Louka Maju Goetzke
Editor and Trainer
&
Research Associate and PhD Candidate
Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany
︎
N E W S
New Publication [German]
in the latest issue of Neue Narrative, this time on the overpowering trans lobby and dogmatism
N E X T
Conference Paper ︎24.02.23
“"If you are a woman through and through, you’re not supposed to be happy about being seen as a man“ Or: What emotions and feelings do in gender transitions︎Nordic Trans Studies Network Conference
“From Transgender Rage to Trans Joy. Trans Studies through Affective Lens”, Tampere University, Finland
Conference Paper ︎11.05.23
“How do gender transitions unfold? A new materialist ethnography” ︎International Conference “Relational Perspectives on the Life Course“, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany
RESEARCH
I am a doctoral candidate in Sociology in the cooperative Research Training Group “Doing Transitions” of Goethe University Frankfurt am Main and Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, holding a fellowship by the German Research Foundation.
My Ph.D. project looks at gender transitions through the lens of new materialism. I am interested in how sex/gender transitions become evident as transitions and the differentiation from non-transitioning gender. Following theorist Susan Stryker, I understand gender transitions as non-linear movements across socially imposed boundaries, away from an unchosen starting place, the gender assigned at birth. Based on semi-structured interviews I conducted with people who transition in Germany, I aim at a situated description of the boundary drawing processes that shape gender transitions. For this, I make use of a new materialist methodology based on Karen Barad’s Agential Realism and Gilles Deleuze’s Difference-in-itself.
“The only way
to get outside the dualisms
is to be-between,
to pass between”
Gilles Deleuze & Félix Guattari in A Thousand Plateaus
RESEARCH INTERESTS
- Feminist Theory and criticism of science
- Trans Studies
- Socio-material approaches / new materialisms
- Practices of differentiation, transformation, temporalities
- Subjectivity, embodiment, (post-)modern self formation
WRITING
ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS
Monograph
Goetzke, Louka Maju (forthcoming). Werden statt Sein: VerUneindeutigung und positive Differenz. Hamburg: Marta Press
Articles (peer-reviewed)
Goetzke, Louka Maju (2022). Doing Gender Transitions. Geschlechterübergänge in neomaterialistischer Perspektive und ihr Potential für die Übergangsforschung. Zeitschrift für Pädagogik Beiheft 68/2022, Seite 82 - 97
Goetzke, Louka Maju, Müssig, Magdalena (2020). Die Covid-19-Pandemie bedroht alle. Geschützt werden nur einige. Femina Politica, Heft 2/2020: Politiken der Generativität und Reproduktive Rechte, Seite 121 - 122. [PDF]
Articles (non-peer reviewed)
Goetzke, Louka Maju, Schwertel, Tamara (2021). Neuer Materialismus. socialnet Lexikon. Bonn: socialnet. [online]
Goetzke, Louka Maju, Müssig, Magdalena (2020). Familismus in der Coronakrise. Soziologiemagazin, Blogreihe 8: Soziologische Impulse während Corona. [online]
Copy Editing
transcript Verlag
Appenroth, Max, Castro Varela, María (2019) Trans & Care: Trans Personen zwischen Selbstsorge, Fürsorge und Versorgung.
NON-ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS
I regularely write journalistic articles for different media and am part of the editorial team of TONIC Magazin and Neue Narrative Magazin. In the latter, I publish my column Geschlechtergefühle (engl.: GenderFeelings) in each print edition.
Recent topics included
︎ Diversity is not an end in itself
︎ Why Money is a sexist Invention
︎ Toxic Masculinity: Is Masculinity unhealthy?
︎ Female Leadership: Does Leadership need a gender?
︎ Why you should have unisex Toilets at Work
︎ Toxic Positivity: When Optimism becomes cruel
︎ Commoning for an Economy without Competition
For a comprehensive list of journalistic publications, please check my torial profile.
