Amsterdam is known worldwide as a tolerant city, including a thriving gay and queer scene. This LGBTQIAP+-friendly reputation has grown over the years, culminating in the 1990s receiving the honorary title of “gay capital of the world.” But the city did not get this predicate without a fight. There has been suffering, demonstrations and lobbying for this. And that is still happening, because the Netherlands has been falling on the European list for LGBTI rights for years now.
'Amsterdam: the pink history' outlines the history of homosexuality in the capital. The book explores areas where the rainbow family is most visible: culture, nightlife and activism. During this program, Pakhuis de Zwijger takes a look at the past, present and future of Amsterdam's LGBTQIAP+ community.
In this meeting at Pakhuis de Zwijger, moderator Bo Hanna talks with Monique Doppert (author of Amsterdam: the pink history), Bob van Schijndel (gay activist and former GroenLinks politician), Naomie Pieter (Black Queer & Trans Resistance Netherlands and Kick out Zwarte Piet), Eli Verboket (Drag artist and professional queer nightlife).Roi Soleil (Performer & Musician) ends with a performance.
Powerful and Vulnerable - Academic Freedom in Practice
A university should be a place where innovative and controversial questions are asked, studied, answered and taught. In Amsterdam since 1632. To be such a place, freedom of thought, speech, debate and publication is crucial. The university thrives on debate; academic freedom – powerful and vulnerable at the same time – is her oxygen.
In addition to the executive, legislative and judicial powers, and together with the free press, universities should also be a reliable pillar underpinning a democratic society and a well-functioning constitutional state.
And as a community, the university should be an example to society and the world. An example of how people treat each other when they disagree. Another example of how differences of opinion can be made productive.
Within the university, the ideal of diversity & inclusion is as powerful and vulnerable as the ideal of academic freedom. In the course of its work, the committee has become convinced that academic freedom and diversity & inclusion are not opposed to each other, but that they desperately need each other. In addition to all dimensions of diversity such as gender, skin colour, age, sexual orientation, and experiences and perceptions, diversity of political views and scientific perspectives is also an essential part of inclusive diversity at the university.
Several articles have appeared in the (national) media surrounding the issue investigated by the Stolker Committee.To provide context for this report, links to these articles are provided below.Unfortunately, not all articles are freely accessible, some can only be read by subscribers of the relevant magazine.
Despite growing debate about the role of monuments in diverse societies, there has been insufficient attention to contestations that have emerged involving ‘gay’ or ‘queer’ monuments. This article examines the politics of inclusion and exclusion that can stem from the social practices that evolve around these monuments, particularly as the imperatives and priorities of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) activism evolve while monuments, created in a particular historical and geographical context, are in some sense ‘set in stone’. Drawing on an intensive, mixed-methods case study of the Homomonument in Amsterdam, the article develops a grounded critique of processes of inclusion and exclusion specifically in relation to Black, bisexual and transgender people. With a focus on dance parties organised at the Homomonument, the article calls for more research that analyses monuments as sites of practice.
In this collection, the editors collect articles about LGBTIQ+ communities. Most studies are about Amsterdam, long referred to as the gay capital of Europe, but some are also about the Netherlands.
Much research has been done into these diverse communities, for example in relation to topics such as healthcare, the media, religion, migration, security, politics, the built environment, et cetera.
In this collection you can find theses about queer and pride written by students of Amsterdam.
Students are an important link in the city's research ecosystem. On openresearch.amsterdam we publish theses so that students' work gets more visibility. So that the theses that students have worked long and hard on do not just disappear into thin air. By giving the work of students on open research a place, it ends up in a network of researchers and civil servants all over the city.
To see all theses applied by students, you can click here.
Annefleur Schipper and Vera Siemons discuss the lesbian/queer media offer in 'De Lesbian Liga' podcast. When they were teenagers, there was only the series 'The L Word', so in terms of representation and role models, the range was not very wide at the time. In the podcast they talk about released films and series about and with lesbian and bisexual women, and how representative they find them.
Photographer Shreya de Souza portrays encounters in the LGBTI community
Photographer Shreya de Souza graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in July 2020 and became the photographer in residence of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS) in the academic year 2020-2021. A jury annually selects a graduate photographer. De Souza's "disarming and powerful" work on the LGBTI community has been praised by the jury.
Shreya de Souza is photographer in residence at the HvA this year.
Photographer Shreya de Souza is photographer in residence of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA) in the academic year 2020-2021. During this time she will take an art photo on special occasions.The artist will also have the opportunity to exhibit her work at an HvA location.De Souza graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in July 2020.
Every year a jury, this year chaired by acting AUAS chair Hanneke Reuling, selects an appealing photographer from the graduation exhibition Photography of the Rietveld Academy.The chair choose Shreya de Souza this year.The jury was impressed by Souza's colorful and playful, but at the same time vulnerable and honest work.In her photography she reflects on the relationship between photographer and subject.She portrays an encounter between herself as a photographer and those she photographs from the LGBTI community.Her use of different media and her artistic awareness make her work surprising.Shreya de Souza has a talent for making social issues visible in an accessible way.She does so with a refreshing lightness that underlines the power of art in turbulent times.Her work is disarming and powerful at the same time and has a strong sense of aesthetics.
Since 2015, the AUAS has been working with the Gerrit Rietveld Academy on the photographer in residence. In this way the AUAS can offer a unique gift to a jubilating or departing board member, and its own art collection is supplemented with original work by a young artist trained in Amsterdam.The artist is given the opportunity to reach a new audience.
This article was published on 3 September 2020 at hva.nl.