A Very Feminist Study Abroad
I was settled into my usual Sunday morning routine in early March in the Milstein Center with my roommate and her cup of coffee when I decided to search for study abroad programs. I stumbled on the description: delve into feminist and queer theory while conducting field research in the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, and Czech Republic. The more I read, the more the program described my niche interests within Women’s and Gender Studies, particularly in regard to the intersection of gender studies and the Holocaust. My Barnard advisor and I had spoken about how difficult it was to find Women’s and Gender Studies programs abroad that compare to Barnard’s rigorous and complex department, but I had a feeling she would approve of this program.
The Barnard study abroad office swiftly filled out my forms before my application deadline just five days away. The process happened quickly, but it all felt right. I was excited at the idea of being with a small cohort of students, visiting multiple countries without having to plan most of the logistics myself, and visiting sites that related to my family history.
The program began in Utrecht, a city about thirty minutes outside of Amsterdam, with a feminist interdisciplinary conference called NOISE at Utrecht University, one of the best universities for Women’s and Gender Studies in the world. My cohort of twenty students studied alongside masters and PhD students throughout the week, listening to lectures and participating in discussion sections in the afternoon. In the evenings we participated in social events and got lost on kayaks in the canals that run through Utrecht with the other students who came from around the world.
Our group was greeted in Berlin four weeks later by a community of women we were connected to through our site coordinator, Ipek, a social worker and feminist DJ. My friend Hannah and I stayed with Robin in Kreuzberg. Robin teaches teen girls music and helps them form their own rock bands to promote girls’ empowerment. Our main professor and program director from Carleton College, Iveta Jusova, traveled with us and guided all of our class sessions which were not guest lectures. In Berlin we dove into feminist theory with Iveta and read Foucault’s History of Sexuality. Some of my favorite guest lectures were with disability rights activist Rebecca Maskos, and our tour of Berlin with through the lens of gentrification and community. In each country there were optional weekend excursions, and in Berlin we went to a mineral bath and springs spa and learned about how this is an activity that is affordable and part of German life to promote self care and relaxation.
When we left each city and moved to the next, we always looked forward to seeing something new, and were nostalgic for what we were leaving behind. In Poland, I was struck by the work of Joanna Talewicz-Kwiatkowska, who is the first Roma woman to get a PhD. Joanna spoke to us about the history of the marginalization of Roma people in Europe, and their persecution during the Holocaust. As a half Jewish, half Roma woman, she spoke about her experiences within both communities. In Poland and the Czech Republic, we learned about the complex history of communism that I had never experienced before in my American classrooms. We studied communism from a gendered perspective, and noticed how, for example, women were able to gain more autonomy because the government valued them as workers and there was access to childcare.
We continued these discussions in Prague, and met with the dissident Jirina Soklova in her apartment which was the first Gender Studies library in the Czech Republic. Jirina Soklova is a sociologist, and under communism was able to resist and communicate with people in London by using a secret code and a science fiction book. She continues to travel as an activist, but in her old age sometimes cannot remember when or where she is going next, so she always has a backpack by the door ready for when someone comes to pick her up for her next event. Her spirit and accomplishments reminded me of how she could be a woman as respected as Ruth Bader Ginsburg is in the U.S. but in the Czech Republic. Many of my friends and family have asked me what my favorite location was, but what stuck with me most was our course called Situated Feminisms, where we learned about the political and social conditions of each country that served as the context of their activist and feminist movements.
In between all of these phenomenal class sessions and lectures, our group bonded over our shared conversations and experiences. We watched the queer edition of Are You The One together, jumped in canals, went to feminist dance parties, ate countless perogies in Poland with our professors and friends, and even learned a thing or two about the state of bed bugs in Europe (more likely because of the lack of dryers!) The program ended with a dinner where we wrote farewell notes to one another to read on the plane. We were happy and sad at the same time to be leaving each other — I was sad to leave these new friends and experiences, but I felt so excited to reunite with Barnard and my friends, professors, and communities and apply what I have learned abroad at home.