Short Abstract:

Utopian thinking about the commons has been surprisingly sexless. This Lab invites participants on a walk to reflect on how sex/uality materialises in fieldwork. With the aid of 'sex objects' we ask how an attention to materialities can transform the study of sex and approaches to the commons.

Long Abstract:

Even though public properties like parks and piers have long been repurposed for sexual encounters, utopian thinking about the commons has been surprisingly sexless. We suggest that thinking with, alongside and through materialities can transform our engagments with the ethnographic present and imagined futures in a way that opens up a place for the sexual in its multifaceted, sometimes subtle, guises.

This Lab invites participants on a walk through the Botanic Gardens of Belfast, a place that has evoked multiple associations with sex/uality. During paired walks and with the aid of 'sex objects', we want to reflect on how sex/uality materialises in our respective fieldwork. How can these materialities (not) be addressed in ethnographic research and writing? In the final group discussion we will share ideas which emerged during the walk and engage with the question of how an attention to materialities and material objects can transform the study of sex/uality as well as thinking about the commons.

To facilitate the discussions, participants are asked to bring an object from their fieldwork which enfolds sex/uality in the broadest sense. The opening and final discussion of the Lab will take place indoors at the Queen's University of Belfast. Please wear weather-appropriate clothing and check for your accessibility requirements to the public park here: https://www.accessable.co.uk/venues/botanic-gardens.

The number of participants is limited to 20, we therefore ask for pre-registration via email to max.schnepf@fu-berlin.de and ursula.probst@fu-berlin.de.