Intersectionality and Governmentality. The Problematization of Prostitution in Luxembourg c.1900 to the End of the Interwar Period

My dissertation “Intersektionalität und Gouvernementalität. Die Problematisierung der Prostitution in Luxemburg um 1900 bis zum Ende der Zwischenkriegszeit” pursues three scientific aims: first it advances political and feminist theory, secondly it contributes to Luxembourgian social, political and gender history by developing thirdly a fresh methodology. The object of investigation is the historical problematization of prostitution in Luxembourg – that is the perception and 'government' of prostitution as a problem of societal and individual moral conduct. My thesis is the first major historical publication, dedicated to the analysis of prostitution in Luxembourg. The main research question pursued was to identify the intersectional dimensions of this problematization of prostitution and to identify its inherent logics of power. The innovative, theory-driven method used for investigation rested on the connection of two theoretical concepts: intersectionality (a tool to understand gender as always related to other dimensions of power and inequality such as class, race, nation, citizenship, etc.) and governmentality (a distinct mode of power, which is - unlike sovereignty or discipline – characterized by the capacity to govern the conduct of others as well as by “technologies of the self” [Foucault]). By developing this methodology, my thesis also advances political and feminist theory. I highlight actual shortfalls of intersectional approaches and strengthen the tools analytical capacities to investigate power relations. I developed an understanding of intersectionality focusing on the processes and modes of how power is exercised, transcending static approaches, which perceive intersectionality solely in terms of inequalities. Empiricaly I demonstrated, that power was exercised intersectionally through the problematization of prostitution, while the problematization adressed different intersectional subjects differently: the prostitute was identified by a logic of suspicion as a poor foreign woman, who was deported in order to 'morally cleanse' the nation. Through the government of moral conduct, Luxembourgian working class women were encouraged to be good housewives in order to prevent their husbands from falling for prostitution in bars