This conference seeks to explore the multi-layered, transnational dimensions of Azerbaijan’s cultures and heritage by employing the concepts of gender and sexuality as a primary analytical lens. It places the focus on the contemporary period, i.e., from the 1980s till the present day. This period, roughly beginning with the Soviet-Afghan War and marked by the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the founding of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Türkiye emerging from dictatorship (among other regional and global events), is pivotal in terms of global political, religious and cultural transformations, and in terms of recalibrations of transnational connections. The conference is part of the UK-German research project ‘Transitions: Examining Changing Regimes of Sexuality in Post-Soviet Muslim Republics’, funded by AHRC and DFG and co-led by Professors Vlad Strukov (Leeds) and Timothy Nunan (Regensburg) and comprising an international, interdisciplinary team of researchers.
By foregrounding gender and sexuality as key analytical lenses, the conference seeks to enrich theoretical frameworks of diversity, which are often limited to Western feminist and queer studies, to other epistemologies, intellectual traditions and modernising projects. It also underscores our commitment to transregional and transdisciplinary dialogue, uniting researchers, artists, and practitioners.
Conference Programme
21–23 October 2026
University of Regensburg, in collaboration with the University of Leeds
Organised by Tatiana Klepikova (Regensburg) and Vlad Strukov (Leeds)
All panels will be in Room 319, Landshuter Straße 4, Regensburg
The conference language is English.
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WEDNESDAY / 21 OCTOBER
17:00 – 18:45 In Conversation
‘On Gender, Vulnerability and Displacement: Transnational Voices in Contemporary Literature’
EGANA DJABBAROVA (Hamburg) & MARK LIPOVETSKY (New York)
Moderator: TATIANA KLEPIKOVA (Regensburg)
19:30 DINNER
Restaurant KOI, Maximilianstraße 6, 93047 Regensburg (covered for conference speakers)
THURSDAY / 22 OCTOBER
10:00 – 10:30 Opening Remarks
‘Why Transnationalize Gender? On De-Centering Intellectual Traditions’
TATIANA KLEPIKOVA (Regensburg)
10:30 – 11:30 Panel 1: On Beauty & Power
Moderator: VLAD STRUKOV (Leeds)
‘Aidan Salakhova: Oil, Gender and Transnationalism’
MARIA ENGSTRÖM (Uppsala)
‘From Social Regulation to Metaphysical Beauty: Three Dimensions of Love in Sacred and Literary Traditions’
RAHILYA GEYBULLAYEVA (Baku)
11:30 – 12:00 TEA BREAK
12:00 – 13:00 Panel 2: Spiritual & Secular Belongings
Moderator: TIMOTHY NUNAN (Regensburg)
‘Between the Tavern and the Mosque: Religious Identity, Secularism, and the Nationalization of Meykhana in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan’
ANETA STRZEMŻALSKA (Warsaw)
‘Virtuous Wives and Divine Servants: Reimagining Women’s Agency within Azerbaijani Pentecostalism’
YULIYA ALIYEVA (Baku)
13:00 – 14:30 LUNCH
Bäckerei Pernsteiner by Sipl, Von-der-Tann-Straße 40, 93047 Regensburg
14:30 – 15:30 In Conversation
‘Gendered Pasts: Re-Framing Azerbaijan’s Cinema in the Transnational Perspective’
RU HASANOV (Baku) & VLAD STRUKOV (Leeds)
15:30 – 16:00 TEA BREAK
16:00 – 17:00 Panel 3: On Communities & Visibility
Moderator: TATIANA KLEPIKOVA (Regensburg)
‘Transnational Entanglement as Queer Love Story: Alikber Aliyev’s Artush and Zaur (2009)’
MIRJA LECKE (Regensburg)
“Baku Never Saw Us Together”: Sounding Queer Invisibility on the Baku Rok Scene’
BEHRANG NEKAEEN (Edmonton)
17:00–19:00 Reflections
A bit of time to explore the old town and Regensburg’s transnational heritage (see our recommendations below), or join the Transitions team for informal chats over tea at Café Weichmanns (Gesandtenstraße 11) (self-paid)
19:00 DINNER
Wirtshaus Zum Sorgenfrei, Badstraße 54, 93059 Regensburg (covered for conference speakers)
FRIDAY / 22 OCTOBER
10:00 – 11:00 In Conversation
‘Gendered Careers: Reflecting on Contemporary Arts and Art Institutions in and out of Azerbaijan’
SABINA SHIKHLINSKAYA (Baku) & VLAD STRUKOV (Leeds)
11:00 – 11:30 TEA BREAK
11:30 – 13:00 Early-Career Forum
Moderator: TIMOTHY NUNAN (Regensburg)
‘Violence and the Un/Making of Gender during the 1990s in Contemporary Russophone Literature from the South Caucasus’
ELISA MUCCIARELLI (Regensburg)
‘Waiting in Transition: War, Gender, and Uncertainty in Gulbaniz Azimzade’s
The Hope (1995)’
GÖZDE YAZICI-CÖRUT (Regensburg)
‘Music Videos as Sites of Urgency: A Call for Decoloniality of Gender in Azerbaijan’
ORKHAN AGHAYEV (Warsaw)
13:00 – 14:30 LUNCH
Hanabi, Adolf-Schmetzer-Straße 5, 93055 Regensburg
14:30 – 15:30 Panel 4: On Institutions & Memory
Moderator: VLAD STRUKOV (Leeds)
‘Understanding Cultural Memory and Gender through Transnational Art and Creative Initiatives’
MINA ABBASOVA (Baku)
‘From “Little Paradise” to Oil Club: Petro-Heritage and Petro-Masculinity in the Revival of Villa Petrolea in Baku’
IRINA SEITS (Stockholm)
15:30 – 16:00 TEA BREAK
16:00 – 17:00 Outlook
‘Curator’s Perspectives on Azerbaijan’s Art Sector: Engendering the Transnational Future’
ZAHRA MAMMADOVA (Brno)
Moderator: TATIANA KLEPIKOVA (Regensburg)
17:00–19:00 Reflections
A bit of time to explore the old town and Regensburg’s transnational heritage (see our recommendations below), or join the Transitions team for informal chats over tea at Café Weichmanns (Gesandtenstraße 11) (self-paid)
19:00 DINNER
Cosi, Holzländestraße 2, 93047 Regensburg (covered for conference speakers)
If you are not a conference speaker and would like to join as an audience member during the day and/or be added to the reservations for lunches and dinners (at your own cost), please reach out to the project coordinator, Jack Broughton (transitions@ur.de), by the 14th of October 2026.
Recommendations
Getting to know transnational heritage in Regensburg from a gendered perspective:
- Regensburg Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Learn more about it at Regensburg World Heritage Visitor Center
https://www.regensburg.de/welterbe/besucherzentrum - House of Bavarian History in downtown Regensburg is showing the exhibition on Music in Bavaria
https://www.hdbg.de/en/index.html - Kunstforum Ostdeutsche Galerie offers insight into art that explores the cultural legacy of Germans in Eastern Europe.
https://www.kunstforum.net/en/museum/collection
