Political Anthropologist · Berlin, Germany
Scholar at the intersection of queer theory, critical race studies, and intersectionality — with over two decades of research and activism in Berlin and beyond.
Profile
Dr. Jennifer Petzen is an interdisciplinary political anthropologist whose work sits at the crossroads of queer studies, critical race theory, and the sociology of migration. She has been researching and writing on transnational queer movements since 2001.
Her scholarship interrogates how racialized notions of gender and sexuality define the boundaries of European belonging — particularly through discourses around Muslim integration, homonationalism, and Islamophobia within feminist and queer movements.
Having taught at institutions in Seattle, Berlin, and Istanbul, she is currently based in Berlin as an independent scholar, consultant, and activist, affiliated with Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin (ASH Berlin).
Education & Affiliations
Areas of Focus
Examining how queer politics in Germany and Europe engage with — and sometimes reproduce — nationalist and racist logics, including homonationalist discourse and its Islamophobic dimensions.
Reception of intersectionality theory in European contexts; anti-Muslim racism within feminist movements; the racialization of religion and its gendered effects post-9/11.
Queer Türkiyeli communities in Berlin; spatial management strategies; identity formation at the intersection of ethnicity, sexuality, and urban belonging.
Career
Get in Touch
Based in Berlin. Open to academic collaborations, speaking invitations, consulting, and activist partnerships.