Promotional Information

A study of the changes in women's roles in postcommunist Bulgarian society and the workplace, focusing on the tourism industry

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1. Shattered Windows, Broken Lives 21
2. Making Mitko Tall 43
3. The Red Riviera 76
4. To the Wolves: Tourism and Economic Transformation 115
5. Feminism-by-Design 151
Appendix A: Tables 175
Appendix B: Formal Interviews 182
Notes 189
Glossary 209
Selected Bibliography 211
Index 223

About the Author

Kristen Ghodsee is the John S. Osterwies Associate Professor in Gender and Women’s Studies at Bowdoin College.

Reviews

"Where are the women in globalized tourism? On the Bulgarian beach front! Yes, the Bulgarian beach front. The Red Riviera takes us along on the surprising journeys that thirty-something, orange-haired Desi and the younger Svetla are navigating as they steer their ways through the postsocialist, capitalist market tourism economy. Suddenly we see waitressing as a privileged job; we see university entries shrinking; we see the whole meaning of being a woman in a tourism job changing. This is an engaging, smart, and feminist book."--Cynthia Enloe, author of The Curious Feminist: Searching for Women in a New Age of Empire "The Red Riviera explores gendered inequalities in Bulgaria's postsocialist tourist industry, focusing on the forces and factors that have enabled women, in particular, to dominate this sector. Kristen Ghodsee's well-written study adds provocatively to debates on cultural capital and capitalism, gender, and postsocialist transformation."--Gail Kligman, coauthor of The Politics of Gender after Socialism "This engaging book draws readers into unfamiliar tourist playgrounds in Bulgaria. Kristen Ghodsee deftly intertwines ethnographies with widely held assumptions about how the transition from communism to the free market affected the economy, the society, and the people. Tourism has rewarded the highly educated women who dominate the industry. She further questions the relevance of women's NGOs which emphasize non-economic issues rather than focusing on education and jobs."--Irene Tinker, author of Street Foods: Urban Food and Employment in Developing Countries "[A]n engaging and approachable ethnography of post-socialist Bulgaria... Admittedly, chapter 3 ... was my favorite for its sheer freshness of information and perspective... Under its serious consideration of economic transition and women's lives, The Red Riviera is also the raciest ethnography of Eastern Europe yet."--Jennifer Cash, Soyuz: The Research Network for Postcolonial Studies "This engaging and compelling volume is of interest to women's studies scholars, but also political scientists, sociologists and anthropologists interested in Eastern Europe. Its clear style makes it an accessible reading for students at all levels."--Lavinia Stan, Women's Studies International Forum "Ms. Ghodsee brings a sharp eye to post-Communist change." --Nina C. Ayoub, the Chronicle of Higher Education