“Crowns and Crosses: The Overlooked Power of the Riurikid Women in Kievan Rus’, 900-1100”
“The Woman Question in Russian Victorian Female Authorship: Images, Attitudes, and Anxieties”
“Resilient Mother, Heroic Father: Stalin’s Propaganda Machine in the Face of Nazi Invasion”
The Overlooked Power of the Riurikid Women in Kievan Rus’: This essay challenges the prevailing narrative that Riurikid women were passive figures in the history of Kievan Rus’. By tracing the political, diplomatic, and cultural influence of key princesses from Ol’ga of Pskov to Anne of Kiev, it uncovers a legacy of power often obscured by male-centered historiography. These women were not merely consorts and mothers—they were regents, strategists, and essential architects of the dynasty’s golden age.
The Woman Question in Russian Victorian Female Authorship: This essay explores how Russian women writers of the nineteenth century navigated authorship in a patriarchal literary world, using fiction to subtly engage with the “woman question.” As societal roles shifted and literacy spread, these authors offered complex, often conflicted portrayals of themselves and their place in a male-dominated culture. Their works reveal both a challenge to and a continuation of the restrictive ideals imposed by male-authored narratives.
Stalin’s Propaganda Machine in the Face of Nazi Invasion:This essay examines how Joseph Stalin weaponized gender roles in World War II-era propaganda to forge a unified Soviet identity and mobilize the nation for war. By casting the USSR as a feminine homeland under threat and the Red Army as its masculine protector, Stalin’s regime used carefully crafted narratives to instill loyalty, encourage sacrifice, and reinforce state power. Through posters, film, and song, Stalin created a gendered mythology of heroism and vulnerability that proved central to his totalizing vision of Soviet unity.
Feel free to reach out for access of my essays if any of these pique your interest!
Katherine Johnson 