Trouble in Paradise #22 Sasha Lange’s Neoliberal Queer Utopia w/ Teplice & Shimmer

This month we're joined by Sasha Lange to talk about his conceptualisation of Berlin as a ‘Neoliberal Queer Utopia’. We discuss the foundational myths of the Weimar era (referencing the writing of Christopher Isherwood and the 1972 film ‘Cabaret’), the techno-utopianism of the nineties club scene, and present-day politics of gentrification. Drawing on a range of concepts – from 'Clubsterben’ and ‘Collective Joy’ to ‘Homonationalism’ and ‘Homonormativity’ – we consider how the ideal queer German is constructed as a consumer-citizen in terms that propagate racist (predominantly islamophobic) exclusion.