About the Speaker:

Victoria Apostol-Marius is the co-founder of the Group of Feminist Initiatives from Moldova. She graduated from Central European University, Hungary in 2014, where she accomplished her second Master of Arts specializing in International Criminal Justice and Human Rights. Victoria is also a graduate of the Master program on Policies, Gender and Minorities from the National School of Political Studies and Public Administration, Romania. She is a former Open Society Justice Initiative Fellow and regularly publishes on www.Platzforma.md on topics related to gender equality, reproductive and sexual rights, feminism and activism.

About the Talk:

Well before Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, or the Leave Campaign in the UK, in post-Soviet Eastern Europe, particularly in Moldova, the Orthodox and Baptist churches entered the political arena in a wave of populist-nationalism. Although post-Soviet states remain constitutionally secular, in recent years, politicians of both the left and the right turned to the Orthodox church as well as Baptist church for populist appeal, and the churches re-entered the political arena in alliances supporting “pro-life” and homophobic agendas. The patriarch of the Moldovan Orthodox church, in a speech to Parliament, recently called for the repeal of anti- discrimination legislation because “it protects homosexuals and it is offensive for 98% of Orthodox Christians to be equal to 2% of LGBT people and their supporters.” Baptists attempted installing an anti-abortion monument in the public space with the “aim of helping women with abortions to find forgiveness.” The Group of Feminist Initiatives from Moldova, through litigation, successfully thwarted their plan. This talk will first retrace the emergence of the Orthodox church and the Baptist church as state actors. It will then delineate the detrimental consequences for gender equality and reproductive rights, and discuss feminist grassroots strategies to respond to this phenomenon.

Location and Time: NYU Center for European and Mediterranean Studies, 285 Mercer St., 7th Floor. 4:30 to 6:00pm

Subject: Conference Berlin

CFP: Gender-Power-Eastern Europe – Berlin	10.20.2016, Berlin
Osteuropa-Institut, Freie Universität Berlin

Deadline to submit Proposal : 10.20.2016

Call for papers for an international interdisciplinary conference, June 20-23, 2017 in Berlin 

Gender – Power – Eastern Europe Changing Concepts of Femininities and Masculinities and Power Relations

The rise of right wing populist parties and conservative movements in Eastern Europe , from Poland to Hungary and Russia, has dramatically affected discourses about and concepts of gender. The “turn to the right”  has also ushered substantial shifts in policies concerning women’s rights as well as gender studies as an academic and educational project.   Arguably, in some cases right wing political victory was facilitated by usage of anti-gender equality rhetoric (anti-genderism;anti-gender mobilization).  These worrisome developments demand exploration in broader contexts. Yet, the situation in East European societies is quite diverse if scrutinized from a gender perspective.After the transformation process of the early 1990s, increasing participation and liberation of women in public spheres can be observed in various countries. Other countries like Poland and Hungary experienced setbacks at several points of their history and in diverse spheres of society. There, traditional gender roles re-entered the discourse and practice. In other countries again, new problems arose with political and territorial tensions. In Ukraine, for example, spaces of violence and war are forcing us to monitor gender roles, women’s rights, and participation from a new perspective. In Russia, Ukraine and Belarus strong anti-authoritarian protests are renegotiating gender roles and concepts in multiple ways , and creating new potentials for feminist and LGBTQ movements. The role of gender within power relations of new political and social constellations, the participation of women in politics, economics and warfare, as well as spaces of violence need to be scrutinized and explored. The Institute of Eastern European Studies at the Freie Universität in Berlin is inviting scholars from different disciplines to debate these questions in an interdisciplinary conference entitled”Gender – Power- Eastern Europe” to be held in June 2017 in Berlin. Our aim is to open up a space for discussions not only about recent developments, but also to investigate the cultural, sociological and historical patterns of these developments in the longue durée. Above all, we focus on the agency of women and thus we move away from describing the status of women solely as an objects of discrimination in economic and societal structures. Similarly important are the new roles and models of masculinities exercised by men in Central and Eastern Europe, which are being shaped within and outside of family. Finally, we intend to explore how power relations are negotiated in diverse societies and what role gender plays therein.  Three thematic panels are planned: 1) The new conservativism and changing concepts of masculinity and femininity 2) Gender and participation in politics and economics 3) Gender, sexuality, and violence

