"A Lesbian Queer Utopia?!" — A Book by M.A. Seewald on a Community on Lesvos and Feminist Futures

In June 2026, the German academic publisher transcript released the book A Lesbian Queer Utopia?! An Empirical Research on the Island of Lesvos. It was written by M.A. Seewald — a researcher, lecturer, and artist. The book was published in English.

Lesvos is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. It is the birthplace of Sappho, an ancient Greek poet who wrote about love between women. The words “lesbian” and “sapphic” both derive from Lesvos and Sappho respectively. Since the 1980s, Lesvos — particularly the village of Skala Eressos — has become a regular gathering place for lesbian women from around the world. Over time, a stable lesbian-queer community took shape on the island.

The book’s central question is how spaces for alternative ways of living emerge within real communities, and how hope for change is sustained without idealization. Seewald draws on the concept of “real utopias” — functioning social alternatives that exist within the current system, not imagined ideal societies. The author also examines these spaces through Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopias: places where different social rules apply compared to the surrounding world.

The research combines sociological analysis, queer-feminist theory, and ethnographic fieldwork. Seewald studies how the collective life of the Lesvos community is organized, what defines its boundaries, and why spaces like this remain fragile. The book poses a broader question: what can patriarchal societies learn by observing lesbian-queer utopias?

M.A. Seewald works at the intersection of sociology, queer-feminist theory, lesbian studies, and ethnographic research. Her focus areas include real utopias, heterotopic spaces, and community-based social transformation. Alongside her academic work, she leads the international art campaign ANDERSRUMportrait, which advocates for LGBT rights and challenges discrimination through public art and community engagement.