The Prehistoric Goddess of the Late Twentieth Century: Transnational Feminist Reception, Construction and Appropriation of Marija Gimbutas By Rasa Navickaitė Submitted to Central European University Department of Gender Studies In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Supervisor: Professor Susan Zimmermann CEU eTD Collection Budapest, Hungary 2019 Declaration I hereby declare that no parts of this dissertation have been submitted towards a degree at any other institution, other than CEU, and that this work contains no unreferenced ideas or materials previously written and/or published by other authors. CEU eTD Collection ii Abstract This dissertation presents a transnational biography and reception history of Marija Gimbutas (1921-1994) – a renowned Lithuanian-American archaeologist, and an advocate of the theory of the peaceful, egalitarian, gynocentric and Goddess-centered prehistoric civilization of “Old Europe”. Gimbutas’ utopian antimodernist vision became a source of inspiration for a variety of socio-political movements (environmentalist, feminist, neo-pagan, among others) in diverse geographical contexts, on both sides of and transgressing the “Iron Curtain”, starting with the 1970s and reaching a peak during the 1990s. This dissertation analyzes how Gimbutas’ work and persona were received, constructed and appropriated, and sometimes rejected, in diverse contexts, namely, archaeology and feminist archaeology, the feminist spirituality movement in the United States and post-socialist Lithuanian feminism. The dissertation combines historical methods with theoretical perspectives developed in feminist and postcolonial/postsocialist studies to produce a critical account of Gimbutas’ life and work, as well as to discuss how various actors have related to and made use of her ideas. In doing so, it sheds light on some questions of broader theoretical and historiographical significance for feminism and critical gender scholarship transnationally. Examining feminist activist and scholarly engagement with Gimbutas’ controversial vision of Old Europe, this dissertation reveals some of the “political ambivalence” inherent to feminism, considered as simultaneously a product and a critique of modernity. In particular, this dissertation interrogates questions of scientific objectivity, gender essentialism, and Eurocentrism, as they appear in the feminist debates and gender politics, centered around Gimbutas’ work and persona. Focusing on the figure of Gimbutas this dissertation challenges the narrative of Western feminism as “the norm”, and Eastern Europe as only a recipient of feminist ideas and politics. Instead, it proposes an alternative history, where women’s politics both in “the East” and “the West” have been shaped by the Cold War division of the world, and continue to be affected by other transnational hierarchies, divisions and encounters. Much of the interest in Gimbutas’ theory of Old Europe can be understood as a symptom of the general disappointment with the traditional ideologies of the Left and Right around the time of the fall of the “Iron Curtain”, and a search for CEU eTD Collection alternative moral frameworks in the period, often characterized as “postmodern” and/or “postsocialist” – the 1980s and the 1990s. iii Acknowledgements The research for this dissertation was supported financially by the Central European University, the German Academic Exchange Service, the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies and the Lithuanian Foundation. I would like to thank my supervisor Susan Zimmermann for her thorough and insightful feedback on the work in progress, as well as for her honest and respectful approach to my ideas. She provided me with an exemplary model of academic integrity, and her comments enabled me to grow as a gender historian and as an academic. Thank you also to the CEU faculty members who read my work and gave insightful feedback during PhD and Faculty meetings, as well as the Thesis writing seminar, Francisca de Haan and Eszter Timar in particular. I would like to thank Vera Eliasova for providing me with academic writing advice. I would like to thank my fellow CEU doctoral students for their feedback and for heartwarming company outside the classroom: Ráhel Katalin Turai, Éva Mihalovics, Andres Sarabia, Helena Lopes Braga, Parigya Sharma, Heather Tucker. I would like to thank in particular my flatmate Abigail Bratcher, who made all the difference during the third year of this journey. I want to thank Mineke Bosch, Anne-Marie Korte, Berteke Waaldijk, Babs Boter and Rozemarie van der Wal, for being so generous with their time, giving insightful feedback and showing how welcoming the Dutch academia can be. I would like to thank the librarians at Herder Institute in Marburg, especially