Book Discussion: Ambassadors of Social Progress, by Maria Cristina Galmarini

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Brief Description

At this roundtable, we propose to discuss Maria Cristina Galmarini's newest book Ambassadors of Social Progress: A History of International Blind Activism in the Cold War, which was published by Northern Illinois University Press in February 2024. The book discusses the ways in which blind activists from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe entered the postwar international blind movement. It analyzes the intersectionality of disability and politics during the Cold War and the ways in which socialist disability activism was rooted in the socialist system of welfare. Drawing on their expertise in Russian and Ukrainian as well as Romanian and Polish history, roundtable participants will discuss the book's contributions to the field of disability history in Russian and Eastern Europe.

Sub Unit

• History: 1945-1990

Chair

• Frances Lee Bernstein, New York U

Roundtable Members

• Maria Bucur, Indiana U Bloomington

• Katerina Kolarova, Charles U in Prague (Czech Republic)

• Sarah Drue Phillips, Indiana U Bloomington

• Magdalena Zdrodowska, Jagiellonian U (Poland)