in language, gender and sexuality”
This workshop will involve participants in thinking about the various ethical implications of linguistic research in both online and offline contexts. Using authentic examples from published work, it will consider both the institutional ethics review process and the practicalities of “doing research ethically”, highlighting the key issues researchers must consider at each stage.
Reading material for the workshop (available for download at the link below):
Atkins, Sarah, Mackenzie, Jai and Jones, Lucy. "Ethical practice in participant-centred linguistic research" Linguistics, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1515/ling-2023-0130
TBA
Research Fellow in Ethnology, University of Tartu
Rebeka Põldsam is a cultural historian and researcher in ethnology. In 2023, she defended her doctoral dissertation, “Why are we still abnormal?!” History of Discourses on Non-Normative Sex-Gender Subjects in Estonia. Her current research focuses on LGBTQ+ futures and aging in Estonia as part of the project Imagining Queer Ageing Futures in Estonia, Poland, and Sweden. Põldsam is also a freelance art curator, editor of the gender studies journal Ariadne Lõng, and a visiting lecturer at the Estonian Academy of Arts. She has co-directed the LGBTQ+ community history short film The Night of Purple Horrors (2024) and curated the exhibition From “Such People” to LGBT Activism at the Vabamu Museum of Occupations and Freedom.
Lecture-Seminar: Un/learning Non-Normative Sex-Gender Vocabularies
In her research on homosexuality and gender non-conformity in early 20th-century and Soviet-era Estonia, Rebeka Põldsam has encountered challenges in learning and unlearning the meanings of words related to non-normative sexualities. LGBTQ+ vocabularies are fluid and rapidly evolving, necessitating constant updates. This lecture-seminar will present the complexities of working with historical terminology and include a discussion of Brian James Baer’s chapter Making a Spectacle of Homosexuality: The Problem of Gay (In)Visibility in Soviet Russia.
Reading material for the workshop (downloadable files here):
Baer, B. J. (2009). Making a Spectacle of Homosexuality: The Problem of Gay (In)Visibility. In Other Russias: Homosexuality and the Crisis of Post-Soviet Identity (pp. 43–69). Palgrave Macmillan.
Additional (voluntary) reading:
Stryker, S. (2017). Transgender History: The Roots of Today’s Revolution (Revised ed.). Seal Press. – Chapter 1. Contexts, Concepts, and Terms
Organisers
Aet Kuusik, Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics, University of Tartu, aet.kuusik@ut.ee
Elisabeth Kaukonen, Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics, University of Tartu, elisabeth.kaukonen @ut.ee
Prof. Liina Lindström, Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics, University of Tartu, liina.lindstrom@ut.ee
Prof. Raili Marling, Institute of Foreign Languages and Cultures, University of Tartu, raili.marling@ut.ee
Partners
Prof. Linda Kaljundi, Institute of Art History and Visual Culture, Estonian Academy of Arts
Prof. Anna Verschik, School of Humanities, Tallinn University
The event is organised from the project "Cooperation between universities to promote doctoral studies" (2021-2027.4.04.24-0003), which is co-funded by the European Union.
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