Books by Francesca Stella
Series: Routledge Advances in Critical Diversities This book brings together a diverse range of c... more Series: Routledge Advances in Critical Diversities This book brings together a diverse range of critical interventions in sexuality and gender studies, and seeks to encourage new ways of thinking about the connections and tensions between sexual politics, citizenship and belonging. The book is organized around three interlinked thematic areas, focusing on sexual citizenship, nationalism and international borders (Part 1); sexuality and "race" (Part 2); and sexuality and religion (Part 3). In revisiting notions of sexual citizenship and belonging, contributors engage with topical debates about "sexual nationalism," or the construction of western/European nations as exceptional in terms of attitudes to sexual and gender equality vis-à-vis an uncivilized, racialized "Other." The collection explores macro-level perspectives by attending to the geopolitical and socio-legal structures within which competing claims to citizenship and belonging are played out; at the same time, micro-level perspectives are utilized to explore the interplay between sexuality and "race," nation, ethnicity and religious identities. Geographically, the collection has a prevalently European focus, yet contributions explore a range of trans-national spatial dimensions that exceed the boundaries of "Europe" and of European nation-states. " Offering theoretically-sophisticated and empirically-insightful macro and micro-level analyses, this book is a must-read for scholars who seek to reflect critically on these urgent and contentious geopolitical, policy, and academic issues, and develop competent interventions that affirm diversity, and promote social justice and equality. "
Based on extensive ethnographic research, this book explores the everyday lives of 'lesbian' wome... more Based on extensive ethnographic research, this book explores the everyday lives of 'lesbian' women in urban Russia. The first part ('time') examines generational differences between women: it shows how the Soviet system shaped understandings and experiences of same-sex desire, and how same-sex identities and communities have been renegotiated since the demise of state socialism. The second part ('space') attends to regional variation in contemporary Russia, by considering what 'lesbian' life looks like in metropolitan Moscow and in the provincial city of Ul'ianovsk. Francesca Stella details how women negotiate their sexualities across different social spaces (the home, the workplace, the street) and explores how 'lesbian' space is collectively carved out.
Lesbian Lives in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia queries essentialist accounts of Russian sexualities as exceptional and foregrounds gender as key in shaping women's experiences. The book problematizes western-centric theorizations by critically engaging with existing perspectives on queer geotemporalities, post/socialist modernity and the value of public in/visibility.
This book brings together a diverse range of critical interventions in sexuality and gender studi... more This book brings together a diverse range of critical interventions in sexuality and gender studies, and seeks to encourage new ways of thinking about the connections and tensions between sexual politics, citizenship and belonging. The book is organized around three interlinked thematic areas, focusing on sexual citizenship, nationalism and international borders (Part 1); sexuality and "race" (Part 2); and sexuality and religion (Part 3). In revisiting notions of sexual citizenship and belonging, contributors engage with topical debates about "sexual nationalism," or the construction of western/European nations as exceptional in terms of attitudes to sexual and gender equality vis-à-vis an uncivilized, racialized "Other."
The collection explores macro-level perspectives by attending to the geopolitical and socio-legal structures within which competing claims to citizenship and belonging are played out; at the same time, micro-level perspectives are utilized to explore the interplay between sexuality and "race," nation, ethnicity and religious identities. Geographically, the collection has a prevalently European focus, yet contributions explore a range of trans-national spatial dimensions that exceed the boundaries of "Europe" and of European nation-states.
Papers by Francesca Stella
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), May 31, 2023
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), May 2, 2023
The past five years have witnessed an explosion of interest in the histories of lesbian, gay, bis... more The past five years have witnessed an explosion of interest in the histories of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people in the Soviet Union and its successor states.1 This special issue extends our understanding of the history of queer experience in the late Soviet Union and its successor states. Its eight articles balance attention between the Russian “core” and republics on the “periphery” of the USSR: Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, and Latvia. One article draws attention to Italy, and to the 1970s transnational gay, artistic, and socialist campaigns to liberate film director Sergei Parajanov, whose stellar career encompassed his three Soviet homelands: Armenia, Georgia, and Ukraine. The articles explore the ways in which Soviet queer people understood and imagined same-sex desire and gender fluidity
This report presents the findings of a pilot study on lesbian, gay and bisexual migration from Ea... more This report presents the findings of a pilot study on lesbian, gay and bisexual migration from Eastern Europe to Scotland, carried out by Francesca Stella. This has fed into a larger project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, which runs January 2015-December 2016.
