Adolescent Masculinities in Sociology and Photography: Visual Youth Cultures in the Global North since 1960.

Since the 1960s, emancipated, pluralistic and independent youth cultures are on the rise. Even though they are mostly male-dominated, questions of masculinity have rarely been
explored until now. Our aim is to close this gap by connecting sociological knowledge with visual culture which seem to be closely and ambivalently related. Therefore, we would like to examine how, when young men are concerned, sociology and visual culture interact. The international conference brings together experts to evaluate the sociological and photographic discourses of adolescent masculinities, their function in creating knowledge about male adolescence and its visual representation. How do
scientific knowledge and artistic/visual knowledge on male adolescents relate to one another? How do they differ?

PROGRAM

WEDNESDAY JUNE 10
5:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Location: Kunstsammlungen der Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150, Forumsplatz, 44801 Bochum, Germany

5:00 PM – 6:30 PM
Keynote:
Christoph Ribbat (University of Paderborn)
Against Adolescence: James Baldwin, Richard Avedon, and Diane Arbus

6:30 PM – 8:00 PM
evening reception

THURSDAY JUNE 11
10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Location: Situation Kunst – KUBUS, Nevelstraße 29c, 44795 Bochum, Germany

10:00 AM – 10:30 AM
Änne Söll (Ruhr University Bochum) & Katja Sabisch (Ruhr University Bochum)
Welcome and Introduction

10:30 AM – 11:15 AM
Jule Fischer (Ruhr University Bochum)
Photography and Visual Research as a Sociology of Adolescent Masculinity

11:15 AM – 12:30 PM
Julia Wustmann (TU Dortmund) & Paul Eisewicht (University of Münster)
Visual Clusters of Homosocial Masculinity: A Comparative Study of Scene-Based Adolescent Male Figurations

12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
lunch break

1:30 PM – 2:15 PM
Sebastian Linsin (Goethe University Frankfurt)
Neither Boys nor Men: The Representational Regimes of Black Adolescent Masculinity in Pruitt-Igoe

2:15 PM – 3:00 PM
Daniel Jákli (Johannes Gutenberg - University Mainz)
Framing Masculinity: Embodiment, Visuality, and Moral Order at a Rodeo Bible Camp

3:00 PM – 3:45 PM
Bengisu Köse (Sabancı University Istanbul)
White Shirt vs. Jacket: Political Masculinities and Adolescent Vulnerabilities in Turkey
3:45 PM – 4:15 PM
break

4:15 PM – 5:00 PM
Nina Lucia Groß (Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg) & Julia Meer (Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg)
Glitter and the Glittering Body: Material Ambivalences in Visual Representations of Masculine Adolescence

FRIDAY JUNE 12
10:00 AM – 4:30 PM
Location: Situation Kunst – KUBUS, Nevelstraße 29c, 44795 Bochum, Germany

10:00 AM – 11:30 AM
Keynote:
Prof. Dr. C. J. Pascoe (University of Oregon)
Making of Men: Coming of Age in an Unsettled Time

11:30 AM – 12:15 PM
Christian Wandhoff (Ruhr University Bochum)
In/Visibilities of Queer Adolescence: Young Masculinities in Contemporary Photography

12:15 PM – 1:15 PM
lunch break

1:15 PM – 2:00 PM
Wim Zimmermann (Ruhr University Bochum)
Youth, Sex, and the Spectre of AIDS. Jürgen Baldiga's "Jünglinge"

2:00 PM – 2:45 PM
Nick Bauhan (University of Potsdam)
Visualizing Youthfulness: Queer Masculinity, Age Asymmetry and Fetishization in Student Sex Work

2:45 PM – 3:00 PM
break

3:00 PM – 3:45 PM
Hung-Yu Dominik Wu (巫鴻瑜) (Goethe University Frankfurt and University Bonn)
Negotiating Masculinities: Transformation and Reconfiguration of Homosexual Male Images in Taiwan

3:45 PM ¬– 4:30 PM
Conclusion

The Conference is organized by Katja Sabisch, Änne Söll, Jule Fischer & Christian Wandhoff, Institute of Art History and Faculty of Social Science, Ruhr University Bochum, as part of the DFG project Viscourses of Adolescent Masculinities in the Global North since1960. With kind support of DFG German Research Foundation.

Registration by Sunday 31 May 2026:
viskurseruhr-uni-bochum.de

Locations:

WEDNESDAY 10 JUNE
Kunstsammlungen der Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150, Forumsplatz, 44801 Bochum, Germany
Transportation from central station: Underground U35 ‘Bochum Hustatdt (TQ)’, to station ‘Ruhr-Universität Bochum’, plus walking distance aprox. 12 Minutes. (Entrance: opposite the Audimax, level underneath the University Library Bochum)

THURSDAY 11 JUNE + FRIDAY 12 JUNE
Situation Kunst – KUBUS, Nevelstraße 29c, 44795 Bochum, Germany
Transportation from central station: Tram 3018 ‘Hattingen Mitte’ or 318 ‘Bochum Dahlhausen’ to station ‘Schlosspark/Museum unter Tage’ plus walking distance aprox. 8 minutes. (Entrance: over the wooden bridge at the back of the building)