Type

Text

Type

Dissertation

Advisor

Hong, Young-sun | Tomes, Nancy | Frohman, Lawrence | Levy, Daniel.

Date

2014-12-01

Keywords

History

Department

Department of History.

Language

en_US

Source

This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree.

Identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/11401/77734

Publisher

The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.

Format

application/pdf

Abstract

Abstract of the Dissertation A Tale of Two Movements? Gay Liberation and the Left in West Germany, 1969-1989 by Ronald Van Cleef Doctor of Philosophy in History Stony Brook University 2014 A Tale of Two Movements focuses on the Schwulenbewegung (gay liberation movement) in the Federal Republic of Germany between 1969 and 1989. The movement has been characterized by both activists and critics as bitterly divided between so called radicals who desired to join a larger social revolution against capitalism and integrationists who sought reforms through the existing system as an oppressed minority group. Similar critiques are sometimes applied to the New Left in general which is frequently presented as a collection of divided social movements separated by identities, ideologies and time period. This project does not dispute that activists within the Schwulenbewegung were internally divided over certain issues; however, it does complicate this existing interpretation by discussing the social scientific, political, and gender-based theories that both influenced and challenged the movement alongside the history of its development. When viewed within the larger context of cultural, temporal and transnational developments, such divisions seem less significant than when interpreted through a strictly state-centered or organization-based narrative. The contention here is that the Schwulenbewegung was in a process of developing an ideological framework and was neither completely radical nor integrative. Instead, the movement's theoretical orientation was always undergoing a dialectical process concerning identity and collective struggle. More importantly, the Schwulenbewegung can be viewed as sharing a common space with not only New Left groups, but earlier homosexual advocacy movements as well. | 216 pages

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