Faculty research and various courses examine cultural forms, social relations, and economic developments in the state socialist and post-socialist eras. Some courses and research directions examine the status and practice of women’s activism and gender politics during state socialism, as well as how gender functions in current political discourses such as “demographic crises” or the backlash against “communist ideologies.” Further, faculty research examines the nature of gendered labor in the socialist era, as well as within new capitalist structures and some research the role of women in contemporary neo-conservative movements in this region. Still other research and courses problematize how people in post-state socialist societies are “raced” (that is, defined as white or non-white) in various ways through regional nationalist discourse and through anti-immigration discourses in Western Europe. Finally, some analyze cultural productions in the region, for example how gender identities, memories of war, or cultural legacies of socialism are negotiated through various cultural texts, especially in literature and popular culture.