XIV Seminario de Cultura Visual: "Russian Style, or what Twerking Air Cadets and 'Gay' Propaganda Tell Us about Putin's War in Ukraine"

Por: Julie A. Cassiday, Willcox B. and Harriet M. Adsit Professor of Russian, Center for Global Languages, Literature, and Culture, Williams College, Massachussetts

Resumen: Many social scientists were taken aback by Putin´'s decision to invade Ukraine in February of 2022, but those aware of cultural trends in Russia saw the connection between his restyling of Russian gender and sexuality and his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since rising to power in 1999, Putin has overhauled Russian citizenship so that young, sexually-available, heterosexual women have become the country's ideal citizens, and queer men its scapegoats. This talk links the 2018 viral video made by air cadets in the city of Ulianovsk to Russia's infamous 2013 ban on "gay" propaganda, arguing that the inherent contradiction in both reveals the roots of Putin's Ukrainophobia and military aggression.

Organiza: Grupo de Investigación en Historia del Arte y Cultura Visual (IH-CSIC)