DELC Research Seminar Series: Ina Linge In brief Date - 12 May 2025Venue - Project Room 1.06, 50 George SquareSpeaker - Dr Ina Linge (University of Exeter)Title - Sexual Knowledge Production beyond the Human: Gender, Animality and Vitality in Mysterium des Geschlechtes (Mystery of Sex, 1933) About the eventby Ina LingeMy AHRC-funded research project “Queer Natures” (2024-26) investigates how German-language artists, scientists and writers (1860s-1930s) mobilised knowledge about non-human animals and their environment to create a new understanding of gender, sexuality, and queerness. My talk will introduce one example from this archive, the Austrian sexual enlightenment and medical film 'Mysterium des Geschlechtes' (Mystery of Sex, 1933).Using the lenses of queer ecology, trans studies and animal studies, I will trace the use of human and non-human experimental bodies in the film. The film depicts non-human animals that are used in lab experiments to study physiology and reproduction, in particular rodents and farmed animals such as pigs and cattle. Unlike companion species like cats and dogs, such “non-charismatic” animals are either considered to be pests or food, and featured heavily in experimental lab cultures, where they were put in the service of improving human health and vitality.I outline how the film similarly displays human experimental objects, specifically trans* bodies, to extract knowledge that enhances binary expressions of gender. Consequently, I show that the film uses trans and non-human bodies to present a gendered understanding of health and vitality that serves to supercharge cis-masculinity. In doing so, however, the film makes visible the constructedness of gender, animality and vitality, and offers us a way to resist this regressive and persistent logic.About the speakerIna Linge is Senior Lecturer in German at the University of Exeter. Her research spans the areas of queer German studies, environmental humanities, and medical humanities.Publications include the monograph 'Queer Livability: German Sexual Sciences and Life Writing', which was shortlisted for the Waterloo Centre for German Studies Book Prize, and a forthcoming co-edited volume (with Birgit Lang and Katie Sutton) 'Weimar’s Queer Visual Cultures'.Ina is the Principal Investigator for the AHRC-Catalyst-funded project “Queer Natures: Animals, Environment and Modern Sexual Knowledge Production” (2024-26). In 2024, Ina joined the editorial board for German Life and Letters. In May and June 2025 Ina is Environmental Humanities Visiting Research Fellow at IASH at the University of Edinburgh.How to attendThis event is free to attend and open to all. No registration is required - just come along! There will be a Q&A after the talk, and refreshments will be provided.About the seminar seriesThe DELC Research Seminar Series (DRSS) encourages collaboration and coproduction between staff and students across European Languages and Cultures and beyond.Entry is free and everyone is welcome. No registration is necessary.Are you interested in studying European Languages and Cultures?Our interdisciplinary environment brings together specialists in nine European languages, and the many cultures worldwide in which they're spoken, with experts in film, literature, theatre, translation and intermediality. Working with colleagues elsewhere in LLC, and across the wider University, we are able to support research which crosses boundaries between disciplines and/or languages. Find out more about studying with us Tags European Languages and Cultures German May 12 2025 16.30 - 18.00 DELC Research Seminar Series: Ina Linge An in-person seminar by Dr Ina Linge (University of Exeter) combining queer ecology, trans studies and animal studies to explore the use of human and non-human experimental bodies in the Austrian sexual enlightenment and medical film 'Mysterium des Geschlechtes'. Project Room 1.06 50 George Square University of Edinburgh EH8 9LH Find the venue: 50 George Square
DELC Research Seminar Series: Ina Linge In brief Date - 12 May 2025Venue - Project Room 1.06, 50 George SquareSpeaker - Dr Ina Linge (University of Exeter)Title - Sexual Knowledge Production beyond the Human: Gender, Animality and Vitality in Mysterium des Geschlechtes (Mystery of Sex, 1933) About the eventby Ina LingeMy AHRC-funded research project “Queer Natures” (2024-26) investigates how German-language artists, scientists and writers (1860s-1930s) mobilised knowledge about non-human animals and their environment to create a new understanding of gender, sexuality, and queerness. My talk will introduce one example from this archive, the Austrian sexual enlightenment and medical film 'Mysterium des Geschlechtes' (Mystery of Sex, 1933).Using the lenses of queer ecology, trans studies and animal studies, I will trace the use of human and non-human experimental bodies in the film. The film depicts non-human animals that are used in lab experiments to study physiology and reproduction, in particular rodents and farmed animals such as pigs and cattle. Unlike companion species like cats and dogs, such “non-charismatic” animals are either considered to be pests or food, and featured heavily in experimental lab cultures, where they were put in the service of improving human health and vitality.I outline how the film similarly displays human experimental objects, specifically trans* bodies, to extract knowledge that enhances binary expressions of gender. Consequently, I show that the film uses trans and non-human bodies to present a gendered understanding of health and vitality that serves to supercharge cis-masculinity. In doing so, however, the film makes visible the constructedness of gender, animality and vitality, and offers us a way to resist this regressive and persistent logic.About the speakerIna Linge is Senior Lecturer in German at the University of Exeter. Her research spans the areas of queer German studies, environmental humanities, and medical humanities.Publications include the monograph 'Queer Livability: German Sexual Sciences and Life Writing', which was shortlisted for the Waterloo Centre for German Studies Book Prize, and a forthcoming co-edited volume (with Birgit Lang and Katie Sutton) 'Weimar’s Queer Visual Cultures'.Ina is the Principal Investigator for the AHRC-Catalyst-funded project “Queer Natures: Animals, Environment and Modern Sexual Knowledge Production” (2024-26). In 2024, Ina joined the editorial board for German Life and Letters. In May and June 2025 Ina is Environmental Humanities Visiting Research Fellow at IASH at the University of Edinburgh.How to attendThis event is free to attend and open to all. No registration is required - just come along! There will be a Q&A after the talk, and refreshments will be provided.About the seminar seriesThe DELC Research Seminar Series (DRSS) encourages collaboration and coproduction between staff and students across European Languages and Cultures and beyond.Entry is free and everyone is welcome. No registration is necessary.Are you interested in studying European Languages and Cultures?Our interdisciplinary environment brings together specialists in nine European languages, and the many cultures worldwide in which they're spoken, with experts in film, literature, theatre, translation and intermediality. Working with colleagues elsewhere in LLC, and across the wider University, we are able to support research which crosses boundaries between disciplines and/or languages. Find out more about studying with us Tags European Languages and Cultures German May 12 2025 16.30 - 18.00 DELC Research Seminar Series: Ina Linge An in-person seminar by Dr Ina Linge (University of Exeter) combining queer ecology, trans studies and animal studies to explore the use of human and non-human experimental bodies in the Austrian sexual enlightenment and medical film 'Mysterium des Geschlechtes'. Project Room 1.06 50 George Square University of Edinburgh EH8 9LH Find the venue: 50 George Square
May 12 2025 16.30 - 18.00 DELC Research Seminar Series: Ina Linge An in-person seminar by Dr Ina Linge (University of Exeter) combining queer ecology, trans studies and animal studies to explore the use of human and non-human experimental bodies in the Austrian sexual enlightenment and medical film 'Mysterium des Geschlechtes'.
