ELENA   GAPOVA

Director and founder, Centre for Gender  Studies, EHU                     
        
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Nation, class, and gender stratification in post-socialist societies;
Information technology, post-Soviet high-tech migration, and gender;
Post-socialism and intellectuals;                                  
Gender politics of the Soviet interwar period.

COURSES REGULARLY TAUGHT
Sociology of Gender;
Introduction to Sociology;
Social Problems;
Gendered Sociology of Post-Soviet Societies;
Gender and Nation in Eastern Europe;
Alternative Modernity: The “Women’s Question” and Gender Politics in Soviet and Post-Soviet History.
                 
EDITED BOOKS
With Sibelan Forrester, Magdalena Zaborowska: Over the Wall/After the Fall: Post-Communist Cultures through an East-West Gaze, Indiana University Press, 2004.

Zhenshchiny na krayu Evropy (Women at the Edge of Europe), Minsk: European Humanities University, 2003.

Gendernye istorii Vostochnoi Evropy (Gendered (hi)stories from Eastern Europe, with Almira Ousmanova): a volume on women's/gender history by authors from 13 nations of the region, Western Europe, and US. Minsk: European Humanities University, 2002.

Antologiya gendernoi teorii (Anthology of  Gender Theory, with Almira Ousmanova): a collection of landmark texts of feminist theory, published in Russian for the first time). Minsk: Propelei), 2000.

Guest editor: “Gender Issues and Law”, a special issue of Problemy constitutsionalisma   (Issues of Constitutional Law), 1998, No.3.

Editor of the series of historical calendars “Women of Belarus: a Social History”:
 
Calendar-2006: Belarusian textiles.

Calendar-2005: Women at the Front Line (documents and photos of Soviet women in  WWII).

Calendar-2004:  “Women of Belarus: Statuses and Classes” (turn-of-the-century photos of  women in professions).

Calendar-2003:  “Women of Belarus: At the Personal Front” (Soviet posters of the1920s  promoting gender equality).

Calendar-2002:  “Women of Belarus: Creators of Culture” (first ever collection of paintings by women-artists of the Belarusian-Polish borderlands from the 18th century to present).

Calendar-2001: “Women of Belarus: Roads to Freedom” (first ever publication on the turn-of-the century prominent Belarusian/Jewish/Polish women of the region).

ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS
Migration of Information Technology Professionals from the Post-Soviet Region. "Migration Perspectives: Eastern Europe and Central Asia." The International Organization for Migration (IOM), forthcoming 2006.

Entries “Soviet social stratification,” “Post-Soviet social stratification”, “Women.” Encyclopedia of Contemporary Russian Culture (Helena Goscilo, Tatiana Smorodinskaya, Karen Evans-Romaine eds.), Routledge, 2006.

On the Political Significance of the Sexual Division of Labor, "Aspasia. International Yearbook of Central, Eastern and South Eastern European Women's and Gender History." New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2006, forthcoming.

Employment-based Migration of IT Specialists As a Gendered Phenomenon. Encyclopedia of Gender and Information Technology (Eileen M. Trauth ed.), Idea Group, 2006.

IT Outsourcing to the Post-Soviet Region and Gender. Encyclopedia of Gender and Information Technology (Eileen M. Trauth ed.), Idea Group, 2006.

The Jobs of Our Discontent: Information Technology, Post-Soviet Hightechs, and Division of Labour. Reflections from Afar: A Sociology Textbook (on American society by “outsiders”) (Michael C. Hoover, Alan Smith eds.), forthcoming.

Alaiza Paszkiewicz. A Biographical Dictionary of Women's Movements and Feminisms. Central, Eastern, and South Eastern Europe, 19th and 20th Centuries. F. de Haan, K. Daskalova and A. Loutfi eds. Budapest/New York: Central European University Press, 2006.

Myths about the Myths of Belarusian Sociology (in Belarusian). ARCHE, 2006, № 1-2.

On the Political Economy of “National Language” in Belarus (in Russian). Ab Imperio (Studies of New Imperial History and Nationalism in the Post-Soviet Space). 2005. № 3.