Sexuality, Citizenship and Belonging, 2015
The project generated a set of qualitative data. In phase one, 50 biographical interviews were co... more The project generated a set of qualitative data. In phase one, 50 biographical interviews were conducted with LGBT migrants from Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union living in Scotland. The interviews were semi-structured and covered themes such as: socio-economic background and place of origin; life as an LGBT person in the country of origin; motivations to migrate; experiences of migration and settlement; plans for the future. At the end of the interview, participants were asked to draw a sociogram (a diagram representing their most meaningful social relations); this was discussed in the last part of the interview; 49 sociograms were collected (one participant did not complete the sociogram). A selection of stage one participants were asked to take part in the second phase of the study. In phase two we collected 18 photo diaries; the task involved collating personal pictures (portraying objects, landscapes and people) representing their ideas of ‘home’ into a template provided by the researchers. Participants were free to submit pictures taken especially for the photo diary and/or old pictures. The format is either digital pictures taken on participants' devices or Polaroid pictures (camera provided by research team). It also involved conducting 18 follow-up interviews with participants who completed the photo diary, expanding on the meaning of and stories behind the pictures, and on some matters arising from interviews in stage one.
This learning resource is designed to facilitate an exploration of LGBT lives and an engagement w... more This learning resource is designed to facilitate an exploration of LGBT lives and an engagement with issues of sexual and gender diversity in the adult ESOL classroom. The training and activities pack was developed through ongoing and sustained engagement with ESOL practitioners and other stakeholders and reflect needs and areas for further work identified by them, including the need for more training material on issues of equality and diversity and of LGBTI issues in particular. The resource draws on interview material collected for a project on LGBT migrants in Scotland (www.intimatemigrations.net) ; it includes a few real-life stories from LGBT migrants that touch upon themes such as families and relationships, gender identities, and homophobic, transphobi and racial prejudice and discrimination. The resource explores real LGBT lives and issues from a migrant perspective, and also addresses issues of migrant equality and belonging. This is something that ESOL learners, many of wh...
This learning resource is designed to facilitate an exploration of LGBT and migrant equalities, a... more This learning resource is designed to facilitate an exploration of LGBT and migrant equalities, and aligns with wider work aimed at challenging prejudice through an intersectional approach. It specifically responds to a well-documented need for more work around LGBT and race equalities in Scotland.The training and activities pack was developed through ongoing and sustained engagement with stakeholders and reflect needs and areas for further work identified by them. The resource draws on interview material collected for a project on LGBT migrants in Scotland (www.intimatemigrations.net) ; it includes a few real-life stories from LGBT migrants that touch upon themes such as families and relationships, gender identities, and homophobic, transphobic and racial prejudice and discrimination.
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2020
This collection seeks to encourage new ways of thinking about the connections and tensions betwee... more This collection seeks to encourage new ways of thinking about the connections and tensions between sexual politics, citizenship and belonging by bringing together a diverse range of critical interventions within sexuality and gender studies. The book is organised around three interlinked thematic areas, focusing on sexual citizenship, nationalism and international borders (section 1); sexuality and ‘race ’ (section 2); and sexuality and religion (section 3). In revisiting notions of sexual citizenship and belonging, contributors engage with topical debates about ‘sexual nationalism’, or the construction of western/European nations as exceptional in terms of attitudes to sexual and gender equality vis-a-vis an uncivilised, racialized ‘Other’. The collection explores macro-level perspectives by attending to the broader geopolitical and socio-legal structures within which competing claims to citizenship and belonging are played out; at the same time, micro-level perspectives are utilised to explore the interplay between sexuality and ‘race’, nation, ethnicity and religious identities, both in individuals’ lived experiences and in activism and forms of collective belonging. Geographically, the collection has a prevalently European focus, yet contributions explore a range of trans-national spatial dimensions that exceed the boundaries of ‘Europe’ and of European nation-states. They consider, for example, links between former European imperial powers and their former colonies; the construction of a European ‘core’ and its ‘peripheries’ in discourses on sexual and reproductive rights; and forms of belonging shaped by migration from within and outside ‘fortress Europe’.
