From Socialism to Social Media: Women's and Gender History in Post-Soviet Russia

Women's and gender history in Russia has been developing since the 1990s and began to be institutionalized in the 2000s and 2010s. Throughout that period, unfavorable intra-academic and sociopolitical conditions hindered its development. This article analyzes the strategies for legitimizing women's and gender history applied to establish a new field under these conditions. In the 2000s, these strategies included appeals to scale, geography, and a connection with the "generalized West," as well as highlighting the practical significance of women's and gender history and it connections to the classical heritage of the humanities and social sciences. Whereas scholars of this generation had little to do with activism and were not particularly active in the media, researchers in the 2010s started coming to women's and gender history by way of feminist activism and turning to social media and journalism to establish their authority within the academy.