Analytical Overview of the State of Gender in CIS. Background Paper. UNDP Internal Publication. UNDP Regional Office for Europe and CIS. Bratislava, 2005.

The Nation in Between, or Why Intellectuals Do Things With Words. Over the Wall/After the Fall: Post-Communist Cultures Through the East-West Gaze (Sibelan Forrester,  Elena Gapova eds.), Indiana University Press, 2004.

How Women Vote, or on Men’s Political Unconscious (in Belarusian). ARCHE, 2004, # 4.

On Nation, Gender and Class Formation in Belarus… and Elsewhere in the Post-Soviet  World. Nationalities Papers 30:4, 2002. Shortened as “Conceptualizing Gender, Nation  and Class in Post-Soviet Belarus”.  Post-Soviet Women Encountering Transition: Nation Building, Economic Survival, and Civic Activism (Carol Nechemias,  Kathleen Kuehnast eds.), Woodraw Wilson Center Press, 2004. Excerpts published in Belarusian in “Anthology of Belarusian Thought” (Ales’ Ancipenka ed.), 2003.

Wives of “Russian Programmers”, or Women Following Men (in Russian). Semeinye  uzy: modeli dlya sborki (Family ties: the building blocks, S. Oushakin ed.), Moscow: NLO, 2004.

Etching the Edges of Europe (in Russian: Kroya kraya Evropy). Zhenshchiny na krayu Evropy (Women at the Edge of Europe), Minsk: European Humanities University, 2003.

Entry “Women’s Issues in Belarus”. The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Women's Issues Worldwide: Europe (Lynn Walter ed.), Westport, London: Greenwood Press, 2003.

Women’s Question and National Projects in Soviet Byelorussia and Western Belarus, 1921 –1939. Zwischen Kriegen. Nationen, Nationalismen und Geschlechterverhältnisse in Mittel- und Osteuropa, 1918-1939  (J. Gehmacher, E. Harvey, S. Kemlein eds.) Osnabrück: fibre-Verlag, 2004. In Russian: “Gendernye istorii Vostochnoi Evropy”, Minsk: European Humanities University, 2002; reprinted in “Social’nya istoria-2003” (Social History-2003, N. Pushkareva ed.), Moscow: ROSSPEN, 2003.

Information Technologies, Globalization, Its Heroes and Their Women (in Russian). Gendernye issledovaniya, 2003, № 7-8.

Reinventing Men and Women Within the Belarusian Nationalist Project. From Gender to Nation (Julie Mostov, Rada Ivecovic ed.), Longo Editore: Ravenna, 2002; reprinted: New Delhi: Zubaan Books, 2004.

Entries “nation”, “feminist anthropology”, “Marxist feminism”, “cultural feminism”, “black feminism”, “postcolonial feminism”, Slovar’ Gendernyh terminov (Dictionary of gender terms), Moscow: Informatsia XXI, 2002.

Rethinking Geography and History: Introduction (with Almira Usmanova, in Russian). Gendernye istorii Vostochnoi Evropy (Gendered (hi)stories from  Eastern Europe), Minsk: EHU, 2002.

Understanding the Other: What Kind of Feminism Do Czech Women Need? Central Europe Review, Vol. 3, No 2 (2001).

How Women Vote, or Communism as a Poverty Disease (in French). “Le Courrier des Pays de l’Est”, Paris 2001, No. 1015.

Feminist Project in Anthropology (in Russian). Introduction to Gender Theory (Irina Zherebkina ed.), St.Petersburg: Alleteya, 2000.
 
Introduction, Commentaries (with Almira Usmanova), Antologiya gendernoi teorii, Minsk:  Propilei, 2000.

Woman as the “Other” in Belarusian Democracy (in Belarusian). Frahmenty, 2000, No. 9.

Women in the National Discourse in Belarus. The European Journal of Women’s Studies, Vol.5, No. 3-4 (1998). In Russian in Gendernye issledovaniya, 1998, No. 2.

