Authors

Discussion

While the Cold War seems to correspond mainly to the logic of male dominance, recent studies unambiguously show that women had a role to play as well (Cîrstocea & Thébaud 2023; Bonfiglioli 2016; de Haan 2023; Donert 2022). The presentation is dedicated to women’s transnational gatherings that took place in Tashkent and Havana, two cities at the Cold War periphery, marked by colonial histories, anti-colonialism, racialization and state socialist policies.  In my study I see the Cold War not only as constituting an immanent context for women’s transnational gatherings, but also as shaping their connections while simultaneously being itself shaped and (trans)formed by women’s activities, mobilities, and networks. The presentation is based on the archival documents (from the archives of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Russian Federation and the Regional Center of the Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF) in Havana, as well as the WIDF periodical publications. I will show that these two cities contributed to transmission of knowledge about women’s rights and ways of organizing women for solving social problems, including liquidation of illiteracy and organization of maternity care. At the same time, I will show that women’s gatherings included many conflicts as well as were impacted by state socialist surveillance and (self)censorship.