History is not fixed and unchanging, and the way we think about the concept of nation can affect the way we talk about the past. This also applies to the history of music. Let me give you an example. In volume 2 of his seminal book on music history, The Oxford History of Western Music, the late Richard Taruskin talks about the circle of fifths, a diagram that helps you visually organize Western music theory’s 12 chromatic pitches for learning purposes. He mentions that the circle of fifths first appeared in a Russian music theory book published in Moscow in 1679, decades before Western music theorists began to talk about it. However, the book itself was not originally Russian, but was translated from Polish. Moreover, the author was a Ukrainian clergyman and singing teacher who was born in Kyiv, at that time part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth with Krakow as its capital.
When Taruskin published his book in 2004, the background for the first appearance of the circle of fifths was just an interesting anecdote referring to the ethnic and linguistic diversity of Eastern Europe in the 17th century. But how can — or should — one speak of it after February 24, 2022, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine? How do you even pronounce the name of the Ukrainian cleric? Nikolai Diletsky, following the Russian form as published in the first edition, or Mykola Diletsky, in the Ukrainian form, as he was born in Kyiv and is considered part of Ukrainian music history?
By
Gergely Fazekas
September 18, 2024
Countries in the Baltics and Central and Eastern Europe have been called home by some of the great composers of music history, and the region hosts some of the world’s most prestigious higher classical music education institutions. Despite this fact, Liisamaija Hautsalo states in her essay, the last of this section, that the Finnish-born composer Kaija Saariaho was perceived as being from “a faraway periphery” when she moved in the classical music circles of France, Germany and the US. In a scholarly context I was recently told that (post-communist) Central and Eastern European institutions are not representative of European higher classical music education. The person making this statement obviously assumed that European higher classical music education happens in the UK, or maybe in Germany and Austria. While I did not agree, this feedback speaks volumes about how classical music and higher classical music education is constructed as belonging to Western Europe in international academic debate today. In this special section the authors wish to problematize the role of nation and gender in higher classical music education, and the classical music contexts this education operates in, by focusing on the Baltic and Central and Eastern European region. By doing so we put the assumed Western European identity of classical music and higher classical music education in question.
By
Ann Werner
September 18, 2024
Since 1994 anti-genderism has emerged as a new participant in the discourse on sex education. One of the biggest targets of anti-genderism is public schools, where it is claimed that pupils are being indoctrinated with “gender theory”. Anti-genderism obstructs the implementation of sex education in various countries in Europe. Anti-genderist rhetoric and its interface with sex education has been analyzed up till now either as a right-wing or as a Russian propaganda narrative, only sporadically mentioning their common traits. Applying deductive content analysis, this research examined how sex education is utilized by anti-genderism. Sex education is portrayed as a frontline discipline that holds immense power to either distort or protect “traditional values” and sovereignty. Parents are depicted as powerless against sex education. Insights about approaching sex education and radical positions related to it are addressed in the discussion section.
By
Akvilė Giniotaitė
September 18, 2024
At a time where many public debates are informed by the ongoing full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, we thought it would be important to further explore the relation between controversies of gender, sexuality, reproduction – what can be labelled the “culture war” – and the actual military war. Four scholars on feminist and anti-gender politics were invited to discuss this topic from various angles on the roundtable “Exploring the links between the culture war and the actual war” at CBEES Annual Conference 2023 on the war and its effects.
By
Hansalbin Sältenberg et al
April 23, 2024
The groups that drive the idea of a dangerous, destructive gender ideology are well organised and are gaining ground, but there are also counter movements that are growing stronger, the author argues.
By
Anna-Maria Sörberg
May 26, 2020
The authors argue that the current situation of neoliberal capitalism, nationalism, anti-feminism, and racism poses similar (but not identical) threats in different parts of the world, which in turn structures parallel but locally performed resistance. Efforts to create feminist unity in the name of gender studies across different sets of borders also inevitably unveils the cracks and differences dividing feminist communities.
By
Katarina Giritli-Nygren and Angelika Sjöstedt Landén
May 26, 2020
Since the emergence of #NiUnaMenos [Not One Less] in 2015, feminism has become widespread in Argentina. In this essay the authors aim to offer an exploratory account of the conditions that have made this unusual scenario possible. In particular, they consider how the heterogeneous groups that gathered under the scream “Ni Una Menos!” have become part of a feminist “us”.
Essay by
Mercedes Barros and Natalia Martinez
May 25, 2020
The purpose of this article is to analyze the processes followed by feminisms in Argentina, the demands and articulations that emerged and opened the possibility of a historical momentum in which these are at the center of the political scene. The author explores the existence — or not — of the articulations of identities that would embody the construction of counter-hegemonies based on demands around the expansion of rights, which allows the linking of the struggle of feminist movements with others.
Essay by
Graciela Di Marco
May 25, 2020
Ni Una Menos (literally meaning “Not one less”, standing for “not one woman less”) is the signifier that has become the name of a whole popular feminist movement.
By
Paula Biglieri
May 25, 2020
Argentina has experienced a wave of emerging feminism in recent years. Feminist organizations seems to be appearing everywhere.
By
Jenny Ingridsdotter
May 25, 2020