Dr. Gianmaria Colpani

Muntstraat 2-2a
Muntstraat 2-2A
3512 EV Utrecht

Dr. Gianmaria Colpani

Universitair docent
Genderstudies
g.colpani@uu.nl

Gianmaria Colpani's current research project, titled 'Digging Against the Grain: The Political Moment of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, 1984-85' (2021-2024), received a VENI grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). It focuses on the solidarity group Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM), which was active during the 1984-85 great miners' strike in the UK. The project analyzes the political and ideological composition of LGSM against the backdrop of processes of fragmentation and recomposition of the British left under Thatcherism. Additionally, the project reconstructs the links between LGSM and other women's, lesbian, and Black groups active in London during the strike, thus foregrounding the role played by gender and race, alongside sexuality and class, in the trajectory of the group. The overall goal of this research is to identify the 'political moment' of LGSM as a unique entry point for a genealogy of the shifting relations between neoliberalism, the left, and the intersecting politics of class, sexuality, race, and gender.