220015 Gender, Nation, Nationalism (19th-21st Century) (S) (SoSe 2026)

Benedict Anderson famously defined the nation as an “imagined community”. But who exactly envisions this community? Who are the actors in this process of imagination, and where do the actresses fit in? What role does normative masculinity play in the construction and (biological) reproduction of nations? More broadly, how do gender relations shape culture, citizenship, war, and mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion?

Building on these questions, in this seminar we will explore the connection between gender, nation and nationalism from the 19th century until today.

The seminar will be conducted in English.

Bibliography

George Mosse, Nationalism and Sexuality. Respectability and Abnormal Sexuality in Modern Europe, The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 2020 [or. ed. New York, 1985].

Nira Yuval-Davis, Gender & Nation, Thousand Oaks, London, 1997.

Ute Planert (Hrsg.) Nation, Politik und Geschlecht. Frauenbewegungen und Nationalismus in der Moderne, Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 2000.

Ida Blom, Catherine Hall, and Karen Hagemann (eds.), Gendered Nations. Nationalisms and Gender Order in the Long Nineteenth Century, Berg, Oxford, 2000.

Nira Yuval-Davis and Floya Anthias, Woman-Nation-State, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1989.