This seminar is intended as a commemoration of the fall of the Berlin Wall and its aftermath from a gender and feminist perspective. What did fall of the wall mean for women? What do we know about feminist and women’s activism in different communist countries and regions around 1989? How is the role of women in the 1989 events remembered? And what consequences did the end of state socialism and demolishing of the Iron Curtain have for feminist theory and activism on both sides of the former line?

Special guests:

Slavenka Drakulic (Croatia)

Well-known author. Drakulic took part in the first international conference of women in Belgrade in 1978. Her collection Mortal Sins of Feminism (1984) was the first such book to appear in the former communist world.

Samirah Kenawi (Germany)

Writer and activist. Was born in East-Berlin, GDR and studied wood processing at the Dresden University of Technology. She co-founded the independent women's association “Lilla Offensive” and later the Independent Women’s Union (UFV). Initiator of GrauZone, the archive of the GDR women´s and lesbian movement. Author of a decumentation of source material which is considered a standard work.

Tamara Hundorova (Ukraine)

Professor and Head of the Department of Literary Theory and Comparative Literature at the Institute of Literature of the NAS of Ukraine. In the 1990s, Hundorova was a member of the feminist seminar at the Institute of Literature, Kyiv.

Ewa Kulik-Bielińska (Poland)

Director of Stefan Batory Foundation. A journalist, translator, social activist and NGO manager. One of the leaders of pro-democratic student movement in 1970’s. A leader of underground Solidarity, arrested and detained in 1986 after 5 years in hiding; 2010 recipient of the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta for her contribution to the independence and democratization of Poland.

Olga Lipovskaia (Russia)

Feminist, writer, journalist, translator of feminist texts from English to Russian; writes prose and poetry. Former chair of the Petersburg Center for Gender Issues (1994-2004). From 1987-1991, Lipovskaya published the “samizdat” almanac Women’s Reading.

Södertörn University has a long tradition of organizing witness seminars dedicated to different events of recent history that have particular importance. This form of work was initiated by the Institute of Contemporary History at Södertörn University: the seminars are the conversations among several of the historical actors whose stories can contribute to a better understanding of the historical events; such seminars are open to a wider public and their proceedings are published.

The witness seminar is open to the public and will be followed by a reception. Registration for the event is obligatory. Länk till annan webbplats, öppnas i nytt fönster.