Reinventing Eastern Europe: Imaginaries, Identities and Transformations
Reinventing Eastern Europe: Imaginaries, Identities and Transformations
Contributor(s): Evinç Doğan (Editor)
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Christian Theology and Religion, Politics, History, Anthropology, Social Sciences, Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Museology & Heritage Studies, Architecture, Geography, Regional studies, Library and Information Science, Sociology, Ancient World, Middle Ages, Modern Age, Recent History (1900 till today), Special Historiographies:, Theology and Religion, Islam studies, International relations/trade, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Rural and urban sociology, History of Communism, Politics of History/Memory, Politics and Identity, Identity of Collectives
Published by: Transnational Press London
Keywords: Yugoslavia; Ukraine; Eastern Europe; Post-Socialist cities; identity; architecture; urban transformation; politics; memory; heritage; Greece; Macedonia; USA; diplomacy; art; Belgrade; Skopje;
Summary/Abstract: This edited collection brings together a wide range of topics that shed light on the social, cultural, economic, political and spatio-temporal changes influencing post-socialist cities of Eastern Europe. Different case studies are presented through papers that were presented at the Euroacademia International Conference series. Imaginaries, identities and transformations represent three blocks for understanding the ways in which visual narratives, memory and identity, and processes of alterity shape the symbolic meanings articulated and inscribed upon post-socialist cities. As such, this book stimulates a debate in order to provide alternative views on the dynamics, persistence and change broadly shaping mental mappings of Eastern Europe. The volume offers an opportunity for scholars, activists and practitioners to identify, discuss, and debate the multiple dimensions in which specific narratives of alterity making towards Eastern Europe preserve their salience today in re-furbished and re-fashioned manners.
- Print-ISBN-13: 978-1-910781-87-6
- Page Count: 178
- Publication Year: 2019
- Language: English
The Angel of Nostalgia Trapped between East and West
The Angel of Nostalgia Trapped between East and West
(The Angel of Nostalgia Trapped between East and West)
- Author(s):Marta Fernàndez Soldado
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Geography, Regional studies, Studies of Literature, Sociology, Identity of Collectives
- Page Range:9-22
- No. of Pages:14
- Keywords:Andrzej Stasiuk; Dubravka Ugrešić; Yuri Andrukhovych; east; west; identity; Yugoslavia; image of Berlin;
- Summary/Abstract:This is how Andrzej Stasiuk, returning to the places he has traveled to and recreating them with a map in front of him and his baggage of memories, images, scents, coins and stamps, depicts a sort of nihilistic monetary flow from the West to the East. On the Road to Babadag. Travels in the Other Europe is the writing in movement of the Polish writer’s wanderings through Eastern Europe, first published in 2004, right at the time when Poland joined the European Union and went the opposite direction, westward. But Stasiuk is not interested in travelling to the Western cities where all wishes seemed to emerge from the eighties onwards and rather, finding himself in Słubice in the summer of 1983 or 1984, looking across from the river to Frankfurt, turns his back and 'that same evening I headed back, east. Like a dog, I had sniffed an unfamiliar locale, then moved on.’
- Price: 4.50 €
Ukraine’s East-West Regional Division
Ukraine’s East-West Regional Division
(Ukraine’s East-West Regional Division)
- Author(s):Zhanna Mylogorodska
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Geography, Regional studies, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Present Times (2010 - today), Politics and Identity, Identity of Collectives
- Page Range:23-36
- No. of Pages:14
- Keywords:Ukraine; east; west; Galicia; Donbas; regional division;
- Summary/Abstract:There are some similarities in any discourses concerning Ukraine´s regional divisions. Most of them are about the East-West division. The West is commonly presented as Ukrainian-speaking and oriented to Europe, the East is rather Russian speaking with a strong representation of ethnic Russians and is inclined to Russia. This division is strengthened by the regional poles, which are opposed to each other: Galicia in the West and Donbas in the East.
- Price: 4.50 €
Cultural Encounters and the Role of Art in Yugoslav-US Relations 1961-1966
Cultural Encounters and the Role of Art in Yugoslav-US Relations 1961-1966
(Cultural Encounters and the Role of Art in Yugoslav-US Relations 1961-1966)
- Author(s):Stefana Djokic
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Diplomatic history, Recent History (1900 till today), Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism, Cold-War History
- Page Range:37-54
- No. of Pages:18
- Keywords:US; Yugoslavia; international relations; cultural encounters; art; 20th century; cold war; diplomacy;
- Summary/Abstract:This paper discusses the role of art in Cold War diplomacy in Yugoslav-US relations between 1961 and 1966. During the 1960s, culture was often, sometimes unwittingly, at other times intentionally, infused with the politics of the Cold War. According to one line of existing scholarship, the rise of US art after WWII and exhibitions of American art abroad amounted to cultural imperialism and a “profound glorifying of American civilization.” These historians persuasively identified the political motives behind the exhibition strategies of American museums, such as MoMA’s promotion of Abstract Expressionism through the International Program of Circulating Exhibitions (established in 1952), or the US Government’s Central Intelligence Agency endorsement of US art through its offices around the world. Accordingly, Abstract Expressionist works were staged as par excellence representations of America’s democratic values, where the messages of freedom and individuality behind the works of such artists as Jackson Pollock were contrasted against the tyranny and totalitarianism of the USSR. Indeed, John Hay Whitney, Chairman of the Museum of Modern Art, explicitly stated that the role of the Museum and of art is to “educate, inspire, and strengthen the hearts and wills of free men in defence of their own freedom.”