National Dreams and Domestic Goddesses. Transitions.1998, Vol.5, No.1.

Women’s Movement: from Socialism to… Where? (English/Russian). Belarus in the  World, 1998, No.3.

“Gender and Law”, (in Russian). Special issue “Gender Issues and Law” of Problemy Constitutsionalisma (Issues in Constitutional Law), 1998, No 2.

 A Contemporary Concept of Reproductive Rights (in Russian). Special issue “Gender Issues and Law” of Problemy Constitutsionalisma (Issues in Constitutional Law), 1998, No 2.

Women’s Movement: Finding a Voice. Women of Belarus as Seen Through the Era, National Report on the Status of Women, UNDP, Minsk, 1997.

The Conflict of Values in Women’s Movement. Frauen in den ehemals sozialistischen Landern, Berlin: Zentrum fur interdisziplinare Frauenforschung, 1997, No.14.

Women’s Movement in Belarus (in Belarusian). Encyclopedia of Belarusian History, Vol. III, Minsk: Encyclopedia, 1996.
 
Feminist ideology on the Postcommunist Slavic Soil” (in Russian).  Vostochnya Evropa: politicheskij i sociokulturny vybor, Minsk, 1994.

Infinitive Constructions as a Means of Expessing Intellectual Content (in Russian). “Vestnik Belgosuniversiteta” (Proceedings of Belarusian State University), 1990,  # 3.

BOOK REVIEWS
On Lynne Attwood, “Creating the New Soviet Woman: Women's Magazines as Engineers of Female Identity, 1922-53”, Querelles-Net (No.3, February 2001).
On David Marples, “Belarus: From Soviet Rule to Nuclear Disaster”, Demokratizatsya (Spring issue, 1997).

OTHER PUBLICATIONS / MEDIA

Gender Equality as a Legal Issue (with Evgeniya Ivanova, in Russian), Gender for Lawyers, UNDP publication for “Women’s Leadership” Project in Belarus, Minsk, 2004.
Gender and Inequality (in Russian), Gender for Journalists, UNDP publication for ”Women’s Leadership” Project in Belarus, Minsk, 2003.

When Western Assistance Overlooks Cultural Values in FSU Gender Programs”, Give & Take: A Journal on Civil Society in Eurasia, ISAR (Summer 2000).
“The Adventure of Teaching Feminism” in WE/My (The Russian/American Women’s Dialogue), No.17 (1998).
In Journal of the International Institute (University of Michigan); Newsletter of the Association for Women in Slavic Studies, Newsletter of the International Federation for Research in Women’s History, Newsletter of Belarusian Association of University Women, Newsletter of Centre d’Etudes at Recherches Internationales (Paris).
Contributing to and interviewed by newspapers and magazines, TV and radio talk-shows in Russia, Belarus and on the Voice of America.

CONFERENCE PAPERS AND INVITED PRESENTATIONS (partial)

