A scholarly journal from the Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES) Södertörn University, Stockholm.
Issue 2026, 1: Download.
Alexandra Biktimirova is a student at the HSE University in Moscow and a feminist activist. Research interests center on the intersections of feminism and Islam in the Volga-Ural region in Russia, as well as globally. Coordinated the exhibition Feminist Translocalities in Kazan in 2020. Research interests are gender, muslim women, and relationships between discourses of power and marginality.
Victoria Kravtsova is a Feminist researcher, NGO-worker and activist. Born in Smolensk, Russia. Initiated Feminist Translocalities – a queer feminist network between the former USSR, Germany, and sometimes other locales, as wel l as a platform for supporting projects – publications, exhibitions, seminars, podcasts etc. Research interests include the intersections of feminist, antiracist and decolonial struggles in the countries of the former USSR.
Södertörn University held a conference on the legacies of 1989, “Recasting the Peaceful Revolution”. The predominating perspective during the entire conference: the fall of communism was the result of popular pressure and protest from below, not of great-power politics. Much was to be celebrated the automn of 2009.
At the exact time that voices in the Swedish public debate increasingly questioned obstacles to women’s participation in professional work on an equal footing with men, the opposite tendency could be observed in Soviet Russian debates. Here an excerpt from a paper presented at the Aleksanteri Institute’s ninth annual conference.
During the Cold War each side produced propaganda which highlighted the differences between the two systems and peoples, “the others”. There were, however, also conceptions of “the other” derived from sporadic but real meetings, meetings which awoke curiosity and a willingness to establish closer relations. The Aleksanteri Institute’s ninth annual conference, “Cold War: Interactions Reconsidered”, held in Helsinki fall 2009, examined these more low-key contacts and varying interpersonal relations and attitudes.
In the Baltic countries, there is a great need for energy. The Nord Stream project is a power game in which Russia may come to strengthen its role.
Joachim Gauck was 50 years old when he first voted in a free, democratic election in the GDR. A conversation about power and powerlessness, culpability, and reconciliation. The opposite of Communism is individualism, he states.
István Rév opens the door to the Open Society Archives for a discussion about bloodshed as a poor gauge of a revolution, about honesty and decency as rare commodities, and about populism and utopianism.
One result of efforts to halt trafficking is that the situation of those at risk becomes more difficult. So say NGOs and researchers. When women are sent home, they end up in a more vulnerable position – often they go back to trafficking.
Thomas Acton describes how Romanies are always outsiders. He contends that it is impossible to be engaged in Romani Studies without also becoming part of the Romanies’ struggle.
Poles in Lithuania are a minority who want to strengthen their identity. They are now demanding to have their names spelled correctly in official records.
Joanna Mizelienska, lecturer in gender and queer studies, argues that it is difficult to apply queer theory in Poland. Can one speak of constructed sexual identities where gay rights are disregarded or violated?