Marta Kolankiewicz

Background

I earned my PhD in 2015 from the Department of Sociology at Lund University. Since 2015, I have taught and researched at the Department of Gender Studies. 

I am currently Director of Studies at the Department of Gender Studies and Programme Director for the Social Studies of Gender Master Programme at the Graduate School. 

Research Areas

• Social justice and law
• Studies of racism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism
• Feminist and antiracist perspectives on violence
• Postcolonial and decolonial theories
• Feminist methodologies and methods

Current Research and Teaching

My research is concerned with law, both as a tool used by social movements and activists in struggles for social justice and as an instrument of power. In my research I have been interested in exploring potential and limits of using law and legal arenas for feminist, anti-racist and other struggles for justice. 

In my PhD thesis, later published as a book, I analyzed the ways in which the Swedish judiciary defines and understands anti-Muslim racism. Another research project The court as an emerging arena for struggles against and about racism (together with Maja Sager) explored ways in which antiracist activists and movements engage in different legal practices. Here we analyzed different legal cases to understand diversity of antiracist forms of engagement, but also different theoretical traditions and ideological approaches to law and the judiciary. 

I have also studied issues of reproductive justice in times of anti-gender mobilizations. My focus there was more specifically on right-claims and the use of legal arguments by anti-abortion activists. In the coming years, I will continue to work with this topic within a larger project entitled “Gender struggles in the new conjuncture. Gender, sexuality and the future of human rights in the 21st century”, together with Mia Liinason and Ov Cristian Norocel.

Feminist, anticolonial and antiracist perspectives on violence is another topic that I have been interested in. One of the results of this interest is the special issue of Tidskrift för genusvetenskap on feminist perspectives on peace and war, edited together with Riya Raphael. 

Parallel to this research, I have reflected on and written about feminist methodologies and methods. As part of Critical Methodologies Collective, I published a book on politics and ethics of representation in qualitative research. Most recently, I have edited – together with Maja Sager and Mia Liinason – a handbook in feminist research methods. 

I teach classes in feminist and post-colonial theories and theories of racism, nationalism and migration as well as in feminist perspectives on law and justice. I also teach methods, methodologies and theories of knowledge for feminist and critical research.

I am member in several collectives and groups: Critical Methodologies Collective, anticolonial group, network of new generation of scholars of antisemitism, Nordic Research Collective for Critical Racism Studies.