Panel descriptions:

1) This panel will explore the gender dimension of the new political configuration – right wing populism. Concepts of masculinity and femininity and their historical, political, sociological and cultural heritage and legacies will be at the focus of attention. Papers focusing on the interconnectedness of gender concepts and national discourses are welcome. We are intending to debate mechanisms of inclusion, exclusion and instrumentalization of certain images and concepts of femininity and masculinity and their re-figurations in contemporary East European discourses. Both theoretical and  empirical papers are invited for this panel.

2) Participation of women will be the key issue in this panel. We welcome papers addressing  political participation of women in Eastern Europe, especially formal and substantive representation in parliament,official institutions or the role of political quotas. Economic factors are vital to understanding how gender roles and gender relations of power are constructed. Powerful economic actors can influence not only discourses, but also economic realities of men, women and families. In2009 Nancy Fraser’s critique of the neoliberal market policies and the consequences of financial crisis brought about an important debate on the role of women’s social movements in neoliberal landscapes.  Numerous scholars have shown the profound effects of neoliberal policies  on the socio-economic position of women in Eastern Europe during and after the transformation. On the one hand, economic policies contribute to the rise of new gender regimes and change the nature of activism.  On the other hand, also pro-family and social policies are capable of creating new economic realities.

 3) This panel addresses the power relations in both public and private spheres, where gender is discoursively produced and reproduced, but also where violence is perpetuated. Several countries in the Balkan region and post-Soviet republics serve as source countries for traffickers in women, which has been recognized by Human Rights Watch as one of the most severe examples of human rights violations in Eastern Europe. Other types of relations between gender, power and violence can be observed in the case of Euromaidan protests in Ukraine, where women actively participated in military formations. Additional topics, which are welcome in this panel, might include: domestic violence and the fight against it, gender in right-wing violence, gender and militarization,alternations in abortion laws, changing landscape of LGBTQ movements in Eastern Europe.  

 Scholars from a wide range of disciplines are invited to participate.Comparative papers are very welcome in order to reveal intertwined processes occurring in different East European countries.

Please send your abstract of around 500 words and a CV to the following email address until 20th of October 2016: [email protected].

The organizing committee:

Prof. Katharina Bluhm, Dean of the Institute of Eastern European Studies

Prof. Gertrud Pickhan, Head of History Department at the Institute of Eastern European Studies

Dr. Justyna Stypinska, Department of Sociology at the Institute of Eastern European Studies

Agnieszka Wierzcholska, Department of History at the Institute ofEastern European Studies

Dr. hab. Agnieszka Graff, American Studies Centre, University of Warsaw  ————————————————————————Agnieszka Wierzcholska Osteuropa-Institut, Freie Universität Berlin, Garystr. 55, 14195 Berlin +4930-83853181 [email protected] 

URL zur Zitation dieses Beitrages<http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/termine/id=32006> ————————————————————————H-

Fabio Mattiolli, Faculty Fellow at Center for European & Mediterranean Studies, New York University

Fabio Mattioli is captivated by the paradoxes of social life, especially those generated by financial flows and urban politics in Southern and Eastern Europe. Throughout his nomadic academic career, Fabio has developed an acute personal and theoretical sensibility for economic inequality and peripheralization. Currently, Fabio is developing a book project that explores the connection between finance and authoritarianism at the fringe of Europe. Analyzing the construction industry in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia, the book illustrates how non-democratic regimes can hijack urban financialization to produce illiquidity and penetrate the intimate life of their citizens. Prior to joining NYU, Fabio obtained a PhD in Anthropology from the CUNY Graduate Center, a MA in Anthropology from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris, France), and a BA in Political Philosophy from the University of Florence (Italy). An enthusiastic photographer and capoerista, his secret dream is to learn how to prepare burek.

