Sabine Grenz

Institution/Department: Department of Culture, Aesthetics,
Media and Gender Studies
Previous studies: Humboldt-Universität, Berlin; London School of Economics and Political Science
Thesis: The Construction of (Hetero-) Sexuality in Prostitutes’ ­­
Clients’ Narratives – an empirical and cultural historian analysis
Research areas: Gender and Sexuality, Cultural History of Sexuality, ­Prostitution, Gender and Nationalism, Gender and National Socialism and the Second World War
Current research: Gender Relations Represented in Second World War Diaries by Women who Were Recognised as German.
Diaries are a fascinating set of material to give insights in the every day life, thoughts and activities of people in other periods of time. Even though diary writing has been popular since enlightenment, we still know little about diary writing of ‘ordinary’ people. Additionally, despite the wealth of research on National Socialism and the fact that diary writing reached a peak during this period, we still know little about it and thus, little about how people related to the ‘truths’ offered by the fascist system on a daily basis.
In this project I plan to develop the fundamental reconstruction of how civilian women in a fascist society accounted for themselves. Core concepts are the gendered and racialised power relations. The proposed work focuses on diaries by women who were privileged on the basis of racism. Diaries are by no ­means simply private documents. Instead they often are written for other people (relatives, friends) and represent a discussion of individual persons with their public and private environment. As such they entail how these persons related to the ‘knowledge’ claims of the fascist society and how they constructed their subjectivity in connection to them.

E-mail address: Sabine.grenz@wmst.gu.se