12/8 – The Amorous Migrant (CUNY REEES talk)
The Amorous Migrant: Libidinal Cosmopolitanism of Gay Polish Migrants in Britain from Accession to Brexit
The History PhD Program and the CUNY REEES (Russian, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies at CUNY) and Gender and Transformation in CEEE Workshops are pleased to host Nicholas Boston (Associate Professor of Media Sociology, Lehman College), to share new research for feedback.
December 8 @ 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm EST
room 5203, Ralph Bunche Institute
Professor Boston will present a chapter from his upcoming book, The Amorous Migrant: Race, Relationships and Resettlement is forthcoming from Temple University Press. This work is an ethnography, begun in 2007 and concluded in 2021, of the migrant adaptation practices and identity formation in the UK of gay-identified, cisgender male Poles who moved to Britain between May 1, 2004, the date on which Poland’s accession to the European Union went into effect, and January 31, 2020, the day on which Britain’s exit from the European Union went into effect. In particular, he explores the men’s pursuit of interracial intimacy on gay matchmaking platforms and apps, what he calls “libidinal cosmopolitanism.”
Nicholas Boston teaches in the Media and Communication Studies, and Film and Television Studies majors at Lehman College, CUNY. His research is located at the nexus of digital media, migration, identity, and intimacy. His journalism and commentary have appeared in BBC News, British Future, Calvert Journal, Gay City News, HuffPost, The Independent, Le Monde Diplomatique, New York Observer, Notes from Poland, PBS.org, The Root, Toronto Star, The Voice (UK), and Vogue. He is on the Steering Committee of the Black British Voices Project, a multi-partner research project based at the University of Cambridge. Prof. Boston has been the recipient of fellowships from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the CUNY Research Foundation, the Canada Council for the Arts, and others. He has taught at universities in Germany, Italy, the UK. He holds an M.S. in journalism from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Cambridge, where I am a Life Member of King’s College.
This workshop will be a hybrid event held at the Graduate Center and online via Zoom. Register in advance to receive a Zoom link or RSVP to attend in person to cunyreeeskruzhok@gmail.com. A paper will be circulated a week in advance of the event for discussion at the workshop.
A reception will be held after the in-person event, generously provided by CUNY Graduate Center’s the History PhD Program.
The Gender and Transformation in Central-Easterrn Europe and Eurasia Workshop began in 1993 and its members have been women activists, academics, journalists, lawyers, and educators concerned about gender inequality in the newly non-Communist countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Members of the Network of East-West Women were some of the earliest participants and speakers. Three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, it continues to provide an avenue for scholars, including young scholars, to present their research to an informed and interested group, as issues of gender still form an important lens through which to view the ongoing changes and transformations. The workshop is moderated by Janet Elise Johnson (Graduate Center/Brooklyn College, CUNY) and Mara Lazda (Bronx Community College, CUNY).
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