Gendered Convulsions in Central and Eastern Europe: Understanding Their Links with Global Illiberalism, Ethnonationalism, and Populism

Session Submission Type: Panel

Affiliate Organization: Association for Women in Slavic Studies

Brief Description

Scholars of Central and Eastern Europe have long exposed how the global crisis of liberal democracy is entwined with gender politics (Grzebalska and Pető 2018). Illiberal discourses stoke fears about population decline and non-white immigration while advocating neotraditional families; they channel popular resentment by mobilizing ethnonationalism and attacking equality for queer and transgender people (Burnett 2024), even while sometimes harnessing queer aesthetics. This panel explores cases that contextualize illiberal dynamics in Central Europe and Russia within a broader transnational context. Fenghi examines the Italian poet Pier Paolo Pasolini’s influence on Eduard Limonov and Kirill Medvedev, his combination of queerness and populism, and his inspiration for challenging the Russian intelligentsia's political apathy. Peto examines how transnational illiberalism is transforming higher education, including knowledge production, authorization and dissemination of gender studies in several European contexts. Rivkin-Fish compares the illiberal ideas in Russian pronatalism and anti-abortion politics with US reproductive politics after Roe. The panel also examines strategies for feminist and democratic opposition to these trends.

Grzebalska, W. and Pető, A., 2018. The gendered modus operandi of the illiberal transformation in Hungary and Poland. Women's Studies International Forum (68: 164-172).

Burnett, https://sites.psu.edu/birthingthenation/concept/

Sub Unit

• Anthropology, Cultural Studies

Chair

• Julie D. Hemment, U of Massachusetts Amherst

Papers

• The Post-Soviet Scandal of Contradiction: Pasolini’s Legacy in Russia - Fabrizio Fenghi, Brown U

• Abortion and Family Politics as Vehicles for Illiberal Transformation - Michele Rivkin-Fish, UNC at Chapel Hill

• From 'Backlash' to 'Pragmatics': Unpacking Illiberal Gender Politics in Poland - Weronika Grzebalska, Inst of Philosophy and Sociology PAS (Poland)

Discussant

• Julie D. Hemment, U of Massachusetts Amherst

Session Manager

• Nana Gulic, U of Toronto (Canada)