WILLEMSTAD - On 19 and 20 February 2019, Prof. Dr. Gloria Wekker gave two master classes on Gender and Sexuality. These two masterclasses were organized as a follow-up activity of the NWO-funded project Cultural Practices of Citizenship under Conditions of Fragmented Sovereignty Gendered and Sexual Citizenship in Curaçao and Bonaire and as a continuation of a Studium Generale Culture Studies of the General Faculty of the UoC.
The masterclasses are part of a series that explores in depth methods of research into gender and sexuality in a Caribbean context, gender and sexuality in literature, gender and politics and gender and development studies. The master classes are primarily intended for professionals from the field, students and PhD students, but also for other interested parties.
Prof. dr. Dr Gloria Wekker, Emeritus professor at Utrecht University and one of the advisors of the NWO project mentioned above, has highlighted the concepts of gender and sexuality from an intersectional perspective.
Before she elaborated on the Caribbean situation in terms of gender and sexuality, she discussed how intersectionality arose during the first masterclass and what the concept entails. It is an inclusive way of looking at differences such as race / ethnicity, class, gender and sexuality. Intersectional thinking originated in the early twentieth century with the aim of tackling social inequality and is characterized, among other things, by not starting from a binary gender system (man and woman) and by putting inclusiveness first.
Subsequently, the second master class zoomed in on how in the Caribbean, and especially in Suriname, sexuality is thought of and how this differs from 'Western' thinking about this. In the Caribbean, sex was seen more as an activity, and not so much as a fixed part of their own identity. Furthermore, sexuality is not considered a negative fact; men and women are just sexual beings.
The following master classes will take place on 12 and 13 March 2019 and will be provided by Prof. Kamala Kempadoo from York University in Canada.