Paweł Matusz is a sociologist, anthropologist, and queer activist. He graduated from the University of Warsaw and focuses on queer theory in the context of migration in Eastern Europe. In 2020, he co-founded the Leipzig-based collective ACT OST, which brings together individuals advocating for LGBTQ+ rights in Poland and globally. He is also a member of the Leipzig Migrant Council.
Paweł works as a moderator and organizer in cultural projects related to migration and queer identities. Most recently, he collaborated with Agnieszka Kozłowska on the translation of Łęko Zygmuntówne’s queer poetry into German, which was presented at the internationales literaturfestival berlin 2024.
Paweł Matusz
PhD researcher
- E-Mail Adresse: pawel.matusz(at)ur.de (öffnet Ihr E-Mail-Programm)
- Standort: Sedanstr. 1, Zi. 024
PhD dissertation: Circulation of Queer Literature Across the Iron Curtain in Late Socialism
During the 1980s, Vienna served as a strategic gateway for the transnational transfer of queer ideas into socialist Europe. This project examines the life and work of Andrzej Selerowicz, a Polish émigré in Austria, as a case study of cross-border literary circulation. Selerowicz not only organized clandestine networks and published some of the first DIY gay zines, but also acted as a key cultural mediator who introduced formative Western works such as James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room and Martin Sherman’s Bent into the Polish underground.
The research focuses on the material and social life of these translations, analyzing how texts circulated across the Iron Curtain while bypassing state censorship. By tracing these literary flows, the project demonstrates how the movement of books played a crucial role in constructing a shared queer identity and fostering emancipatory movements in the Eastern Bloc.
Publikationen
Polish Stonewall? https://www.akweb.de/bewegung/polish-stonewall/ (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)
Der Preis der Kommerzialisierung (The Price of Commercialization), https://jungle.world/artikel/2020/38/der-preis-der-kommerzialisierung (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)
Komunizm dla dzieci, miłość i rewolucja (Communism for Children, Love, and Revolution), http://codziennikfeministyczny.pl/komunizm-dla-dzieci-milosc-rewolucja-rozmowa/ (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)