Imagining a Feminist Park
Interview with Husseim Stuck
Feminist Park is an independent research collective in Berlin exploring the intersection of environmental justice and feminism in urban green spaces. Formed in March 2023, the team includes Husseim Stuck, Sveta Gorlatova*, Polina Medvedeva, and Alexia Dufour. The collective started from Husseim’s idea at the beginning of the year 2023 to create an online survey where he encouraged FLINTA to leave comments on the question – How do you imagine a Feminist Park.
Husseim Stuck is a Researcher of Color, deeply committed to examining urban human-nature relations through the lenses of anti-colonialism and environmental justice. He has a Master's degree in Human Geography from the Humboldt University of Berlin and a Bachelor's degree in Environmental and Resource Management from the Brandenburg University of Technology.
*I spoke to Husseim in February 2023 and after the interview, we decided to work together as a collective.
Husseim Stuck is a Researcher of Color, deeply committed to examining urban human-nature relations through the lenses of anti-colonialism and environmental justice. He has a Master's degree in Human Geography from the Humboldt University of Berlin and a Bachelor's degree in Environmental and Resource Management from the Brandenburg University of Technology.
*I spoke to Husseim in February 2023 and after the interview, we decided to work together as a collective.
— Thank you for your time and for your willingness to participate in the interview. I would like to ask you how you became interested in the relations between feminism, environmental justice and urban green space. Was this interest connected to your background?
— Thank you for the invitation. So, to answer this question, I need to take you a little bit back in time, to help you understand my background and how I got to this realization and why a man looking like me (a researcher of colour living in Berlin) is asking the important question of how to create feminist green urban spaces.
I did my Bachelor of Science in Environmental Management and Master of Arts in Human Geography. Entering the world of Geography blew my mind at the time because I realized - Oh my God, I've always been a geographer!, but I never knew it until now. Parallel to my studies I worked at the Department of Cultural and Social Geography at Humboldt University as a Research Assistant. For my master's thesis naturally, I wanted to combine both my Social and Natural Science backgrounds studying Green Urban Space, more specifically questions of Green Urban Infrastructure in the city of Berlin through a critical Environmental Justice lens.
Now here comes the “shocking” part of my mixed methods study from my positionality as a male researcher – qualitative research. I went into the field identifying a potential space of injustice, and I asked people how they felt in that green space, and how they perceived (in)justice. To provide a little bit more background, research shows that nature has a lot of mental and physical benefits for health. I wanted to inquire how these benefits were perceived by people living in that area during the day and at night. Most of the people randomly interviewed identified as women. They said that they feel very happy when they are moving through green space. They look at the grass and they forget about the chaos of their neighborhood; the foliage and grass greatly reduce the noise; it has a positive impact on them. I felt happy because those comments agreed with the theory, namely that “green spaces in cities can lead to a reduction in stress levels”. However, some of them said that at night these same spaces become spaces of threat and danger. As a male researcher with my blinders on, it struck me how the difference between daylight and nighttime can be so big. For me, I just moved through the city freely, as a lot of the spaces have been created by men and for men. Luckily, this is changing now, but we need to be asking the right and difficult questions.
I did my Bachelor of Science in Environmental Management and Master of Arts in Human Geography. Entering the world of Geography blew my mind at the time because I realized - Oh my God, I've always been a geographer!, but I never knew it until now. Parallel to my studies I worked at the Department of Cultural and Social Geography at Humboldt University as a Research Assistant. For my master's thesis naturally, I wanted to combine both my Social and Natural Science backgrounds studying Green Urban Space, more specifically questions of Green Urban Infrastructure in the city of Berlin through a critical Environmental Justice lens.
