Remaining a Ukrainian Woman: Normative Femininity as “Armor” in the Gulag

Join the Ukrainian Studies Program at the Harriman Institute, Columbia University for a presentation by Oksana Kis(National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine).

In the 1940-50s, tens of thousands of Ukrainian women were sentenced to long-term imprisonment in the Gulag for political charges. Their experiences of living in the most brutal conditions of the Soviet camps have not yet been the subject of special historical-anthropological research. This paper examines the personal memoires of Ukrainian female former prisoners of the Gulag in order to reveal women’s gendered behaviors and daily practices that sought to preserve their gender identities and thus counteract the dehumanizing effects of the camps. Some traditional women’s activities (housekeeping, singing, embroidering, religious celebrations, body care, etc.) which constituted core elements of the traditional concept of normative femininity were secretly practiced in the camps despite prohibitions and a lack of resources. They are considered gendered forms of non-violent resistance to the dehumanizing camp regime.