Sex and Socialism: Gender, sexuality and the boundaries of the nation state in post-war Central and Southeastern Europe

This course will investigate the ways in which the policing of gender and sexuality intersected with the policing of (ethno) national boundaries in Central-Eastern Europe, with a focus on the state-socialist period (1945-1990) but including the interwar period and the post socialist period as contextual bookends. At the same time, it will explore the ways in which the socialist ideologies of gender equality and internationalism were actually (and selectively) implemented in these countries, the effect this had on women and men from both ethnic majority and minority populations in these countries. Finally, it takes a transnational approach, looking at the role of gender and sexuality in positioning Central Eastern Europe within the (white) West, and in the West’s perception and ‘othering’ of the region.