NORA – Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research; Guest Editor: Yuliya Yurchuk (Södertörn Univ.) (Web)

Proposals by: 15.12.2025

The year 2026 will mark a centennial after Ellen Key’s (1849-1926) death. NORA will dedicate a special issue to a critical approach to Ellen Key’s legacy within the feminist thought and feminist movement in Eastern, South-Eastern, and Central Europe.
Ellen Key was a key figure in the history of feminist thought in the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Her ideas about women, marriage, motherhood, gender equality, upbringing and education, interior design and the ways of living shaped not only the feminist discourse of her time but also the intellectual discussions at large. While Key’s influence is well-documented in Western European and North American feminist circles, less attention has been given to her reception and intellectual legacy in Eastern, South-Eastern, and Central Europe. This special issue seeks to address this gap by looking at the transnational networks that carried her ideas across borders, the ways in which these ideas were refracted through local political, cultural, and social contexts, and how they shaped feminist thought in the region.
We welcome contributions that critically examine how Key’s works were circulated, received, interpreted, and adapted in the diverse and politically turbulent regions of Eastern, South-Eastern, and Central Europe during Ellen Key’s life and after her death. By this issue, NORA will connect developments of the feminist thought and feminist movements in Nordic countries with the feminist intellectual discussions and feminist and women’s movements in Eastern, South-Eastern, and Central Europe.

We invite contributions that address, but are not limited to, the following topics:
– Reception History: How did feminist thinkers, activists, and intellectuals in Eastern, South-Eastern, and Central Europe engage with Ellen Key’s works? What were the key works and ideas that were circulated in the region? Who were the actors who were most engaged in exchange of ideas?… read more and source (Web)