How has the collapse of communism across Europe and Eurasia changed gender? In addition to acknowledging the huge costs that fell heavily on women, Living Gender after Communism suggests that moving away from communism in Europe and Eurasia has provided an opportunity for gender to multiply, from varieties of neo-traditionalism to feminisms, from overt negotiation of femininity to denials of gender. This development,
in turn, has enabled some women in the region to construct their own gendered identities for their own political, economic, or social purposes. Beginning with an understanding of gender as both a society-wide institution that regulates people's lives and a cultural "toolkit" which individuals and groups may use to subvert or "transvalue" the sex/gender system, the contributors to this volume provide detailed case studies from Belarus, Bosnia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Ukraine. This collaboration between young scholars-most from postcommunist states-and experts in the fields of gender studies and postcommunism combines intimate knowledge of the area with sophisticated gender analysis to examine just how much gender realities have shifted in the region.

Contributors are Anna Brzozowska, Karen Dawisha, Nanette Funk, Ewa Grigar, Azra Hromadzic, Janet Elise Johnson, Anne-Marie Kramer, Tania Rands Lyon, Jean C. Robinson, Iulia Shevchenko, Svitlana Taraban, and Shannon Woodcock.

Highlights postcommunist opportunities for renegotiating gender roles in Central and Eastern Europe

About the Author

Janet Elise Johnson is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Brooklyn College, City University of New York.

Jean C. Robinson is Professor of Political Science at Indiana University. She is co-editor of Women and Social Policy: From Local to Global, a special issue of NWSA Journal.

Reviews

. . . this volume will interest a wide variety of gender and regional specialists who are searching for new ways to study the multidimensional nature of post-communism.

* The Russian Review *



Book Information
ISBN 9780253348128
Author Janet Elise Johnson
Format Hardback
Page Count 280
Imprint Indiana University Press
Publisher Indiana University Press