FEMINISM, THE MURDERER OF MOTHERS (original) (raw)
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The decade of economic and political-social transition in Central Eastern Europe has had modest success in the development of a market economy and in the harmonization of political structures and legal frame-works with those of the European Union (EU). A number of issues, however, remain unaddressed; issues which concern civil society and local cultural traditions as well as individual and collective needs and responsibilities. Hungarian citizens are well informed about the global economy and politics. When it comes to knowledge of such matters as civic participation in political processes, social and cultural discourses about human rights - and their relevance to particular social groups, such as ethnic or religious groups and women or others experiencing poverty - Hungarian society displays definite shortcomings. The causes of this lack of social sensitivity, this paucity of public discourse about the emerging social, political and cultural values of the transition era, are not readily evident and should be investigated. In particular, the peculiarities of the social processes involved in the transition from communist rule to the new pluralism and the market economy should be analyzed, because they seem to gravitate towards the exclusion of women from politics and work opportunities, and the silencing of women by drawing on outdated arguments derived from patriarchal traditions. It seems somewhat ironic that while the values of a consumer society and popular culture are being promoted in Hungary, women's concerns are not being addressed. Besides tracing post-1989 attitudes toward women's roles in society, this paper aims to offer some explanations of why women's concerns are not in the forefront of Hungarian public consciousness, and to throw some light on the factors that contribute to negative attitudes to women's issues in this era of political and social transformation. This paper will also suggest that in order to begin the process of remedying these deficiencies and shortcomings, Hungarian society - instead of looking entirely to Western European and North American models for solutions - should try to reclaim the rich legacy of Hungarian feminism, a feminism that has grown out of national roots and traditions.
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Feminist Responses to the Right-wing Governance in Hungary: The Emergence of Anti-gender Feminism
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This dissertation employs ethnographic data about Hungary's feminist activist and academic circles to explore the impacts of right-wing anti-gender politics on feminist activists and scholars in Hungary. The right-wing anti-gender context presented multiple challenges to the feminist actors, such as increased visibility of their work in a hostile climate and decreased political and financial support. Feminist actors coped with the restrictive political context by either openly opposing the right-wing politics, self-censoring, deploying strategic language and activities, or leaving the country. The right-wing Anti-gender climate also contributed to the intensification of the debates among various feminist groups. The debates focused on finding feminist strategies for surviving within the hostile, right-wing anti-gender context. I argue that the tensions brought to the Hungarian feminist movement by the right-wing, anti-gender climate contributed to the emergence and discursive dominance of what I call antigender feminism. Anti-gender feminist discourse is articulated as a "new" and "progressive" feminist strategy for overcoming the critiques of gender-related work by right-wing anti-gender actors. Anti-gender feminism is grounded in a particular articulation of leftist perspectives and claims that the feminist movement must center on the needs of the majority of women and appeal to the sensibilities of "everyday people". According to this discourse, a leftist perspective allows for overcoming the failings of liberal feminist approaches, for example, West-imposed identitarian struggles. According to anti-gender feminist arguments, such approaches dismiss the structural reasons for inequalities affecting the wider public and result in hostility towards feminist initiatives. In its desire to appeal to the wider masses, and operate without interference from the right-wing government, anti-gender feminist discourse distances itself from other marginalized struggles such as trans and sex-workers' rights and racial justice. It also brings feminist arguments dangerously close to the white-supremacist, nationalist-populist rhetoric of the Hungarian state. This dissertation would not have been possible without the support and guidance from my supervisor, David Murray. I want to express my deepest gratitude for his kindness, patience, and insightful critique through the whole process of writing and multiple revisions. I also want to wholeheartedly thank the members of my committee, Amar Wahab and Allyson Mitchell. I thank them for their support, feedback, and for sitting with me through the long meetings as I struggled to find answers to my numerous questions about conducting the research, research ethics, fieldwork, and my relationship with the topic of this thesis. Special thanks to Aniko Gregor, who accepted a role as my academic mentor during my time in Budapest, and who helped me navigate the fieldwork. I also wish to extend special thanks to Ruby Rowan who coached me through my writing process, encouraged me, and checked in on me weekly. Finally, thanks to Naomi Lang for careful and precise copy-edits. I owe deep gratitude to the participants of my research. Formal and informal conversations with them are the ground upon which I built this dissertation. I thank them for our lovely discussions, for the insights and critiques they provided, for inviting me into their workplaces and in their homes, for treating me with tea and cookies, and sometimes even a homemade dinner. Many thanks go to my family, who despite the vast distance between Canada and Georgia, were there to support me in my dissertation journey, every step of the way. Thank you Lika Tsirekidze and Temuri Rekhviashvili, for your unconditional love and trust. Thank you Lela Rekhviashvili, for your interest in my research subject. I thank you for providing a perfect mix of academic guidance and sisterly support, and knowing when they were needed the most. Thank you, Niko Rekhviashvili, for silently but consistently showing your support and for offering space for taking a break from my doctoral life in your cozy Brooklyn apartment. I could not have gone through the journey of writing this dissertation without my friends,
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