Now here comes the “shocking” part of my mixed methods study from my positionality as a male researcher – qualitative research. I went into the field identifying a potential space of injustice, and I asked people how they felt in that green space, and how they perceived (in)justice. To provide a little bit more background, research shows that nature has a lot of mental and physical benefits for health. I wanted to inquire how these benefits were perceived by people living in that area during the day and at night. Most of the people randomly interviewed identified as women. They said that they feel very happy when they are moving through green space. They look at the grass and they forget about the chaos of their neighborhood; the foliage and grass greatly reduce the noise; it has a positive impact on them. I felt happy because those comments agreed with the theory, namely that “green spaces in cities can lead to a reduction in stress levels”. However, some of them said that at night these same spaces become spaces of threat and danger. As a male researcher with my blinders on, it struck me how the difference between daylight and nighttime can be so big. For me, I just moved through the city freely, as a lot of the spaces have been created by men and for men. Luckily, this is changing now, but we need to be asking the right and difficult questions.
Husseim Stuck
Then I went to a female friend, and I said: “Oh my God, I just heard this in my interviews. What's going on?” And she was like: “Yeah, Husseim, we've been telling you about it, there is nothing new for me”. I thought to myself and told her: “I identify as a man, who am I to write about this?” This friend told me: “I understand that you're afraid of reproducing sexism in your work because of your male positionality and perspective. But I'm sorry, you must learn to speak about it”. Then I started to read about it. I felt that I had to create this sensibility and learn how to talk about these issues. I presented my work at a feminist symposium in Berlin last summer and it was well received.
I'm a marginalized minority, I have suffered and experienced racism and discrimination. In the Czech Republic, people mistakenly read me as being part of the Roma or Sinti community. In Germany, people think I'm Turkish, or Arab, or Lebanese, or Syrian. Even though I'm not a Muslim I experience Islamophobia and many other kinds of discrimination. I will never be able to experience or feel what it feels like to be discriminated against your gender, but I know what it feels like to be discriminated against because of race. I believe therefore, I can make some connections. Some of the structures and systems that negatively impact women, I can see through my embodied experiences with racism. Privileged groups don't always see that. This is how I try to relate or to understand the feminist discourse in an embodied way.
I'm a marginalized minority, I have suffered and experienced racism and discrimination. In the Czech Republic, people mistakenly read me as being part of the Roma or Sinti community. In Germany, people think I'm Turkish, or Arab, or Lebanese, or Syrian. Even though I'm not a Muslim I experience Islamophobia and many other kinds of discrimination. I will never be able to experience or feel what it feels like to be discriminated against your gender, but I know what it feels like to be discriminated against because of race. I believe therefore, I can make some connections. Some of the structures and systems that negatively impact women, I can see through my embodied experiences with racism. Privileged groups don't always see that. This is how I try to relate or to understand the feminist discourse in an embodied way.
— I also watched your Short Film: "Experiencing Green Space: A feminist critique in Berlin". Could you tell me about the process of making the film and what did you learn from this process?
— I did it for another course at university. I sent a message to 20 of my friends who identify as women who live in Berlin. I asked them to reply to me with a 30 to 60-second voice note about their experiences of moving through green space during the day and at night. And you always send like 20-30 messages, and you get 5-6 responses. Surprisingly, I got over 26 from them and their friends expressing the anxiety, frustration, distress, and fear that they experience in the parks at nighttime. For me, it was another moment where I was like: “Oh my God, this is a pandemic”. Why are we not talking about it then?
By making this video I learned a lot of things. For example, I had to change perspectives because I have a male gaze and see the world through that lens. It was helpful to receive feedback from women and to see the new perspective. Another thing I learned while I was making this film was my refusal to reproduce the narrative of women as victims because women are active agents of their development and they're not passive. So, I wanted to highlight that. Despite those negative experiences, women like to go out at night and to party in Berlin. I wanted to bring that perspective as well.
Then I realized also while I was doing my thesis that urban green space has a lot of potential because it's a well-defined space in the city context, and the cities are very complex. But the green space is a good space to try out different lenses. For example, throughout my thesis I read about queer urbanism, how queer people use green spaces. Some things I didn't include in my thesis, but there was another woman who said that in some parks in Berlin, she feels welcome and in others, she doesn't because of her class difference. Different invisible barriers exclude people from using green urban spaces.