- Price: 4.50 €
The Absent Presence of Abandoned Industrial Spaces in Belgrade: A Semiotic Study through Photographic Imagery
The Absent Presence of Abandoned Industrial Spaces in Belgrade: A Semiotic Study through Photographic Imagery
(The Absent Presence of Abandoned Industrial Spaces in Belgrade: A Semiotic Study through Photographic Imagery)
- Author(s):Evinç Doğan
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Museology & Heritage Studies, Semiology, Economic history, Recent History (1900 till today)
- Page Range:55-75
- No. of Pages:21
- Keywords:Serbia; Belgrade; Industrial spaces; photographic imagery; memory;
- Summary/Abstract:Photographic imagery serves as a tool to tackle the temporality and materiality of ruins that could be read through the layers of symbolic meaning in the urban landscape. The photographic representation of the material realm may suggest a sense of memory for the possible pasts, whilst provoking imaginary possible futures. A photograph as a trace, on the other hand, suggests a fragment of memory addressing both presence and absence.
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Make Macedonia Great Again! The New Face of Skopje and the Macedonians’ Identity Dilemma
Make Macedonia Great Again! The New Face of Skopje and the Macedonians’ Identity Dilemma
(Make Macedonia Great Again! The New Face of Skopje and the Macedonians’ Identity Dilemma)
- Author(s):Arianna Piacentini
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Geography, Regional studies, Ancient World, Middle Ages, Modern Age, Recent History (1900 till today), International relations/trade, Nationalism Studies, Politics and Identity, Identity of Collectives
- Page Range:77-93
- No. of Pages:17
- Keywords:Macedonia; identity; Skopje; urban image; Greece dispute;
- Summary/Abstract:Implemented by the Macedonian national party VMRO-DPMNE the project “Skopje 2014” renewed the urban image of Skopje, capital city of the (Former Yugoslav) Republic of Macedonia and promoted a narrative of direct descent from the Ancient Macedonians, epitomized by the figure of Alexander the Great. Impressive statues, fountains, a triumphal arch, and new massive buildings now stand in all their grandeur in the city centre of the small republic’s capital city. Although apparently meant to give a new face to Skopje, these urban changes are also strictly tied to a “great” national narrative concerning the Macedonian nation – its roots and origins, and are apparently shaping and changing, not only the urban image of Skopje but also the national identity of the Macedonians.
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Identity Struggle in Post-Socialist City: Re-Imagineering Belgrade, Remodelling Skopje
Identity Struggle in Post-Socialist City: Re-Imagineering Belgrade, Remodelling Skopje
(Identity Struggle in Post-Socialist City: Re-Imagineering Belgrade, Remodelling Skopje)
- Author(s):Nebojša Čamprag
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Architecture, Recent History (1900 till today), Policy, planning, forecast and speculation, Rural and urban sociology, Politics and Identity, Identity of Collectives
- Page Range:95-113
- No. of Pages:19
- Keywords:Belgrade; Skopje; Post-Socialist city; identity; urban megaprojects;
- Summary/Abstract:More than two decades after the collapse of the communist system, most of the countries of the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have completed their transition to market-oriented democratic societies. CEE countries have generally shown diverse rates within the process of post-socialist transition, in addition to them not following the same dynamics observed during the forceful imposition of the socialist system after the World War II . Coupled with profound political and economic reforms, the transition process has also influenced the means and dynamics of spatial transformations in the region. Amongst the most prominent cases highlighting these issues are the successor states of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), which are further challenged by the particularly complex socio-political issues. These independent nation states have for decades been under the influence of socialist planning and modernist functionalism that fundamentally transcended national boundaries and local specificities. Thus, the complex post-conflict recovery process driven by a neoliberal agenda is one of the last remaining common characteristics amongst these countries.
