Genealogies of Resistance in the War on Gender: Historical Memories and Innovative Approaches

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Brief Description

Ultra-conservative movements and political parties globally continue to attack gender equality, women’s and LGBT rights, diversity, and the concept of gender itself. Feminist movements and their allies, drawing on past resistance strategies, are developing new ways to fight back. This roundtable will explore these varying levels and strategies of resistance efforts in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and beyond, examining how historical memory informs current resistance initiatives and struggles in Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, and Georgia. The roundtable will also compare CEE regional trends with developments in Western Europe. Speakers will discuss intersectional movements' experiences, including combating state-sponsored gender-based violence and the invisibility of disability. The manipulation of public memory by authoritarian regimes to justify their rule, which is much experienced by the CEE region, will also be considered.

Sub Unit

• Gender/LGBTQ Studies

Chair

• Hana Waisserova, U of Nebraska - Lincoln

Roundtable Speakers

• Vera Beloshitzkaya, U of Salzburg (Austria)

• Simona Fojtova, Transylvania U

• Ariel Otruba, Virginia Tech

• Alexandria Wilson-McDonald, Otterbein U