Eastern European Leftist Feminisms and Their Political Visions: Alternative Narratives of Belonging in Pluralistic Societies

Project idea

This research seeks to explore the ways in which Eastern European left-wing feminist activists, politicians, and thinkers re-articulate their sociopolitical vision in the face of national security threats presented by the Russian regime. In particular, this study focuses on Lithuanian, Latvian, Polish, Moldovan, and Ukrainian self-identified left-wing feminists and their responses to the influx of refugees from Muslim minority countries at their borders and to the war in Ukraine. Both of these geopolitical crises have resulted in the tightening of the ideological and geopolitical borders of the respective nation-states. Left -wing feminism, which traditionally has created enclaves of belonging for those who feel excluded from nationalist narratives because of their ethnic origins, language, religion, sexual or gender identity, and has pushed for a loosening of immigration policies and a more inclusive vision of the nation. The current geopolitical crises demand that these thinkers, politicians, and activists rearticulate their sociopolitical vision: within their own country, their advocacy work, especially on behalf of refugees from Muslim majority countries, at times has been seen as "too leftist," and aligned with Russia's goals of destabilizing the region, while at the same time, it has been cast as not "leftist enough" by their Western counterparts, who see Eastern European feminist support for their nation-states and involvement in pro-Ukrainian actions as evidence of their right-wing, nationalistic sympathies. As such, left -wing feminists in Eastern Europe have to explicitly articulate and negotiate their ideological and practical commitments while seeking to implement that vision of the ground and find solidarity across borders and with each other. The underlying question that guides this research is that of alternative belonging in the context of a nation-state under geopolitical threat and interventions of radical feminist theory into the dominant narratives of nation-building.