“Gender and post-Soviet Information Technology Development, World Summit on Information Society, WSIS, Tunis, November, 2005.
“The Cultural as the Political in Belarusian Intellectual Journals”; The Arts, National Identity and Politics in Belarus" Symposium, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University, October 2005.
Speaker at the “Actually Existing Societies: Post-Socialism” Workshop, Princeton University, April 1, 2005.
Keynote speaker at the “Where Does Russia End?” Conference of the Finnish Association of Slavic Studies (Tampere, Finland), March 2005.
“Travels, Travails: Feminism in Post-Soviet Region”, Bryant University, Intercultural Center, November 2004.
Keynote speaker at the “Gender in Russian” international conference, University of Tver (Russia), September 2004.
«On Writing Women's and Gender History in Countries in Transition», 35th AAASS Annual Convention, Toronto, November 2003.
Conceptualizing Gender, Class and Nation in Postcommunism”, Center for European Studies, New York University, February 21, 2003; Harryman Institute of Columbia University, March 5, 2003.
“Post-Soviet Masculinity as Class”; “Masculinity in Russia” Workshop, Urbana-Champaign, June  2002.
“Nation, Gender, and Class in the Post-Soviet World”, Annual Soyuz Symposium: New Directions in Post-Socialist Studies, Ann Arbor, February 2002.
“Belarus: Between East and West and Dreaming of Its Women”; Center for Russian Studies, U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, January 25, 2001.
“Social Factors of Belarusian Authoritarism: Political Discourse and Perceptions of Women”; Belorussie: aspects internes et externes d’un authoritarisme post-sovetique, Centre d’Etudes at Recherches Internationales, Paris, November 9,  2000.
“Cultural Construction of Women in Soviet and Western Belarus, 1918-1939”; Between Wars: Gender, Nations and Nationalism in Eastern Europe in 1918-1939, Warsaw, May, 2000.
“Nations’ Dreams and Women’s Options” at The 2000 Harvard Colloquim: “Ten Years After the Fall of the Wall: Transition and Transformation in Eastern Europe and the Former  Soviet Union”, March 10-12, 2000.
“Belarusian Nationalist Discourse and the Cultural Construction of Women”; Davis Center for Russian Studies, Harvard University, March 9, 2000.
“Invisible Communities: Wives of Foreign High-Techs in the US”; Drexel University (PA); College of New Jersey, March, 2000; U of Michigan, January 2001.
“Belarusian Discourse: Between Russia and the West”, Center for Russian and East European Studies, University of Michigan, February 2, 2000.
“Production of Nationalist Discourses: Reinventing Men and Women?”, Gender in Transition in East/Central Europe, Berlin, December 9, 1999.
“Wives of Globalization, or Women Following Men?”// Writing Women’s History and History of  Gender in Countries in Transition, Minsk, September 29 -Oct.2, 1999.
“Belarusian Discourse: Paradise Lost?”, 4th Annual World Convention, Association for the Study of Nationalities, Columbia University and Harriman Institute, New York, April 15-17, 1999.
“Crossing the Boundaries: Women’s Studies in Countries in Transition”, Inaugural conference  “Women’s Studies and Countries in Transition”, Belgrade, September 14-16, 1998.
“Rethinking Female Citizenship in NIS”; “Women’s Rights within the Context of the European Integration”, International Institute for the Sociology of Law, Onati, Spain, May, 1998.
“Woman - National Identity - Citizenship in the Context  of Postcommunism”, 3d Annual Convention, Association for the Study of Nationalities, Columbia University and  Harriman Institute, New York, April 1998.
“Teaching American Feminism in an East European Classroom”; Belarusian Society for American Studies, American Tradition Against European Experience, Minsk, May 1997.
“National Identity and the Emergence of Women’s Movement in Belarus”; 28th National Convention, American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, Boston, November 14-17, 1996.
“Women’s Studies at the University”, Women’s Studies in Comparative East-West Perspective, Warsaw, September 28-30, 1996.
“Eastern Europe Meets the West: Cultural Misunderstanding Over Women’s Issues”; SIETAR 96, Munich, May 1996.
“Women and Postcommunism”; Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., November 28, 1995.
"Women’s Movement in Belarus: In Search of the Development Pattern”, V World Congress for Central and East European Studies, Warsaw, August 6-11, 1995.

CONFERENCE ORGANIZING
Organizer of “Capitalism and/or Patriarchy? Conference on Gender in Post-Soviet Space”, Vilnius, June 2006.
Organizer of “Gender and (post)Soviet Nations” Workshop, Minsk, October 2004.
Co-organizer of “Writing Women’s and Gender History in the Countries in Transition” (participants from 21 countries), Minsk, Sept. 30 – Oct. 2, 1999. 
Committee member for Inaugural Conference “Women’s Studies and the Countries in Transition”, Belgrade, September 9-12, 1998.
Organizer of Regional (East/Central Europe) Student Conference in Gender Studies, European Humanities University, Minsk, May 21-23, 1998
Panel organizer: “White Russia - Byelorussia - Belarus?”,  28 National Convention of AAASS, Boston, November, 1996.