Annual RC21 Conference 2011

The struggle to belong. Dealing with diversity in 21st century urban settings
Amsterdam (The Netherlands), July 7-9 2011

Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research – Urban Studies
University of Amsterdam – The Netherlands

22. Reconstructing Gender in Urban Space

(substantially revised in order to widen the scope of the session, different title)

The increasingly diverse and transnational character of urban landscapes invites a rethinking of the relation between gender, identity and urban space. In the context of competing norms and values, and challenged social orders and power relations, constructions of gender are potentially destabilised, and constantly have to be either confirmed or redefined. Transnational urban spaces may be key sites in this respect. However, renegotiations of gender relations and gender roles, traditional sex-gender binaries and heteronormative orders in transnational urban spaces inevitably engages the wider socio-spatial environments in which these spaces are located.
The proposed session welcomes papers that explore the (re-)construction of gender roles and gender relations in urban settings. Those dealing with transnational spaces are particularly welcomed. Papers may address how renegotiations of gender are initiated, when, where, in what contexts and by whom. In what ways do urban socio-spatial structures, individual and collective resources or degrees of cultural “otherness” influence the outcomes of these contestations?

Session organizer:
Sandra Huning, Faculty of Spatial Planning, Urban and Regional Sociology Department
Email: sandra.huning@tu-dortmund.de

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