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Before Drag: Pereodevanie and Gender Performance in Pre-20th Century Russia

Fri, November 19, 3:30 to 5:15pm CST (3:30 to 5:15pm CST), Hilton New Orleans Riverside, Floor: 2nd Floor, Churchill A2

Session Submission Type: Panel

Affiliate Organization: Q*ASEEES: Society for the Promotion of LGBTQ Slavic, East European, & Eurasian Studies

Brief Description

Our panel convenes around the examination of clothing and gender performance in Russian history from a Queer studies perspective. Coming from various branches of the literary studies tradition, our presenters examine their subjects and texts as both historically situated and resonant within the contemporary frameworks of Queer theory and gender performance. Each of us will present a case study in pereodevanie (lit. changing clothes, most often used to describe cross-dressing) as a key attribute of a quasi-historical, quasi-legendary, local figure as recorded in the arts and letters of pre-20th century Russia. Our studies seek to understand what these transgressively dressed figures and the texts that invoke them may teach us about the complexities of sexuality, gender, identity and aesthetics in Russian culture before the development of contemporary Gay and Queer discourses. In our joint investigation, we will also explore what these historical moments can mean within our contemporary discourses on sexuality, gender, and dress.

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