LGBTQ+ History

To encourage new ways of thinking about LGBTQ+ communities and enrich our shared culture, we need to confront absences in the historical archive, examine the impact of reductive frameworks, and challenge stigmatising forms of representation across cultures. To this end our academic staff, including Dr Ina Linge, have been using their research in the history of sexuality to speak to contemporary audiences about topics of gender and sexuality.

Dr Linge has worked with youth workers and members of the YAY! (Young and Yourself) Cornwall LGBTQ+ youth group, using comedy, history, literature and film to empower LGBTQ+ young people. Through collaboration with a number of comedians, including Siân Docksey and Charlie George, UNESCO Cities of Literature, and Arts and Culture Exeter, activities provide relatable and engaging means for everyone to think about gender and sexuality in more capacious and accepting ways. By working alongside partner organisations in the arts, culture and heritage sectors and collaborating with members of the LGBTQ+ community, we can broaden social understandings of LGBTQ+ experiences across cultures.

Insights into diverse and intersecting forms of knowledge across cultures can be used to intervene and enrich debates today. The Adventures in Time and Gender drama podcast and website is evidence of this, drawing on research by several academics from the University of Exeter, including Dr Linge, to offer fresh perspectives on trans and non-binary histories. The podcast was developed and performed by a trans and non-binary team of creatives, including writer Jason Barker and Director Krishna Istha.

Creating new methods of engagement and collaboration in this way can inspire a sense of belonging among LGBTQ+ people, bestow a renewed confidence and redress some of the widespread inequalities faced by many around the world today. To this end, Dr Linge, alongside Professors Kate Fisher, Jana Funke and Rebecca Langlands, co-directs the University of Exeter’s Sexual Knowledge Unit, which brings together scholars from across the humanities, social sciences and biomedical sciences at the University of Exeter and beyond who are engaged in research about sex, gender and sexuality.

Activities foster collaboration with practitioners outside of academia to develop new approaches to sexual health and wellbeing. Building on the international recognition of research activities within the unit, the unit’s ambition is to consolidate the University of Exeter as a world leader in interdisciplinary, engaged and applied research on a wide range of issues around sexual knowledge.

^{Image credit: Illustration by Ezra W. Smith, 2022}