Making Their Place: Feminism After Socialism in Eastern Germany
The collapse of state socialism in eastern and central Europe in 1989 had a dramatic impact on women. Witnessing the loss of state support for their economic activity, the curtailing of their reproductive rights, and the rise of gender ideologies that value women primarily as mothers and wives rather than as active participants in the workforce, women across eastern and central Europe organized on a local level to resist these changes.
Making Their Place brings to light how feminist movements in two eastern German cities, Erfurt and Rostock, utilized local understandings of politics and gender to enhance their possibilities for meaningful social change. The book chronicles the specific reasons why place matters, the importance of localized experiences during the socialist era, and how history shapes contemporary identities, cultures, and politics. What emerges is the fascinating story of the different ways people have struggled to define themselves, their values, and their understandings of gender in a period of monumental social, economic, and political upheaval.
Author: Katja Guenther
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 04/29/2010
Pages: 264
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9780804770729
Review Citation(s):
Choice 03/01/2011
Reference and Research Bk News 08/01/2010 pg. 135
About the Author
Katja M. Guenther is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Riverside.