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Idiosyncratic Identity of Muslim Turks and the Romani of Bulgaria: Rethinking Human Security through the prism of Self-Governing Rights
Idiosyncratic Identity of Muslim Turks and the Romani of Bulgaria: Rethinking Human Security through the prism of Self-Governing Rights
(Idiosyncratic Identity of Muslim Turks and the Romani of Bulgaria: Rethinking Human Security through the prism of Self-Governing Rights)
- Author(s):Francesco Trupia
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Geography, Regional studies, Governance, Islam studies, Ethnic Minorities Studies, Politics and Identity, Identity of Collectives
- Page Range:115-130
- No. of Pages:16
- Keywords:Bulgaria; Romani; Turks; Muslim Turks; idiosyncratic identity; human security; self-governing rights;
- Summary/Abstract:Bulgaria is one of the few countries in the Balkan region without a recent history of bloody ethnic conflict generated or related to interreligious relations. From a historical perspective, the Muslim and Christian communities have been living peacefully side by side despite Bulgarian Muslims’ overall lack of inclusion in current everyday life in the Republic of Bulgaria. However, parallel to a high-level of inequality and marginalization, lack of empowerment, inclusiveness and influence within the political landscape have dominated Bulgarian opinions on autochthonous ethnic minority groups, guiding these opinions toward misconceptions as well as into a “culture of silence” in which policy discussions and conversations related to minority groups are made almost exclusively behind closed doors. In this so-called “century of terrorism” , while the national scenario has recently shown how much human security can go forward due to the “dark zone” under which social groups might be exposed to processes of radicalization, Bulgarian Muslim communities continue to represent a concern in the Bulgarian context.
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Domestication as Pacification: Public Space Design in Post-Soviet Countries
Domestication as Pacification: Public Space Design in Post-Soviet Countries
(Domestication as Pacification: Public Space Design in Post-Soviet Countries)
- Author(s):Jacopo Leveratto
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Architecture, Policy, planning, forecast and speculation, Post-War period (1950 - 1989), Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Present Times (2010 - today), Politics and Identity, Identity of Collectives
- Page Range:131-141
- No. of Pages:11
- Keywords:Post-Soviet countries; public space; design; domestication;
- Summary/Abstract:In 2008, a group of young artists led by Stefan Rusu and Vladimir Us and supported by the Oberliht Association and the European Cultural Foundation pioneered an original intervention for the rehabilitation of a dilapidated esplanade located in front of the Council’s Department of Culture in Chişinău, the capital of Moldova. The efforts started with the idea of building a new urban identity for a civic area that was formerly dominated by representations of power or advertising, to restore the sense of a real public space that could be different from the one imposed by the central government. The group, then, studied a permanent installation meant to represent both a catalyst for the artistic events of the city and a trigger for active processes of social engagement, using the only typology of participated public space that could be symbolically recognisable by the citizens, namely the domestic one.
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The Post-socialist City and the Revaluation of Public Space. Case Study Velenje
The Post-socialist City and the Revaluation of Public Space. Case Study Velenje
(The Post-socialist City and the Revaluation of Public Space. Case Study Velenje)
- Author(s):Daniel Grünkranz
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Museology & Heritage Studies, Architecture, Recent History (1900 till today), Policy, planning, forecast and speculation, Politics and Identity, Identity of Collectives
- Page Range:143-154
- No. of Pages:12
- Keywords:Slovenia; Velenje; Post-socialist city; public space; identity;
- Summary/Abstract:This text discusses the revaluation of the public space of the so-called post-socialist city by the example of the town of Velenje. Velenje is located in the northeast of Slovenia and has 33.000 inhabitants. Once a small market place, belonging to the vast Habsburg Empire, Velenje became a major industrial hub after the Second World War and a regional economic centre of the newly founded Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. At the same time a new Velenje emerged. Today, after Slovenia's independence a quarter of a century ago, the town stands out as an example of modernist town planning of the socialist period in East and Southeast Europe. Velenje is currently promoted both as an important business location and as a tourist destination emphasising its heritage as a modernist model city. The transition from socialism to market economy has been accompanied by a revaluation of Velenje's modernist architecture and design of public space. This is evident in processes of aestheticisation and reorganisation. On the one hand, the built environment is now associated with a different system of meaning. On the other hand, parts of the public space of Velenje have been reorganised. The effective redesign and reprogramming of a vast pedestrian zone in the centre of the town serve the production of a different form of publicness in contradiction to the notions of the socialist period.
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Urban Transformation in a Post-socialist Society-From unity to separation
Urban Transformation in a Post-socialist Society-From unity to separation
(Urban Transformation in a Post-socialist Society-From unity to separation)
- Author(s):Aleksandar Joksimović
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Christian Theology and Religion, Architecture, Recent History (1900 till today), History of Communism, Politics and Identity, Identity of Collectives
- Page Range:155-166
- No. of Pages:12
- Keywords:Yugoslavia; Post-socialist society; urban transformation; Belgrade; Skopje; Zagreb; Ljubljana; Fužine; architecture;
- Summary/Abstract:Yugoslavia was established in 1918-at that time known as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. In 1946 (post-WW II), when a communist government was established, Yugoslavia changed its name to the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia. Only two years after that, in 1948, conflict between Tito and Stalin resulted in the exclusion of Yugoslavia from the Communist Information Bureau. Given this situation Yugoslavia developed a new agenda of positioning itself “between capitalist West and communist East.” Consequently, cultural and architectural production needed to manifest new ideas.
- Price: 4.50 €