Mapping Difference

Drawn from various disciplines and a broad spectrum of research interests, these essays reflect on the challenging issues confronting women in Ukraine today. The contributors are an interdisciplinary, transnational group of scholars from gender studies, feminist theory, history, anthropology, sociology, womens studies, and literature. Among the issues they address are: the impact of migration, education, early socialization of gender roles, the role of the media in perpetuating and shaping negative stereotypes, the gendered nature of language, women and the media, literature by women, and local appropriation of gender and feminist theory. Each author offers a fresh and unique perspective on the current process of survival strategies and postcommunist identity reconstruction among Ukrainian women in their current climate of patriarchalism.

Marian J. Rubchakis a Senior Research Professor of History at Valparaiso University whose work focuses on reimagining Slavic identities in various contexts. She has written on the role of myth in shaping the identity of contemporary Ukrainian women, and the difficulties that they face in exerting agency in a transitional society with prejudices against women.

List of Illustrations
List of Tables

Foreword
Catherine Wanner

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1.Turning Oppression into Opportunity. An Introduction
Marian J Rubchak

Chapter2.Between Europe and Africa: Building the New Ukraine on the Shoulders of Migrant Women
Cinzia Solari

Chapter 3. Women as Migrants on the Margins of the European Union
Alexandra Hrycak

Chapter 4.Prove it to me: The Life of a Jewish Social Activist in Ukraine
Sarah D. Phillips

Chapter 5.Biography as Political Geography: Patriotism in Ukranian Womens Life Stories
Oksana Kis

Chapter 6.Chronicle of Childrens Holidays: Construction of Gender Stereotypes in Ukrainian Preschools and Elementary Education
Victoria Haydenko

Chapter 7.Gender, Language Attitudes, and Language Status in Ukraine
Laada Bilaniuk

Chapter 8.Feminizing Journalism in Ukraine: Changing the Paradigm
Mariia Tytarenko

Chapter 9.Nationalism and Womens Literary Discourse in Post-Soviet Ukraine
Maria Rewakowicz

Chapter 10.Feminist (de)Construction of Nationalism in the Post Soviet Space
Tatiana Zhurzhenko

Chapter 11.Three Conversations:
Liudmyla Taran

I: Gender Education - a Step Toward Democracy
withLarysa Kobelianska

II: Gender Research in Sociology: The current situation
with Svitlana Oksamytna

III: From the Philosophy of a Name to the Philosophy of Life
withYulia Tymoshenko

Notes on contributors
Bibliography
Index