Queering of gender, desire and local myths in the (neo-) burlesque. A comparative analysis of the (neo-)burlesque scenes in New Orleans, Berlin and Warsaw
Final Report Abstract
While (neo)burlesque is the subject of much academic discussion in the English-speaking world, the topic has long been a research gap in Germany, although the first (neo)burlesque shows took place in Berlin as early as 2005. The project closes this research gap and examines in particular the queer effect of (neo)burlesque. The project is based on the assumption that (neo)burlesque as a whole is queer - ambiguous, denormalizing, dehierarchizing - which has not yet been investigated. (Neo-)burlesque was analyzed as a pop-cultural phenomenon that has a subversive effect on two levels - not only in the sense of a queer intervention in the heteronormative matrix, but also on the level of local myths, which are questioned by the autobiographical gaze of the performers, among other things. The project examined the local aspect, which has been largely ignored in research to date and which showed that burlesque is a situated phenomenon. (Neo-)burlesque not only picks up on current socio-political moods, but also offers a space for a playful examination of the cultural staging and instrumentalization of history and tradition. The central questions of the project were: Does (neo)burlesque function as a queer intervention by parodistically iterating traditional notions of gender roles and heteronormativity? If so, what does this queer intervention look like in concrete terms? Can (neo-)burlesque also challenge local and national myths through playful performance? How and to what effect are local narratives taken up by performers and their biographical histories? These questions were examined as part of an international comparison of the (neo-)burlesque scenes in New Orleans, Berlin and Warsaw. The results from research literature, field research and interviews with performers in these three cities show that what at first glance appears to be an apolitical entertainment phenomenon can be a subversive popular art. One of the aims of the project was also to bring academia and burlesque together in a joint event. This was realized as an international symposium of the University of Potsdam and the DFG with the title “Academia Goes Burlesque: On the Queer Impact of the, Popular and Sexual Culture, Berlin”, which took place in Berlin on May 15-16, 2024. Researchers from Warsaw, New Orleans, Berlin, Leeds and Vienna as well as performers from Berlin, New Orleans and Warsaw participated.
Publications
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Wigs, gloves & much more... in: Julia Gaes: Wigs & Gloves, 2022, S. 71-80.
Staśkiewicz, Joanna
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Killing the Pain with Pleasure: On the Queering Effect of the Neo-Burlesque. Queer Pop, 119-136. De Gruyter.
Staśkiewicz, Joanna
