ABSTRACT
Most scholars who write on gender in Central-Eastern Europe and Eurasia either explicitly or implicitly write case studies, in which they systematically examine one place as a singular entity. Very few studies systematically compare gender in different country cases. Through an analysis of a selection of substantial qualitative case and comparative studies within political science, cultural anthropology, and sociology—with a focus on women’s organizing and factors shaping their political behavior, and particularly in Russia, which has been privileged in the field—the chapter shows that there are important tradeoffs when working in these various disciplines, such as between specificity and generalizability, and between participatory action research and maintaining analytical distance from research subjects. At the same time, there seems to be some cross-pollination across disciplines, with gender studies scholars trained in all three disciplines engaging in empirically rich work that is committed to amplifying the voices of the women participating in research projects.