By making this video I learned a lot of things. For example, I had to change perspectives because I have a male gaze and see the world through that lens. It was helpful to receive feedback from women and to see the new perspective. Another thing I learned while I was making this film was my refusal to reproduce the narrative of women as victims because women are active agents of their development and they're not passive. So, I wanted to highlight that. Despite those negative experiences, women like to go out at night and to party in Berlin. I wanted to bring that perspective as well.
Then I realized also while I was doing my thesis that urban green space has a lot of potential because it's a well-defined space in the city context, and the cities are very complex. But the green space is a good space to try out different lenses. For example, throughout my thesis I read about queer urbanism, how queer people use green spaces. Some things I didn't include in my thesis, but there was another woman who said that in some parks in Berlin, she feels welcome and in others, she doesn't because of her class difference. Different invisible barriers exclude people from using green urban spaces.
— So, tell me how the idea of the project, Feminist Park, started. How did you come up with the survey?
—This idea came about in January 2023. I finished my master’s. One night I went to sleep, and I left a candle on the fridge. I woke up at four in the morning due to the fire alarm. Luckily, my fridge was only a little bit burned. Anyway, at that moment, I realized I was dreaming that I was walking through the feminist park. I know, it sounds totally crazy. Then the next morning, I met a female friend for coffee, and I told her about my dream. That was very interesting for her as she started telling me how she imagines the feminist park. I asked if I could record her while she was answering my question. And then she was like, yeah. And then I recorded her. I didn't know where this was going, but I had a strong feeling that it was the right question we should ask at this point. I want to learn to use my male privilege to create a platform for women's voices to be heard. I am learning how to be an ally and it is not easy. In some instances, you must learn to shut up as a man, and in others, you need to learn to speak. It is always changing. I'm really open to criticism and I'm really open to learning.
I started to ask my question - How do you imagine a feminist park? - in my circle of closer friends. The husband of my friend told her that he could not understand the question, “Why do we need a feminist park?” I think that is exactly the answer to his question. He does not see that certain structures are affecting women, that women are discriminated against and being pushed out of public space. I'm so happy that this question is perceived as radical, however, it shouldn't be.
I'm already reading some of the answers to the survey. We have really interesting contributions. The more I read the more I think about it. Should it be a physical space and how would the physical space then look like? But now, I think about it as more of a non-physical space and its features. Then the challenging question in the survey is about surveillance and feminism - what are alternative ways to hyper surveillance and policing to create the feeling of safety in the park?
I started to ask my question - How do you imagine a feminist park? - in my circle of closer friends. The husband of my friend told her that he could not understand the question, “Why do we need a feminist park?” I think that is exactly the answer to his question. He does not see that certain structures are affecting women, that women are discriminated against and being pushed out of public space. I'm so happy that this question is perceived as radical, however, it shouldn't be.
I'm already reading some of the answers to the survey. We have really interesting contributions. The more I read the more I think about it. Should it be a physical space and how would the physical space then look like? But now, I think about it as more of a non-physical space and its features. Then the challenging question in the survey is about surveillance and feminism - what are alternative ways to hyper surveillance and policing to create the feeling of safety in the park?
— When I was filling out the survey, this was the trickiest question for me, and I didn’t have an answer.
— I don't have an answer either, but I think we should get comfortable with asking difficult questions that don't have an immediate answer. That is what I'm learning to feel comfortable with. And I think that's why this question is so radical. We’re already very late in asking this question. My hope is if we manage to create a physical or socially constructed feminist park, then it will spread, little by little, everywhere. Maybe it will start with the park and then - what about the surrounding neighborhoods? What about the feminist neighborhood and finally the feminist city?
This question is mainly an invitation for society to start imagining because how are we going to construct something if we're not even thinking about it?
This question is mainly an invitation for society to start imagining because how are we going to construct something if we're not even thinking about it?
If you are interested in filling out the survey, please find the link here. We would also be grateful if you could tell your friends about the survey and share the link. Let’s imagine the Feminist Park together!