History Professor Jennifer Evans recently gave a talk at the University of Tennessee. A short excerpt is included below with the full article by Eli Boldt, “Historian and Professor Jennifer Evans talks queering history as a methodology of investigating the past” available online.
Jennifer Evans delivered a lecture on Wednesday called “What Does It Mean to Queer History?” Sponsored by UT’s History Department, the talk detailed Evans’ research on queer culture in post-war Germany.
Evans is a historian and a professor at Carleton University. She is currently working on a book which will focus on the queer experience in Germany after World War II through the lens of queer art.
Evans has researched the LGBTQ+ history of the Holocaust, examining the nazi persecution of gays and lesbians. Her first book, published in 2011, is called “Life among the Ruins: Cityscape and Sexuality in Cold War Berlin.”
Monica Black, a history professor at UT, had her graduate students read Evans’ first book this week in preparation for her visit. The book, Black said, is a “cultural history on the role of sexuality and gender in the reconstruction of Berlin after Nazi Germany’s defeat.”
“It’s harder to introduce Jennifer Evans… not only because her accomplishments are numerous, but also because they are not always visible,” Black said.
Black pointed to the students who Evans mentors, and the expertise she lends to those who ask. Evans is committed to collaborative work in a system that emphasizes individualism, Black said.