The Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies hosted an online roundtable discussion on “Gender, War and Memory: The Baltic States and Ukraine” on Tuesday, October 8, 2024, from 11:30 am-12:30 pm EST.
An exploration of the intersection of gender, war and memory often implies that women are studied primarily as the victims of war and other traumatic events. The goal of this discussion was to challenge this trend by analyzing the narratives and depictions of the traumatic experiences of women in several wars—including World War II and the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war. How do women who were (or are) engaged in war depict their roles as related to violence as well as the traumatic experiences of torture and deportation? How do they cope with traumatic memories? Are those memories transformed into empowerment through political activities? What is their relationship with the national and transnational war narratives in the Baltic states and Ukraine?
These and other questions were tackled by Daina Eglitis (George Washington University), Marta Havryshko (Clark University), Mara Lazda (Bronx Community College), and Janet Elise Johnson (Brooklyn College). The webinar was moderated by Gražina Bielousova (Vilnius University/Vytautas Magnus University) and welcome remarks will be delivered by AABS President Jörg Hackmann (University of Szczecin).
Panelists:
Daina Eglitis
George Washington University
Daina S. Eglitis is Associate Professor of Sociology and International Affairs at George Washington University in Washington, DC. She holds degrees in Political Science, Russian & East European Studies, and Sociology (Ph.D., University of Michigan-Ann Arbor). Dr. Eglitis is a two-time Fulbright Fellow in Latvia, and has been a research fellow at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies. She is the author of Imagining the Nation: History, Modernity, and Revolution in Latvia and a co-editor of the most recent edition of Central and East European Politics, as well as articles and book chapters on collective memory, socioeconomic inequality, and gender and demographic issues in the Baltic region. Her most recent work on World War II and the Holocaust has been published in Acta Sociologica, Journal of Holocaust Research, East European Politics & Societies, and Eastern European Holocaust Studies.
She currently serves as President-Elect of AABS.
Marta Havryshko
Clark University
Marta Havryshko is a Dr. Thomas Zand Visiting Assistant Professor in Holocaust Pedagogy and Antisemitism Studies at the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University. She holds a Ph.D. in History from the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv. Havryshko is a member of the editorial board of the academic journal Eastern Europe Holocaust Studies. Her recent publications include a book, Overcoming Silence: Women’s War Stories (2018), as well as book chapters and articles on gender, WWII and the Holocaust. Currently, she is developing a book on sexual violence during the Holocaust in Ukraine.
Mara Lazda
Bronx Community College, City University of New York
Mara Lazda is Professor of History at Bronx Community College, City University of New York. Her work on gender, nationalism and transnationalism, focusing on Latvia, has been published in Nationalities Papers, The Journal of Baltic Studies, Aspasia, Russian Review, and the International Journal of Politics Culture and Society.
Most recently, together with Janet Johnson and Katalin Fábián, she co-edited The Routledge Handbook of Gender in Central-Eastern Europe and Eurasia , 2022 winner of the Heldt prize for the best book in Slavic/East European/Eurasian Women’s and Gender Studies from the Association for Women in Slavic Studies. Together with Janet Johnson, she is also a co-coordinator of monthly workshop on Gender and Transformation in Central-Eastern Europe and Eurasia now located at the CUNY Grad Center.
Janet Johnson
Brooklyn College, City University of New York
Janet Elise Johnson is the Endowed Chair in Women’s and Gender Studies, Brooklyn College, 2023-2025, and Professor of Political Science, Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center, CUNY. Her books include The Gender of Informal Politics: Russia, Iceland and Twenty-First Century Male Dominance (2018, Palgrave series on Gender and Politics), Gender Violence in Russia: The Politics of Feminist Intervention (Indiana University Press 2009), and Living Gender after Communism (Indiana University Press 2007). In the last few years, she has published articles in Politics & Gender, Post-Soviet Affairs, Russian Review, Problems of Post-Communism, Slavic Review, Human Rights Review, Journal of Social Policy Studies, Perspectives on Politics, Journal of Social Policy, Aspasia, and Frontiers in Sociology.
Moderator:
Gražina Bielousova
Vilnius University/Vytautas Magnus University
Gražina Bielousova is a feminist scholar of race, religion, and gender in post-Soviet Europe. She earned her PhD from Duke University in 2022. Currently she is a postdoctoral scholar at Vilnius University’s Institute of International Relations and Political science and a researcher at Vytautas Magnus University. Her current research project focuses on leftist feminisms in east Europe in light of Russia’s war against Ukraine, which will culminate in her her first book, What’s Left of Feminism in East Europe (Bloomsbury Academic, 2026).
Opening Remarks:
Jörg Hackmann
University of Szczecin
Jörg Hackmann (PhD, Free University Berlin) is Alfred Döblin Professor at the Department of History, University of Szczecin, Poland, and since 2021 Director of the International Center for Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Szczecin. He is also associated with the University of Greifswald, Germany, and serves as Vice-President of the Johann Gottfried Herder Research Council (Germany). Jörg Hackmann holds a PhD from the Free University Berlin and received his habilitation at Greifswald University. He has been a visiting scholar at many universities in the Baltic sea region as well as in Chicago. Publications focus on the history of North-Eastern and East Central Europe, in particular on historiography, memory cultures, civil society and regionalisms with a focus on transnational entanglements. Most recent publications include Geselligkeit in Nordosteuropa (Sociability in North-Eastern Europe), Harrassowitz 2020. Current research interests include the role of history in Baltic Sea region building, a biography of Werner Hasselblatt, and the Jewish topography of (German) Szczecin.
He served as President-Elect of AABS from 2022–2024 and currently serves as President of AABS.