270 Ioana CÎRSTOCEA, Learning Gender after the Cold War: Contentious Feminisms, Palgrave Macmillan, 2022, ISBN 978-3-030-97887-7, 412 p. Review by Bogdan VIȘAN Faculty of Letters, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University Iași, Romania visan0bogdan@gmail.com Despite its daring enterprise of “decoding” the genealogy of feminism(s) and gender studies in formerly socialist Eastern European countries, Ioana Cîrstocea’s thoroughgoing volume, Learning Gender after the Cold War: Contentious Feminisms, has received scarce attention since its first edition was issued in French in 2019. This book covers the decade of the transition, i.e., the period following the fall of the Berlin Wall, up until the 2000s. Broadly, it advances an interdisciplinary sociological and geopolitical exploration of the transnational networks of circulation of feminist ideas and practices as a common ground for Eastern and Western women involved in knowledge production on “gender.” The main aim is to unravel the intricate national and international dynamics of how feminist thought gets integrated into the civic and educational platforms of ex-socialist countries. Moreover, the study approaches feminism and “gender” as liberalization and democratization tools specific to a neoliberal world, examining their institutionalization through philanthropic funding. Setting out to grasp the role of expert discourse on gender, of radical feminist activism, and of academic contributions to gender studies and feminism, Cîrstocea’s project offers an overview not solely of a “traveling theory,” as Edward Said termed it, but also of essential individuals—intermediaries of theory and practice from East and West alike—for the discussion on “gender.” The first chapter, “(Re)Making ‘Gender’, (Un)Making ‘Eastern Europe’. Introduction,” expands upon the methodology employed and surveys the meanings attributed to “gender” and “Eastern Europe” by aligning and interrelating the two. For instance, Ioana Cîrstocea credits socialist ideology for its emphasis on gender equality, but she also reminds us of the widespread criticism directed at socialist ideas within the international political scene. Whereas “[w]omen-friendly bills and policies establishing equality in all areas of social life” (8) were adopted in the states from the former “Soviet bloc,” it was only within a liberal climate that women’s