Freedom Taking Place: War, Women and Culture at the Intersection of Ukraine, Poland, and Belarus [Hardback] by Svitlana Biedarieva, Jessica Zychowicz, Maria Mayerchyk, Nataliya Tchermalykh, Oksana Briukhovetska, Magdalena Furmanik-Kowalska, Małgorzata Jankowska, Olga Plakhotnik, Kateryna Iakovlenko, Joanna Dobkowska-Kubacka, Veranika Laputska, Antonina Stebur, Agnieszka Graff, Natallia Paulovich, Iryna Shuvalova, Jessica Zychowicz

'Freedom Taking Place: War, Women and Culture at the Intersection of Ukraine, Poland, and Belarus' is a compelling and original collection. The richness of the sources and the interdisciplinary nature of the methodology is very impressive. [...] The reflection on self-positionality and opening a conversation about the work on the intersection of activism and academic commitment is long overdue in East European studies. I am convinced that this book can become a very strong addition to many courses on Eastern Europe, and feminism as well as courses on art history and gender studies. [...] This book will be a great and important accomplishment.

Anna Muller

Frank and Mary Padzieski Endowed Professor in Polish/Polish American/Eastern European Studies

Assistant Professor of History

University Michigan-Dearborn

This volume, edited by the distinguished expert on women's condition in Eastern and Central Europe, Dr. Jessica Zychowicz, is chock full of conceptual insights and empirical data that elucidate women’s struggles to unbound their agency and remove structural constrain to their creativity in three neighboring nations of Ukraine, Poland, and Belarus. Must read for those dealing with gender studies and social transformations of East and Central European nations.

Pavlo Fedorchenko-Kutuyev

Professor and Chair of the Sociology Department

Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute

Ukraine

The edited volume presents in-depth analyses of the extraordinary challenges faced by women in Ukraine, Poland and Belarus. The authors show women of Eastern Europe as core agents of social change behind historic movements, including the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine, anti-state protests in Belarus in 2021-22, and the “Black Protests” in Poland. This collection is a must-read for scholars and students of women’s rights and Eastern Europe, as it analyzes the interplay between war and feminism, identity and reproductive rights, violence against women, and gender equality in a fast-changing part of the world.

Prof. Dr. Sophia Wilson

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville;

President, American Association for Ukrainian Studies