Research in Gender Studies

Cultural science research into film and gaming is based around a film studies perspective on the history, theory and methodology of the audiovisual media. The field has solid empirical and philosophical foundations, and is both locally and internationally based, and socially and technically oriented. The research conducted within the Department involves film analyses from a feminist philosophical perspective, historical studies of various kinds of documentary film, audiovisual analyses of moving image media, psychological and aesthetic studies of mobile media platforms, historical/aesthetic analyses of game mechanics, analyses of films for children and young people, and locally rooted projects concerning archives and the conservation of films and games in partnership with cultural institutions and companies.

The research group studies activism, feminism, queer and trans movements in both local and transnational contexts. At the heart of this research are questions about how political subjectivity, community and resistance arise through activist practice. Decoloniality, racism, capitalism, neoliberalism and the relationship between religion/secularism and North/South are of particular interest. South Asia, Latin America, Turkey, Russia and Scandinavia are some of the geographical starting points. The research group contributes to feminist theory and methodology by posing questions such as: How can transnational movements be studied beyond organisations? Can knowledge gained through video-archives challenge and renew academic knowledge production? How can resistance be theorised as a space for interactions between micro and macro levels? What can we learn from the tensions surrounding concepts like civil society, gender equality and human rights?

Visual Culture encompasses a wide range of visual expressions in various media and display contexts. The field is not restricted to the examination of artifacts, but also turns its attention to vision and perception and the position of the beholder. Contemporary phenomena are studied, as well as the visual culture of bygone eras. The disciplines most closely associated with the field include art history, film studies and media studies, but visual culture is also a common theme in gender studies, history, history of ideas and philosophy, as well as in several other disciplines.