CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2014
| Author | Berianidze, Levan |
|---|---|
| Title | CONNECTIONS OF QUEER POLITICS AND LIBERALISM AS SEEN IN GEORGIAN LGBTQ ACTIVISM |
| Summary | Criticisms of liberalism by Anglo-American queer thinkers have been an important part of Western queer political theory. Revisiting the ambiguous relationship between queer theory and liberalism, in my thesis, by looking at LGBTQ politics and political parties’ policies and their ideologies in Georgia, I will argue that liberal political thought, more than any other political system, is necessary for queer politics. I will particularly look at the two major LGBTQ events in Georgia - LGBTQ rallies held in Tbilisi in 2012 and in 2013 - and the public and political debates happening around these events. As long as these two rallies were held under two different political parties in power at the time, I will look at their responses to LGBTQ activists’ needs, and also their discourses used in responses to general society through the media, and I will analyze them in terms of their political ideology. My main aim is to analyze the main discourses of argumentation evolving around these rallies and other social events happening around this event based on the political ideology, and considering country’s historical, geopolitical and cultural atmosphere, to argue that in this environment liberal political environment is necessary for LGBTQ activism in Georgia. My final aim is to show that even though queer theory has lots of valid criticism towards liberalism, this criticism speaks of not actually liberalism’s inherent flaw, but liberal politics not being liberal enough; and liberalism has the potential to be rethought in a way that would make it more compatible with queer theory. And finally, my aim is to contribute to an argumentation for scholars interested in the relationship between queer politics and liberalism based on Georgian example where I will argue liberal individualism is crucial for queer politics. I hope that this thesis will contribute to the process of rethinking the relationship of queer politics and liberalism for activists and scholars working on the issue. |
| Supervisor | Eszter, Timar |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2014/berianidze_levan.pdf |
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