Gender Research, Gender Wars

The second panel from the international conference "Togetherness, Solidarity, Relational Knowledge. Towards a Convivial Anthropology" celebrating the 90th anniversary of ethnology and anthropology at the University of Warsaw, June 9-11, 2025.

Presenting are: Agnieszka Kosiorowska Le Rall (University of Warsaw), Agnieszka Kościańska (University of Warsaw), Nicolette Makovicky (University of Oxford), and Frances Pine (Goldsmiths, University of London)

The last decade has seen a vivid global debate on “gender.” Religious leaders and conservative politicians presented gender as dangerous ideology, while feminists and LGBTQ+ activists argued for gendered emancipation and rights. In this roundtable, we reflect on gender research in anthropology and ask: What is it about the very term “gender” that provokes this kind of reaction and usage? How might anthropological research contribute to the better understanding of the political and public debates taking place over this term?