Scenes from Paris with my former student and co-author Julia Mead

So delighted to see my former Bowdoin College student, Julia Mead, who is now a Ph.D. student in history at the University of Chicago. She is currently doing archival research in Prague and we rendezvoused in Paris for the Gender and Materiality conference at Sciences Po. We found some time to enjoy the pleasures of the City of Light –embracing the numinous!

New podcast episode with Rebecca Amsellem →

After completely failing to post a podcast in the month of September, I finally had the opportunity to record one spontaneously last night with the wonderful French-Canadian feminist activist, Rebecca Amsellem. We were basically fan-girling about Kollontai and I asked if we could record a podcast on my phone. It was a fun conversation!

_______

In this episode, Kristen Ghodsee interviews the French-Canadian feminist activist and fellow Kollontai aficionado, Rebecca Amsellem in Paris, France. Rebecca is the editor of a well-known feminist newsletter in France, Les Glorieuses, and she has contributed an essay a forthcoming edited volume about the impact Alexandra Kollontai has had on her life and work. In this conversation, Ansellem discusses Kollontai's views on love and revolution as well as why Kollontai is not better known in France.

The edited collection is called: Une bibliothèque féministe, out in October 2021

Rebecca will be speaking at 18:30 at the librairie à République in Paris: "Lancement et rencontre avec Agathe le Tailandier pour son livre " Ma bibliothèque féminite" + invitées surprises!"

The Les Glorieuses newsletter is a great way to practice your French! Rebecca also publishes two newsletter in English. If you want to keep abreast of French feminist politics and economics, look no further:

Impact: https://lesglorieuses.fr/les-newsletters/impact-eng/
Economics: https://lesglorieuses.fr/les-newsletters/economics/

Two new interviews in Spain's La Vanguardia and El Salto (in Spanish and Catalan)

So I was in Barcelona for a discussion with Gemma Ruiz at the Finestres bookstore, and I met with many Spanish and Catalan journalists. The first two features published today.

¿Tienen las mujeres mejor sexo bajo el socialismo?

Kristen Ghodsee: “El capitalismo no respeta a las madres, pero nos necesita, ¿quién va a comprar iPhone si dejamos de tener bebés?”

My grandmother

My grandmother passed away today and I was thousands of miles away. I had not seen her since before the pandemic, but I did speak to her last night for the last time. She was almost 94 and she died quickly, but it still feels awful. I will never have her fried plantains again.

My grandma, my mom, and me in Puerto Rico in 1972

My grandma, my mom, and me in Puerto Rico in 1972

My grandma, me, and my mom in 1999

My grandma, me, and my mom in 1999

My grandma in 2021 with her pandemic hair

My grandma in 2021 with her pandemic hair

Medicine for the People and The Belgian Workers Party Headquarters in Antwerp

I spent an absolutely wonderful day with the folks at Medicine for the People in Antwerp and with the activists and party leaders of the Belgian Workers Party at the invitation of Peter Mertens. It was a fantastic day and I learned a lot!

Dr. Sofie Blancke, Maartje De Vries, and Kristen Ghodsee at Medicine for the People

Dr. Sofie Blancke, Maartje De Vries, and Kristen Ghodsee at Medicine for the People

COMAC activists: Apolline Dupuis (middle)

COMAC activists: Apolline Dupuis (middle)

Peter Mertens and Kristen Ghodsee

Peter Mertens and Kristen Ghodsee

PTB:PVDA.jpg
Nadine and Kristen

Nadine and Kristen

The final cover design and blurb for Red Valkyries

Through a series of lively and accessible biographical essays, Red Valkyries explores the history of socialist feminism century Eastern Europe. By examining the revolutionary careers of five prominent socialist women active in the 19th and 20th centuries-the aristocratic Bolshevik, Alexandra Kollontai; the radical pedagogue, Nadezhda Krupskaya; the polyamorous firebrand, Inessa Armand; the deadly sniper, Lyudmila Pavlichenko; and the partisan turned scientist turned global women's activist, Elena Lagadinova-Kristen Ghodsee tells the story of the personal challenges faced by earlier generations of socialist and communist women. None of these women were "perfect" leftists. Their lives were filled with inner conflicts, contradictions, and sometimes outrageous privilege, but they still managed to move forward their own political projects through perseverance and dedication to their cause. Always walking a fine line between the need for class solidarity and the desire to force their sometimes callous male colleagues to take women's issues seriously, these five women pursued novel solutions with lessons for activists of today. In brief conversational chapters-with plenty of concrete examples from the history of the state socialist countries in Eastern Europe and contemporary reflections on the status of women in the world today-Ghodsee renders the big ideas of socialist feminism accessible to those newly inspired by the emancipatory politics of insurgent left feminist movements around the globe.

Red Valkeries final cover.jpg

Coming in July 2022!

An amazing venue in Second Life

I am so pleased with the avatar and the venue built for me by Ruby (Ana Victoria Valladares Rubi) who did most of the creative work on this amazing virtual space. We have not one, but two, of Talin’s Towers to welcome you into the venue. It’s at noon (New York Time) at the Second Life Book Club. Also thanks to Draxtor (Bernhard Drax) for organizing it all.

secondlife-postcard.jpg