The Chair of East European History at Humboldt University of Berlin is pleased to invite paper proposals for the conference “Women in Late Socialism: Gender Orders, Agency, and Transnational Entanglements,” sponsored by the Federal Foundation for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Germany (Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung). The conference will take place in Berlin, Germany, on 17-19 September 2026.
Women in Late Socialism: Gender Orders, Agency, and Transnational Entanglements
At the core of the conference are women as historical actors in late socialist societies, whose spheres of action oscillated between state control, institutional participation, and everyday self-assertion. The conference aims to examine how female agency under late socialism was shaped and enacted in the domains of political engagement and withdrawal, transnational Cold War spaces and networks, knowledge production, and the politics of the body.
The conference examines how the broader problem of subjects’ incorporation into socialist political regimes was articulated in women’s lives, and how gender reshaped the dynamics of integration, regulation, and resistance. Moreover, it aims to examine transnational women’s activities and networks during the Cold War, particularly within the framework of international women’s organizations, academic exchange programs, state-organized forms of tourism, and networks of cooperation between socialist countries. Women’s expertise and knowledge production under late socialism – particularly in fields traditionally defined as male domains – constitute another key area for examining female subjectivity. Finally, the focus on the politics of the body amidst demographic concerns, anxieties about labor productivity, and proclaimed commitments to gender equality allows to examine how women’s bodies were turned into a political project. Analyzing similarities and differences across discourses, institutions, lifeworlds, and female subjectivities in various socialist countries highlights both the specificities of individual cases and the broader dynamics they share.
We invite proposals focusing on one of the following topics:
- Women as political subjects under late socialism: integration, participation, and social control
- Women in transnational spaces of the Cold War: socialist exchange and networks
- Women’s expertise and knowledge production: science, education, and culture
- Biopolitics in late socialism: women’s bodies, health, and reproduction
The conference brings together scholars at all career stages working on socialist countries. It will result in an edited volume, so we kindly ask applicants to submit materials that have not been previously published.
Proposals should be submitted in English to femaleagency2026@gmail.com and include an abstract of up to 300 words along with a CV (two pages maximum including relevant publications) as a single PDF file by 31 March 2026. Applicants will be notified by 10 May 2026. Participants will be asked to submit their papers (up to 5,000 words) by 15 August 2026 for internal circulation in advance, to support more productive discussion. The working language of the conference is English.
The organizers will provide accommodation for two nights in Berlin (17-19 September 2026). Travel expenses will be reimbursed up to a maximum of EUR 150 (for travel within Europe) and up to EUR 250 (for travel from outside Europe). If you have any questions, please contact us via femaleagency2026@gmail.com.
Organizing Committee: Anna Ivanova (Humboldt University), Irina Makhalova (Humboldt University), and Oksana Nagornaia (Humboldt University).