4:30-6PM

Center for European and Mediterranean Studies

285 Mercer, 7th Floor New York, NY 10003

All are welcome!

 

 

Friday, September 16:

Aušra Park

Assistant Professor, Political Science, Siena College

Despite a large number of publications in gender and leadership studies on political executives, scholarship on women presidents remains an understudied field. With few exceptions, research on female political executives is primarily focused on Latin American region, where a number of females have recently achieved the highest political positions, and, especially, on single-case studies in different parts of the world (i.e., German Chancellor Merkel, Finnish President Halonen, South Korean President Park, etc.). Meanwhile, comparative research on women executives is nearly non-existent. My project focuses on a neglected geographic region—post-communist Eastern Europe—where women presidents have become a “new political normal.” Starting with Latvia’s Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, and followed by Lithuania’s Dalia Grybauskaite, Kosovo’s Atifete Jahjaga, and recently Croatia’s Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, this project will compare and offer a more focused and in-depth examination of political circumstances, contextual paths and powers, as well as leadership traits of the four women presidents. My study will seek answers the following key questions: What are the circumstances that allow women in Eastern Europe to reach the highest national positions? Are there any auspicious conditions that females benefit from, which could account for their political successes? As political actors and “glass ceiling breakers” how do they influence the established power hierarchy? What kind of leadership impact do they have, and is it different from their male counterparts? How much of a feminist agenda do these female presidents advance? In answering these questions, this project will fill in existing gaps in gender, political leadership, and area studies’ literatures.

All meetings are held at the Center for European and Mediterranean Studies, New York University

285 Mercer St., 7th Floor. 4:30 to 6:00pm

 

September 16

Aušra Park, Assistant Professor, Political Science, Siena College

“Shattering the Glass Ceiling in Eastern Europe: The Rise of Female Presidents (Lithuania, Latvia, Kosovo, Croatia)”

 

October 7

Fabio Mattiolli, Faculty Fellow at Center for European & Mediterranean Studies, New York University

“Manhood and Authoritarian Financialization in Macedonia”

 

November 11

Victoria Apostol, Founder, the Group of Feminist Initiatives, Moldova

“The Rise of Religious Populism in Eastern Europe”
December 9

Marina Kingsbury, Lecturer, Political Science, University of AL at Huntsville

“Let’s Have More Russian Babies: How Anti-Immigrant Sentiment Shapes Family Policy in Russia”

 

Talks are 4:30 to 6.  We usually go out to an informal dinner afterwards.  All are welcome to both.

 

 

“Gender and the Crises in Europe”

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: June 27, 2016

The GENDER and TRANSFORMATION: WOMEN in EUROPE Workshop invites speakers to submit proposals for Friday afternoon talks for the academic year 2016-2017 at the NYU Center for European and Mediterranean Studies.

As is our usual practice, we are looking for speakers to discuss gender, sexuality, or women in Europe  or Eurasia. For the academic year 2015-2016 we are particularly (but not only) interested in speakers addressing theoretically and/or empirically the crises in Europe and the threats of rupture of the European Union: resurgent populism and nationalism, responses to the massive migrations, the rise of so-called anti-genderism, and the impact of these developments on gender policy and practice, including on reproductive rights, gender violence, and gender equality laws.

The workshop’s focus is on the postcommunist countries of East and Central Europe and the former Soviet Union, including the Baltic countries and Central Asia, and in Europe and the European Union more widely. Recent workshop included topics such as the women’s court as a new form of feminist justice in former Yugoslavia, the sexuality and agency of the Balkan Roma, feminism on the streets and in art in Ukraine, and intermarriage in divided Germany–and speakers such as Dubravka Ugrešić.

The workshop is an informal and friendly group of about 20 feminist scholars, activists, and journalists who have been meeting for more than 20 years and are knowledgeable about the region. This is the perfect space to present recent theoretical and/or critical work, empirical research, and critical and scholarly reflections on your activism.

