Feminist Perspective on Russia’s War in Ukraine: Hear Our Voices
Edited by Maryna Shevtsova
Publisher: Lexington Books
Recommended by Hélène B. Ducros
Feminist Perspective on Russia’s War in Ukraine: Hear Our Voices provides readers with the necessary tools to investigate the intersection of war (and peace-building) and gender and sexuality, not only through a general feminist lens but more precisely through a Ukrainian feminist lens, as the country has been under the pressure of Russia’s hegemonic vision of gender since 2014. Indeed, while it has been over 800 days since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the book makes clear that the war really started in 2014. Together, the contributors to this edited volume seek to answer the fundamental question of whether, since then, the war in Ukraine, like in other militarized societies, has led to a reaffirmation of traditional gender roles, but also whether this war may in fact help in changing “the conventional ways of gendering war conflicts.” In selecting authors, editor Maryna Shevtsova has centered answers to these questions on the concepts of gender identity (masculinity, femininity, and non-heteronormative gender identities), women’s role (expected and actual) in war, LGBTQ’s and women’s emancipation, resistance, and agency (in Ukraine but also in places beyond, for example Belarus), sexuality as a component of national identity, and the impact of various central or marginalized actors in supporting the war effort—from refugees to scholar-activists and civil society or political organizations, such as the National Action Plan of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda.
As gender has been a significant motif in the “clash of values” between East and West—pro-Russian and pro-European understandings of society—the book invites readers to engage with the conflict in Ukraine from multiple scalar vantage points, placing gender (as well as racial) issues at the heart of the geopolitical crisis. By highlighting personal stories on par with an analysis of state policies, the collection of chapters shows how developing the fields of feminist security studies and feminist foreign policy contributes to countering the hypermasculine narratives propagated by the aggressor. In her aim to “reconceptualize the idea of a ‘feminist peace,’” Maryna Shevtsova promotes a decolonial feminist approach to peacebuilding that is inclusive, representative, balanced, solidary, and fair to marginalized groups.
What Does Israel Fear from Palestine?
by Raja Shehadeh
Publisher: Other Press
Recommended by Edina Paleviq
Raja Shehadeh’s essay What Does Israel Fear From Palestine? explores Israel’s ongoing resistance to peace in its conflict with Palestine and the impacts of the current conflict in Gaza on both Palestinians and Israelis. While South Africa ended apartheid in 1994 through internal and international efforts, Israel has taken a different approach by expanding settlements in the Occupied Territories, influenced by an increasingly right-wing government and facing limited international pressure. Shehadeh navigates the complex historical context, highlighting missed opportunities for peace and equality. He traces the conflict’s origins to Israel’s establishment in 1948, an event Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, or “catastrophe”—an event that created a significant divide in perceptions and shaped narratives and actions on both sides. The essay further discusses how these differing viewpoints have contributed to Israel’s obstruction to a two-state solution. His perspective reveals the fears and resistances that have sustained the struggle. Amidst the ongoing violence in Gaza, Shehadeh questions whether the current crisis might finally prompt a change in the global community’s stance and inspire meaningful action in the quest for a solution to the conflict. Shehadeh’s insightful writing provides a deep understanding of a conflict that, despite its long and painful history, still holds the potential for resolution. What Does Israel Fear From Palestine? is essential reading for those seeking to understand the enduring complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Shehadeh’s articulate essay not only illuminates the past but also offers hope for a future where peace and equality might prevail.
A Fractured North: Facing Dilemmas
Edited by Erich Kasten, Igor Krupnik, and Gail Fondahl
Publisher: Verlag Der Kulturstiftung Sibirien
Recommended by Oksana Ermolaeva
Before the war in Ukraine, the Arctic was a site of intense international cooperation and rivalry at the same time. The region both constituted a unique universe for scientists and provided the indigenous peoples of the Russian North an opening to the world. Since the Russian war in Ukraine started, the position of the Arctic has changed. In A Fractured North: Facing Dilemmas, for the first time are collected texts accounting for the ways in which researchers have studied the indigenous North and how ordinary people living there have coped with the hostilities and faced the new situation. The volume also specifically explores issues of international cooperation in the indigenous borderlands of the Bering Strait after the fall of the USSR and the post-Soviet geocultural landscape in which national minorities live.
The book explains how the Russian war in Ukraine has affected not only the scholarly community and people’s socio-political behaviors in this Russian borderlands but also how people in nearby countries have organized in support of refugee minorities who have arrived from Russia since 2022. The different chapters rely on extensive fieldwork, media resources, and official documentation to reveal how people in the Arctic region have adopted a variety of survival strategies and went through a broad spectrum of emotions, as their reactions to the war included an upsurge in pro-Russian patriotic protests but also compassion for the victims of the war or attempts to ignore the invasion altogether. The volume uses a transnational comparative perspective to also address the moral dilemmas faced by anthropologists who worked in service of various imperial Russian and European ventures from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries.
Published on June 24, 2024.