Mandy Barke, for their professionalism and generosity. I would also like to thank Jennifer Maxon from the OPUS Archives and Research Center, not only for her help as an archivist, but also for keeping me company during my stay at the Pacifica Graduate Institute. I would like to thank Rasa Gimbutaitė for welcoming me at her house in Topanga, and Živilė Gimbutaitė for helping to arrange my visit. I would like to thank Joan Marler, Mara Lynn Keller and Miriam Simos – Starhawk, for welcoming me in San Francisco and talking with me about Gimbutas. I want to thank Karla Gruodis, Viktorija Daujotytė, Solveiga Daugirdaitė, Violeta Kelertienė, Marija Aušrinė Pavilionienė, Aušra Pažėraitė and Giedrė Purvaneckienė for sharing CEU eTD Collection their thoughts about Lithuanian feminism. I would like to thank all my friends in Vilnius for helping me survive through the period of archival research, in particular Dovilė Jakniūnaitė, Rima Bertašavičiūtė, Gintaras Dautartas, and, of course, Egidijus Mardosas. I am especially grateful also for my friends from the “Utrecht circle” for their iv continuous support and invaluable feedback on my work, as well as being the best friends one can ask for: Gianmaria Colpani, Laura Candidatu, Adriano José Habed, Mari Pitkanen, Natashe Lemos Dekker, Vasso Belia, Elisa Fiori, Gisela Carasco Miró. I would especially like to thank Katrine Smiet for her care and support, including academic survival advice, that she has so generously provided me with for more than seven years of my life. I would like to thank also the people, who have provided me with shelter in my many academic travels, or when I simply needed a temporary home: Eileen Boris and Nelson Lichtenstein in Santa Barbara; Sabina and Vilius Kubekai in Marburg; Mo Zündorf in Cologne; Aistė Ambrasė in Tübingen; Egidijus Mardosas, Romanas Kudriašiovas, Rugilė Trumpytė, Ignas Krasauskas, Jūratė Juškaitė, Birutė Sabatauskaitė, Erika Grigoravičienė, Paulius Ambrazevičius, Kristina Ambrazevičienė, Tadas Balza in Vilnius; Matthew Signer in Stanford; Freya de Mink, Marielle Zill, Zerrin Cengiz in Utrecht; Natashe Lemos Dekker and Arvid van Dam in Amsterdam. I also want to thank Tegiye Birey for providing me with more than home in the last year of this journey. Finally, I would especially like to thank my parents, Gražina Navickienė and Genius Navickas, for sharing everything they have with me and supporting me so much, especially when it is the hardest. CEU eTD Collection v List of Abbreviations AABS –Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies Civilization of the Goddess – The Civilization of the Goddess: The World of Old Europe DP – Displaced people KGB - Committee for State Security of the Soviet Union MMNL – Martynas Mažvydas National Library OPUS – Opus Archive and Research Center OSF – Open Society Foundation SSR – Soviet Socialist Republic The Goddesses and Gods – The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe, 6500-3500 B.C.: Myths and Cult Images The Gods and Goddesses – The Gods and Goddesses of Old Europe: 7000 to 3500 BC. Myths, Legends and Cult images TUA – Tübingen University Archive UCLA – University of California, Los Angeles VDU –Vytautas Magnus University VU – Vilnius University VUA – VU Archive VUMD –The Manuscript Department of Vilnius University Library CEU eTD Collection vi Table of Contents Chapter 1. Introduction: The Prehistoric Goddess of Postsocialism ............................................................ 1 1.1 Feminism, modernity, and the anti-modernism of Marija Gimbutas ................................................. 8 1.2 Positioning the (post-)socialist Eastern Europe ................................................................................ 15 1.3 Writing Marija Gimbutas into a feminist narrative: methodology and sources ............................... 24 1.4 Chapter outline ................................................................................................................................. 33 Chapter 2. The Making of Marija Gimbutas in National and Transnational Contexts: a Critical Biography .................................................................................................................................................................... 37 2.1 Childhood in Vilnius and Kaunas in the interbellum ......................................................................... 37 2.2 Second World War in Lithuania: Soviet and Nazi occupations ......................................................... 48 2.3 Life and studies during the Nazi occupation ..................................................................................... 57 2.4 The flight from the Soviet occupation .............................................................................................