We offer a small honorarium. We regret that we cannot cover transportation expenses to New York City or offer assistance for visas or accommodations.

To propose a talk for 2016-2017, please email the following to Janet Elise Johnson ([email protected]) and Mara Lazda ([email protected]):

1. a title for your talk
2. an abstract of less than 200 words describing your proposed talk
3. a one-page curriculum vitae or resume.
4. your schedule clarifying which weeks or months you plan to be in or near New York City and would like to present (proposals for the Spring semester will be passed onto Nanette Funk and Sonia Jaffe Robbins)

All proposals are welcome from the region and experts from the U.S. or elsewhere, activists or scholars.  We will get back to you as soon as possible.

Carol Silverman,

  “Gendered Migration of Muslim Balkan Roma:
    Work, Sexuality, and Ritual in New York and Germany”

   Please join us April 15 for our fourth meeting of the Spring 2016 semester.

Carol Silverman, Professor, University of Oregon, Department of Anthropology, and Folklore Program.

  Dr. Carol Silverman has written extensively on Balkan Roma culture, particularly “Gypsy” music and its gendered nature. She published Romani Routes: Cultural Politics and Balkan Music in Diaspora (Oxford, 2012). She has written on Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania and the Balkans more widely. Her work has been widely recognized, and has appeared in many journals and collections. Her awards include a Guggenheim Award. Her talk compares Muslim Romani women’s agency in Germany and NYC as reflecting women’s negotiations in the gendered politics of power. and as responses to different socioeconomic contexts and migration policies. Her analysis illustrates how culture strategically changes in relationship to gendered issues of independence, family size and class status.  Her talk is based on ethnographic fieldwork in NYC, Macedonia, and Germany.

. All meetings take place at NYU Center for European and Mediterranean Studies, 285 Mercer Street (between Waverly and Washington), 7th floor from 4:30pm to 6:00pm.

 

Jessica Zychowicz,

“Why Art Now? Kyiv Artists’ Visual Narratives of Identity, Gender, and Conflict in Ukraine”

Please join us March 11 for our third meeting of  the Spring 2016 semester.

Jessica Zychowicz, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Toronto Munk School of Global Affairs’, Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies

Dr. Jessica Zychowicz received her Ph.D. in Slavic Languages and Literatures from the University of Michigan in 2015. She is now working on her manuscript, Superfluous Women: Gender, Art and Activism After Ukraine’s Orange Revolution. Ongoing research interests include the global media production of discourse on women, the idea of collectivity in avant-garde movements, the state and its relationship to art, and culture industries in the context of public diplomacy. Recent publications include articles in the Anthropology of East Europe Review; Krytyka: The Journal for Ukrainian Politics and Society. Dr. Zychowicz also translates creative works by contemporary Ukrainian and Polish authors.

 

All meetings take place at NYU Center for European and Mediterranean Studies, 285 Mercer Street (between Waverly and Washington), 7th floor from 4:30pm to 6:00pm.

 

 

Diana Mincyte

“Gender Politics in the Shadows: The Racialization of the Rural/Urban Divide in Europeanizing Lithuania?”

Please join us February 19 for our second meeting of the Spring 2016 semester.

Before joining CUNY, she has held research and teaching fellowships at Harvard University, New York University, Yale University, and the Rachel Carson Center of Ludwig Maximilian University, Germany. Her research examines environmental and justice dimensions of agro-food systems in eastern Europe and the United States. Mincyte’s publications include articles in Environment and Planning D, Agriculture and Human Values, Sociologia Ruralis, Slavic Review, among others, book chapters, and several guest-edited special issues.

Diana Mincyte, Assistant Professor, Department of Social Science. New York City  College of Technology, CUNY.

All meetings take place at NYU Center for European and Mediterranean Studies, 285 Mercer Street (between Waverly and Washington), 7th floor from 4:30pm to 6:00pm.