A unique exploration of the relationship between gender and nationalist conflict using the lens of cinema.

1. Virginia Woolf's purse; 2. Algeria: a world constructed out of ruins; 3. Yugoslavia: archetype or anomaly?; 4. Chechnya: virgins, mothers, and terrorists; 5. Québec: oui, no, or femme; 6. 'To live to see better times': gender, nationalism, sovereignty, equality.

Matthew Evangelista is President White Professor of History and Political Science and former chair of the Department of Government at Cornell University.