DEUTSCH | ENGLISH | FRANÇAIS | |
WORKSHOP:
Comparative Cultural Studies 4
Aspects of Literature and Perspectives of CultureChair: Peter Petro (The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada)
The Importance of Literature in Slovak Gender Studies and Feminist Organizing
Woehrer, Veronika (University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria)
In her paper, "The Importance of Literature in Slovak Gender Studies and Feminist Organizing," Veronika Woehrer addresses the importance of women's literature in Gender Studies and the women's movement in Slovakia. Although Central and East European literatures are located on the periphery of the mainstream European literatures, literature written by women writers (and such by feminist authors), form yet another another periphery. Nevertheless, these peripheral texts can manifest significant parts of certain social movements or subcultures. After 1989 and a decline of women's influence in politics and in the labour market women started to build up organisations and projects again and it is the specific situation of such organizing in Slovakia that is discussed in the paper. Although Gender Studies in Slovakia have not been developed and are still not represented in the social sciences, in literature, arts, literature studies and philosophy there are signs of interest. Thus, literature studies and philosophy represent an important impact on political ideas, theories, and movements in culture and politics again. They form an often used tool to publish the first and to initiate the latter. Woehrer argues that the importance of literature with its long tradition in Slovakia remains influential and now visible in the fields of feminist projects and Gender Studies.
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