Women, Nationalism, and Social Networks in the Habsburg Monarchy, 1848–1918

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Edited by Marta Verginella

Purdue University Press

Series: Central European Studies

258 Pages

Published 2023

Women, Nationalism, and Social Networks in the Habsburg Monarchy, 1848–1918 focuses on the lives of women in Southeastern Europe during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, exploring the intersection of gender and nationalism. By looking at a wide range of sources and employing rich historiography, this collection investigates the currents of women’s emancipatory efforts in a climate of conflicting assumptions relating to nationhood and nationalization. This book sheds light on a time when both women and nations were working to assert themselves, and how women promoted the national cause in an attempt to assume stronger roles in the public sphere. The volume studies areas that were nationally mixed and linguistically plural, thus pointing to the dynamic role of peripheries and pluralism affecting women’s approaches to and experience of nationalization. These essays speak to women’s agency as individuals and members of the social networks, and their roles in cultural, ethnic, and political movements in pluralistic societies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, thereby arguing that they “enacted” borders and were not simply acted on by them, while also elucidating the ways they transgress the borders.

Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction, by Marta Verginella

  1. Women National Activists on the Margins of the Habsburg Monarchy during the Long Nineteenth Century, by Irena Selišnik and Marta Verginella
  2. Patterns of Romanian Women’s Civil and Political Engagement in Nineteenth- and Early-Twentieth Century Transylvania and Hungary, by Oana Sorescu-Iudean and Vlad Popovici
  3. Linguistic Policy and Pedagogical Issues in the Schools of the Austro-Hungarian Littoral: The Participation of Women in Public Debate, by Natka Badurina
  4. The Slavic-Reciprocity Through the Female Gaze: Elizaveta de Vitte’s Travels for the Building of a Slavic Cultural Network Before World War I, by Cristina Cugnata
  5. Carolina Coen Luzzatto: A Jewish Journalist in Gorizia at the End of the Habsburg Empire, by Tullia Catalan
  6. Gender, Nation, and Transgression: The “Sevillian” Lola Montez, “Spanish Femininity,” and European Bohemia, by Xavier Andreu-Miralles
  7. The Painter Ivana Kobilca and Her Use of Social Networks, by Urška Strle and Beti Žerovc
  8. “My spirit is reaching to you with sympathy”: Zofka Kveder’s Correspondence as a Matrix of the Feminist Social Network of the Early Twentieth Century, by Katja Mihurko Poniž
    Select Bibliography
    Contributors
    Index

Authors

Marta Verginella is a full professor of history of the nineteenth century and theory of history at the University of Ljubljana. She currently is leading the European Research Council project titled “Post-war Transitions in Gendered Perspective: The Case of the North-Eastern Adriatic Region.” Her research interests include border and national studies, gender studies, transnational history, and the political use of history in the North Adriatic area. Along with numerous articles and essays, she is the author of six books, including Il confine degli altri (“The Border of the Others”) and Donne e confini (“Women and Borders”).

Praise

“A thoughtful and engaging book that brings new insights into the gendered fluidity of national identification in culturally pluralistic Southeastern Europe. Its focus on the ways especially intellectual women and artists moved in nationalist circles and at the same time could transcend social, cultural, and nationalist limits introduces us to the rich history of diversity as well as early feminism in the nationalist contexts of the region.” —Birgitta Bader-Zaar, Assistant Professor of History, University of Vienna

“The book offers a gendered perspective on the history of the Habsburg Monarchy and beyond, exploring the regions that were shared between the Russian and Ottoman empires specifically focusing on women’s life stories. By examining the periphery and exploring transcultural experiences, the book contributes to the much-needed comprehensive and nuanced understanding of professional and private dilemmas women faced during the fin de siècle period, shedding light on often overlooked cultural activities of women, highlighting the cultural diversity and heterogeneity of the urban centers in Central and Southeastern Europe.” —Andrea Peto, Professor, Central European University, Vienna, Austria

“The reader is left to savor the richness of examples in the edited volume and eagerly anticipate more further enlightening case studies from other parts of the Empire and underrepresented perspectives, such as antinationalist and working-class women. ” —CEU Review of Books

“The volume complements the discussion about the conflict between feminist and nationalist movements by tracing the genealogies of individual biographies from which feminist movements later evolved.” —European Journal of Women’s Studies

“The volume edited by Marta Verginella is an innovative example of in-depth and comparative research on women’s networks and biographies on the fringes of the Habsburg Monarchy.” —Hungarian Studies Review

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