BASEES celebrates International Women's Day 2019

All this week over on Twitter, @BASEES has been celebrating International Women’s Day with daily “themed” calls to nominate notable women. We’ve invited you to propose your favourite fictional character from Slavic literature, your most inspiring academic colleague, the most significant women in Slavic history and culture, and, of course, Slavic women writers and translators! The result has been an outpouring of appreciation and gratitude from men and women alike, and a real celebration of women’s achievements and scholarship in the field of Slavic studies. Amanda M. Williams, a PhD candidate at Leeds University, tweeted, “For #IWD2019, I want to specifically highlight and thank women scholars who have inspired my own work: Sheila Fitzpatrick, Paula Michaels, Tricia Starks, Frances Bernstein, Deborah Field, Melanie Illic, Svetlana Boym & many others.” Professor Mark Cornwall (University of Southampton) thanked, “Three women historians of East Central Europe who have inspired me through their research and help: Dagmar Hajková (Prague), Iskra Iveljić (Zagreb) and Petra Svoljšak (Ljubljana) [and] two other inspirational Habsburg historians from Transleithania: Agnes Deák (Budapest) and Judit Pál (Cluj)”. Among women who have contributed to the reception of Slavic culture abroad, the translators Constance Garnett (Russian-English), Marta Rebón (Russian-Spanish), Celia Hawkesworth (Croatian-English) and the art critic Camilla Gray were mentioned – among many others. For some, the twitter bump was a chance to praise colleagues and mentors sadly no longer with us. Steven Seegel, Professor of History at the University of Northern Colorado, thanked “[m]y Brown U mentor Patricia Herlihy, historian of Odessa, the grain trade, vodka, & Russia's alcoholic empire, passed away in Oct 2018 at the age of 88. She was one of the very first women in the field, earning her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1963. How I miss her”.  The late Dostoevsky scholar Dr Diane Thompson (University of Cambridge) was also fondly recalled. Dr Sarah Hudspith (Leeds) reminded us that Slavists start young by thanking “most importantly my secondary school Russian teacher Jo Naish without whom none of it would have happened.” Thank you all for sharing your memories and inspirations, and please keep them coming – just tag @BASEES when you tweet!

A small reminder that nominations for next year’s BASEES Women’s Forum prizes from books and articles published in 2018 are open – find out more here: http://basees.org/basees-womens-forum-prizes  The deadline for nominations is July 1, 2019.

С праздником 8 марта and a very happy International Women’s Day to all our female members, colleagues, students, and supporters!