Gender, Equality and Difference During And After State Socialism, 2007
... After. Palgrave, pp. 146-166. ISBN 0230524842. Full text not currently available from Enlight... more ... After. Palgrave, pp. 146-166. ISBN 0230524842. Full text not currently available from Enlighten. Abstract. No abstract available. Item Type: Book Section. Status: Published. Glasgow Author(s): Stella, Dr Francesca. Authors: Stella, F. ...
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Books by Francesca Stella
Lesbian Lives in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia queries essentialist accounts of Russian sexualities as exceptional and foregrounds gender as key in shaping women's experiences. The book problematizes western-centric theorizations by critically engaging with existing perspectives on queer geotemporalities, post/socialist modernity and the value of public in/visibility.
The collection explores macro-level perspectives by attending to the geopolitical and socio-legal structures within which competing claims to citizenship and belonging are played out; at the same time, micro-level perspectives are utilized to explore the interplay between sexuality and "race," nation, ethnicity and religious identities. Geographically, the collection has a prevalently European focus, yet contributions explore a range of trans-national spatial dimensions that exceed the boundaries of "Europe" and of European nation-states.
Papers by Francesca Stella
Lesbian Lives in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia queries essentialist accounts of Russian sexualities as exceptional and foregrounds gender as key in shaping women's experiences. The book problematizes western-centric theorizations by critically engaging with existing perspectives on queer geotemporalities, post/socialist modernity and the value of public in/visibility.
The collection explores macro-level perspectives by attending to the geopolitical and socio-legal structures within which competing claims to citizenship and belonging are played out; at the same time, micro-level perspectives are utilized to explore the interplay between sexuality and "race," nation, ethnicity and religious identities. Geographically, the collection has a prevalently European focus, yet contributions explore a range of trans-national spatial dimensions that exceed the boundaries of "Europe" and of European nation-states.
role language plays in how they negotiate companionship,
romance and sex within queer community and diasporic
environments. We draw on interviews with 56 self-identified LGBT
migrants from Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet
Union living in Scotland, UK. In doing so, we bring into
conversation and critically engage with perspectives from queer
migration literature and from work on migrants’ social networks
and language use. In the article, we show how language
underpins access to English-speaking and ethnic social circles,
and how it is powerfully bound up with emotions, affect and
perceptions of social proximity or distance. We argue for the
need to move beyond abstract notions of queer or diasporic
communities, and for an exploration of queer migrants’ sociality
grounded in their personal communities, social networks and the
language(s) used within them. We argue that this approach can
better capture queer migrants’ complex identity negotiations and
diverse sources of support and belonging, without assuming the
primacy of either sexuality or ethnicity.
role language plays in how they negotiate companionship,
romance and sex within queer community and diasporic
environments. We draw on interviews with 56 self-identified LGBT
migrants from Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet
Union living in Scotland, UK. In doing so, we bring into
conversation and critically engage with perspectives from queer
migration literature and from work on migrants’ social networks
and language use. In the article, we show how language
underpins access to English-speaking and ethnic social circles,
and how it is powerfully bound up with emotions, affect and
perceptions of social proximity or distance. We argue for the
need to move beyond abstract notions of queer or diasporic
communities, and for an exploration of queer migrants’ sociality
grounded in their personal communities, social networks and the
language(s) used within them. We argue that this approach can
better capture queer migrants’ complex identity negotiations and
diverse sources of support and belonging, without assuming the
primacy of either sexuality or ethnicity.