Homoerotics of Race and Justice in Cukur, Istanbul
LMB/002, Law and Sociology Building, Campus East, University of York (Map)
Event details
In spaces shaped by urban decay, racial violence, and political repression, queer Kurdish people in Istanbul are navigating the impossible through the erotic. This lecture introduces the concept of erotic justice: the intimate, everyday practices through which marginalized subjects claim dignity, negotiate risk, and make life liveable under conditions of securitization and dispossession.
Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork with lubunya (queer) Kurds in Çukur, Istanbul, this talk explores how camouflage, desire, and wounded attachment become tools of survival and resistance, and how fleeting, asymmetrical encounters between bodies can quietly rearticulate what it means to be Kurdish, Turkish, or queer.
Join us for our Gender, Sexuality and Inequalities Research Live event with Dr. Emrah Karakuş.
Please note that this event is hybrid. If you want to join online, please contact Dr Yener Bayramoğlu at yener.bayramoglu@york.ac.uk for the Zoom link.
About the speaker
Dr. Emrah Karakuş
Emrah's research explores how intimacy, affect, and sacrifice shape political life under conditions of conflict, migration, and securitisation, with a particular focus on queer and trans communities in Kurdistan, Turkey, and the broader Middle East. Bringing together social anthropology, gender and sexuality studies, and peace and conflict studies, Emrah examines how political violence and collective struggle generate new forms of desire, belonging, and difference.
Venue details
Wheelchair accessible