TALKS
CONFERENCE PAPERS peer-reviewed
19/09/2022: Doing Gender Transitions: Eine neomaterialistische Perspektive auf Geschlechter in Bewegung. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie (DGS), Bielefeld University
13/06/2022: Becoming what you ought to have always been: Nature/culture boundary-making in Gender Transitions. Mid-term Conference des ESA RN 33 (Women’s and Gender Studies), University Milano-Bicocca
15/03/2022: Übergangsforschung als Grenzziehungspraktiken anhand einer Studie zu Gender Transitionen. Paper at 28. DGfE Kongress ENT | GRENZ | UNGEN, 13-16 März 2022, University Bremen
20/09/2021: „Und dann konnte ich mich zum ersten Mal selbst so sehen.“ – Zur Rolle von Un_sichtbarkeiten in Gender Transitionen. Paper at 8. Jahrestagung der Österreichischen Gesellschaft für Geschlechterforschung „Ambivalente Un_Sichtbarkeiten“
01/09/2021: Gender Transitions as a Sociotechnical Issue: A New Materialist Approach. Conference Track Science and Technology. 15th Conference of the European Sociological Association, Barcelona
21/07/2021: Crossing Boundaries: Gender Transitions as more-than-human-assemblages. Int. Conference “Frontiers of Humanity and Beyond: Towards new critical understandings of borders”, CHAM Centre for the Humanities Lissabon
21/05/2021: Towards fugitive subjectivities. Trans as a non-linear and deterritorialising movement. Conference „Creative Bodies – Creative Minds“, University of Graz
LECTURES & PAPERS non-peer-reviewed/by Invitation
26/05/2022: Gendertransitionen: Geschlechtliche Transformationsprozesse als materiell-diskursive Assemblage. 7. Jahrestagung der Kulturwissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft (KWG), University of Graz
01/10/2021: Gender Transitions in Transformation: How do gender transitions emerge? A situated study with trans(itioning) subjects in Germany. Talk at the Interdisciplinary Online-Symposiums "Gender in Transformation Processes: Central and Southeast European Perspectives", University of Graz, Austria, University of Zadar and the Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar, Split, Croatia
01/10/2021: Gender Transitions in Transformation: How do gender transitions emerge? A situated study with trans(itioning) subjects in Germany. Talk at the Interdisciplinary Online-Symposiums "Gender in Transformation Processes: Central and Southeast European Perspectives", University of Graz, Austria, University of Zadar and the Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar, Split, Croatia
07/2017: Ein Recht auf mein Geschlecht: Über und gegen die Pathologisierung von Trans*-Personen – University of Freiburg
ORGANISED PANELS
26-28/05/2022: Zum Status von Materialität und materiellen Kulturen. Posthumane und neomaterialistische Perspektiven [EN: On the status of materiality and material cultures. Posthuman and neomaterialist perspectives],
7. Jahrestagung der Kulturwissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft (KWG), University of Graz
15/03/2022: Doing Transitions: Herstellung und Verhandlung
von Grenzen und Zugehörigkeiten an Übergängen [EN: Doing Transitions: Producing and Negotiating Boundaries and Belongings in Transitions], 28. DGfE Kongress ENT | GRENZ | UNGEN, 13-16 März 2022, University of Bremen
POSTER PRESENTATIONS
12/2021: Doing Gender Transitions in neomaterialistischer Perspektivierung. Staying with the trouble. 25 Jahre Forschungsschwerpunkt Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung in Hessen
02/2020: Doing Gender Transitions, International conference „Doing Transitions in the Life Course”, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
10/2019: Queere Identitätskritik und positive Differenz, International conference “Categories in Flux”, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
OTHER TALKS ︎ MEDIA ENGAGEMENT
04/2022
Talking about the Temporality of Forming a Desire to Transition – for an mini episode of the Queer Lit Podcast by Lena Mattheis
12/2020
Interview on Neoliberal Promises, Individualism, Normalcy and Transformation – by Podcast Rote Brause, Neues Deutschland
10/2020
04/2016
02/2016
Panel discussion on The Future of Journalism: Zukunftsstimmen – Welche Geschichten schreibt Journalismus 2030? – Konferenzwoche Leuphana University Lüneburg
09/2014
Panel guest with Hans Werner Kilz, Bildung und Medien – talent! Junge Medienmacher
06/2013
TEACHING & TRAININGS
ACADEMIC TEACHING
Wie kommen Gendertransitionen zustande?
