This graduate cultural anthropology seminar focuses on questions of
gender, sexuality, and power during and after socialism in the
countries of the former Soviet Bloc.  Readings and seminar discussions
will begin by centering on the Soviet project(s) to emancipate women,
and “feminizing’ and “masculinizing” projects throughout the region.
Most attention will be given to recent developments in gender
formations as socialist projects have given way to capitalism and
globalization.  We will read theoretical works as well as case studies
and ethnographies (detailed descriptions of groups by anthropologists)
to understand the discourses and struggles motivating contemporary
gender ideologies in the former Soviet Bloc countries.