One great outcome of the Global Contestations of Women’s and Gender Rights research group is the podcast series “Whose Rights, Which Rights?” In that series, together with Livia de Souza Lima, I discussed the importance of radical democratic theory for understanding contemporary contestations of gender rights and identity politics. Listen in to learn about the links between feminist scholarship and radical democratic thought.

You can find our episode on your favorite podcast platform by searching the title “Radical Theory of Democracy: A Perspective to Understand the Contestations of Gender Rights” or listen directly here:

Listen to “Episode 9: Radical Theory of Democracy: A Perspective to Understand the Contestations of Gender Rights” on Spreaker.

And the best is that there are 9 more powerful episodes of the series “Whose Rights, Which Rights?”, featuring the multiplicity of perspectives of our research group, that you can find here and here.

Teaser of our episode on radical democratic theory

Already in other episodes of the podcast we have talked about how democratic principles are questioned and the representation and participation of individual groups is restricted. This is the case, for example, in Hungary when the government questions equality goals or puts massive pressure on the LGBTIQ community and makes them invisible. But it is also problematic when democratic participation is negated with the help of religion. Against this background, it is time to fundamentally address democracy – not only as a form of government, but as an idea of emancipation and self-determination within a community. In this episode, Katharina Ussling talks with Dr. Karsten Schubert and Lívia de Souza Lima, PhD student at the Faculty of Linguistics and Literary Studies at Bielefeld University, about the contribution of radical democratic theory to understanding the contestations of women’s and gender rights.

Teaser of the podcast series

Debates about abortion rights and the marriage for all or the hostility towards feminists and gender studies are making it undeniable – women’s and gender rights have increasingly been called into question and attacked. The podcast “Whose Rights, Which Rights?” takes up these conflicts over gender, equality and the formulation and implementation of legal claims. In each episode we take a closer look at one aspect of the topic, such as fundamentalist religion, the “care crisis” or growing right-wing populism. The podcast is based on a cooperation between the Hertz 87.9 campus radio and the research group “Global Contestations of Women’s and Gender Rights” at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF) at the University of Bielefeld, where 20 scientists from different disciplines deal with this topic. Based on the current state of the debate, we will explore the respective research area of ​​the fellows in each episode and ask more precisely how and why women’s and gender rights are being attacked. As this is an international research group, all interviews are conducted in English.


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