Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is having a significant impact on gender relations and severely affects women’s social, civil, cultural, and economic rights. While women play a central role in addressing the ensuing humanitarian crisis, their participation in decision-making processes, especially at the official level, has not received much attention, so far. The panel discussion will inquire what Ukraine’s reconstruction might look like from a feminist perspective. Who decides what should be rebuilt and how (differently)? What would be feminist strategies and utopias against the reproduction of patriarchal power relations? Do feminist utopias have the capacity to incorporate difference as a capacity of mutual learning and growing, instead of a marker of social distinction (and its inherent tendency for suppression)? The speakers will also discuss, which (urban) infrastructures need to be rethought to establish more social justice and ask how the experiences of feminist struggles in Kosovo during and after the war can be made fruitful in this context. Last but not least, we will ask how a process of learning from each other could look like in practice.

Panelists

• Prof. Dr. Linda Gusia, University of Prishtina
• Dr. Nataliia Otrishchenko, Lviv Center for Urban History
• Oksana Potapova, London School of Economics (tbc)
• Moderation: Claudia Eggart, Centre for East European and International Studies

The discussion is part of the summer school Viadrinicum, a cooperation of European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder) and the Centre for East European and International Studies, Berlin (ZOiS). It is supported by the Eberhard-Schöck-Stiftung, Baden-Baden.