One-time seminar as part of the B.A. course “Trans*: Theorie/Kunst/Aktivismus”, Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna, Austria, 17.12.2022
How Do Gender Transitions Unfold? – A New Materialist Approach
One-time Research Seminar, Centre for Transforming Sexuality and Gender, University of Brighton, UK, 22.09.2022
Becoming different (from each other)
Undergrad course, M.A. & B.A. Gender Studies, B.A. Sociology & Educational Sciences, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Summer Term 2022
Keywords: Theories of difference and differenciation, Doing Difference, Intersectionality, New Materialism, Relational Ontology, Difference-in-itself, Agential Realism, Relational Becoming
Doing Gender Transitions – Geschlecht in Bewegung
Guest lecture in a course “Introduction to the Sociology of Gender”, B.A. Sociology, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Summer Term 2022
New materialist approaches to transitions
Guest lecture in a team-taught seminar “Zu Übergängen forschen” together with Tamara Schwertel, M.A. Educational Sciences, Goethe University Frankfurt, Summer Term 2021
Gender Transition: Eine Reise von einem Geschlecht ins andere?
Public evening lecture „Studium Generale: Doing Transitions – wie sich Übergänge im Lebenslauf herstellen“, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Summer Term 2021
Umgang mit Geschlechtervielfalt: Einführung in die Trans Studies
Undergrad course, B.A. Gender Studies, Sociology & Educational Sciences, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Winter Term 2020/21
Topics: Central notions in Trans Studies, (Historical) becoming of Trans Studies, Decolonial perspectives on gender and trans, Methodologies in Trans Studies
A New Materialist Methodology to Researching Gender Transitions
Guest lecture in a a team-taught seminar “Zu Übergängen forschen – Perspektiven und Methoden zur Erforschung von Übergängen im Lebenslauf”, M.A. Educational Sciences, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Summer Term 2020
TRAININGS & WORKSHOPS
I regularely give workshops and trainings on
- Gender and sexual diversity
- Sexism: How it works and how we unlearn it
- Gender bias in journalism and inclusive (visual) language
As I’m entering the last year of my Ph.D., I’m not available for trainings at the moment. If you are interested in a training taking place in late 2023, don’t hesitate to contact me. I facilitate in English, German and French, online and offline, and happily develop a training adjusted to your needs.
I’ve mostly facilitated workshops and trainings for journalists, NGOs and youth work projects such as:
Ringier AG, BLICK, Switzerland | Heinrich Böll Foundation, Germany | re:publica Conference, Germany | Deutsch-türkische Jugendbrücke, Turkey & Germany | Zinefest Berlin, Germany | Global Education Digital Youth Work Project, Turkey & Germany | Z2X – Das Festival der Neuen Visionäre – Die ZEIT, Germany | Gendered Intelligence, UK | Solijugend, Germany | Grüne Jugend, Germany |
Ringier AG, BLICK, Switzerland | Heinrich Böll Foundation, Germany | re:publica Conference, Germany | Deutsch-türkische Jugendbrücke, Turkey & Germany | Zinefest Berlin, Germany | Global Education Digital Youth Work Project, Turkey & Germany | Z2X – Das Festival der Neuen Visionäre – Die ZEIT, Germany | Gendered Intelligence, UK | Solijugend, Germany | Grüne Jugend, Germany |