Published in 2020
424 pages
Jessica Zychowicz is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Alberta in the Contemporary Ukraine Studies Program (CUSP) and was recently a U.S. Fulbright Scholar at Kyiv-Mohyla University. She earned her doctorate at the University of Michigan.
What is this book about?
Superfluous Women tells the unique story of a generation of artists, feminists, and queer activists who emerged in Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union. With a focus on new media, Zychowicz demonstrates how contemporary artist collectives in Ukraine have contested Soviet and Western connotations of feminism to draw attention to a range of human rights issues with global impact.
In the book, Zychowicz summarizes and engages with more recent critical scholarship on the role of digital media and virtual environments in concepts of the public sphere. Mapping out several key changes in newly independent Ukraine, she traces the discursive links between distinct eras, marked by mass gatherings on Kyiv’s main square, in order to investigate the deeper shifts driving feminist protest and politics today.
