Communist Women Activists around the World
Lecture by Francisca de Haan about her recently published Palgrave Handbook of Communist Women Activists around the World.
In twenty-five chapters, based on new and primary research, this book discusses the lives of self-identified communist women from all continents and across the twentieth century. The chapters show that these women were leaders in anti-colonial struggles and in advancing women’s rights on the global level. The chapters capture the broader picture of their lives, the formal networks and politics in which they were involved, the ways in which anti-communist violence affected them and their struggles, as well as the informal connections and friendships that supported their activism at the national and international level.
In her talk de Haan will first sketch the main points in which this book challenges the existing historiography on both the history of communism and the history of the global women’s movement. She will then briefly present three of the case studies included, and will end with a short discussion of why this topic matters for our contemporary world. Marcel van der Linden (IISG) will provide comments.
Practicalities
Date: 9 January 2024
Time: 16:00 – 17:00 (with drinks afterwards)
Place: Cruquiusweg 31, Amsterdam
Entrance: Free of charge, but please register via secretar@iisg.nl
Biography
Francisca de Haan is Professor Emerita of Gender Studies and History at the Central European University (Vienna), and Fellow at the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam. Her main research interest is the history of inter/transnational women’s organizations and left women’s political activism, with a current focus on the Women’s International Democratic Federation, about which she is writing a monograph.
Her last two books are Rosa Manus (1881-1942): The International Life and Legacy of a Jewish Dutch Feminist (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2017), co-edited with Myriam Everard, and The Palgrave Handbook of Communist Women Activists around the World (Cham: Palgrave MacMillan, 2023).
Photo: Madame Nguyễn Thị Bình at an Anti-Vietnam War Demonstration in London, 4 July 1969
