Form Gangs – An approach to collectivisation processes in women’s* movements. Dissertation project by Univ.-Ass. Lic. Amancay Jenny MA

Current social developments are primarily characterised by neoliberal trends. As a result of this, the concern for and handling of various social problems is often shifted to the individual sphere of responsibility: ‘The times in which collective solidarity is placed above individual responsibility seem to be over when problems are decollectivised and (re-)privatised.’ (Oelkers, 2013, p.165). On the other hand, there are civil groups and movements that repeatedly criticise existing conditions in various forms and address problems and grievances.

For this project, collective forms of expressing criticism and resistance, as well as collective rebellious practices (see Sauer, 2016), will serve as a specific context in which social problems are named and criticised, especially by women*. Criticism of social conditions from a feminist perspective has become increasingly visible in recent years – especially, but not only, in the context of economic and political crises (e.g. Occupy Wall Street in the USA or 15-M in Spain). Feminist slogans are not only found in hashtags (#MeToo, #Niunamenos or #Westrike #Nosotrasparamos), but are also taken up by political and social actors and thus socially thematised. Female* lifestyles, living conditions and ways of organising life become virulent arenas of social upheaval and conflict.

Using exemplary ‘vignettes’, which are to be worked out in the context of the collective articulation of feminist social criticism, the present work aims to show by way of example that there are indeed forms that (despite everything) allow a steadfast refusal (cf. Berger & Luckmann, 2013) to be given space and to formulate criticism ‘as a utopian draft of another possible reality’ (Maurer, 1996, p.4).

• Main supervisor: Univ.-Prof. Dr Birgit Bütow (University of Salzburg)
• Secondary supervision: Univ.-Prof. Dr Susanne Maurer (Philipps University Marburg, emeritus)
• Period: February 2023 – September 2027