Studying Peoples in the People's Democracies


Book Description

Bulgaria and Serbia during socialism are outlined from many different points of view in this volume. Beyond local and personal trajectories the authors illuminate more general and comparative questions. Was there anything like a "socialist anthropology", common to all three countries? Did Soviet and/or Marxist influences, in the discipline and in society in general, penetrate so deeply as to form an unavoidable common denominator of anthropological practice? The answers turn out to be complex and subtle. While unifying ideological forces were very strong in the 1950s, diversity increased thereafter. Anthropology was entangled with national ideology in all three countries, but the evidence nonetheless calls for "polyphonic" interpretations.




Dynamics of National Identity and Transnational Identities in the Process of European Integration


Book Description

This collection was inspired by the international conference "Dynamics of National Identity and Transnational Identities in the Process of European Integration", organized by the Balkan Ethnology Department of the Ethnographic Institute and Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and realized as project of the European Commission Jean Monnet Action Program for the support of Study and Research Centers. The book opens a debate on the changing notions of identity in the region of Central and Eastern Europe on the base of analysis of social developments influenced by EU accession and EU integration process. The most important aspect is the analysis of processes of breaking up the borders of national identity and transition towards new forms of transnational identities and emerging of consciosness of All-European unity. The book has a dual focus: on general topics related to the study of national and transnational identities and on the process of European integration. It brings together the work of researchers not only from different parts of Europe (from France to Russia) but from USA and Asia too. This book is a starting point for East-West discussion and brings new knowledge that will be an invaluable contribution to the common European research area.




Cultures of Crisis in Southeast Europe


Book Description

Southeast Europe's history of the last two centuries is marked by deep transformations and upheavals: the emergence and disappearance of states; ethnic conflicts and wars; changes of political systems; economic crises; migration movements; and natural disasters. Most of these upheavals have been experienced as deep crises forcing people to adapt to often radically new situations. This can cause crisis management to become a permanent way of life. The book focuses on the cultures of crisis. It analyzes the reactions of societies or individuals to them, their impact on everyday life, on peoples' strategies of coping, on the processes of adaptation, and on peoples' attitudes. Focus is placed on crises relating to migration and post-socialist transformation, to politics and religion, and to labour relations. (Series: Ethnologia Balkanica, Vol. 18) [Subject: Sociology, Southeast European Studies, Politics]Ã?Â?Ã?Â?




Communism Unwrapped


Book Description

Communism Unwrapped is a collection of essays that unwraps the complex world of consumption under communism in postwar Eastern Europe, featuring new work by both American and European scholars writing from variety of disciplinary perspectives. The result is a fresh look at everyday life under communism that explores the ways people shopped, ate, drank, smoked, cooked, acquired, exchanged and assessed goods. These phenomena, the editors argue, were central to the way that communism was lived and experienced in its widely varied contexts in the region. Consumption pervaded everyday life far more than most other political and social phenomena. From design, to production, to retail sales and black market exchange, Communism Unwrapped follows communist goods from producer to consumer, tracing their circuitous routes. In the communist world this journey was rife with its own meanings, shaped by the special political and social circumstances of these societies. In examining consumption behind the Iron Curtain, this volume builds on a new field of study. It brings dimension and nuance to our understanding of the communist period and a new perspective to our current analyses of consumerism.







Let's Twist Again


Book Description

This book explores the lives of young Bulgarians in the Cold War era when the Communist Party saw dance hits like "The Twist" as a menace to youth and society. It investigates the Party's efforts to shape youth into "socialist personalities" and to create a socialist mass culture in the face of "Westernization". On the basis of biographical interviews, the book takes a critical look at the popular view of youth enthusiasm for Western rock and lifestyles as resistance. Young Bulgarians scarcely challenged the socialist order. But at the same time, the Party failed to impose its notion of conformity on the self-proclaimed "Beatles generation".




European Voices


Book Description

CD and DVD contain audio and video examples.




Remembering Communism


Book Description

Remembering Communism examines the formation and transformation of the memory of communism in the post-communist period. The majority of the articles focus on memory practices in the post-Stalinist era in Bulgaria and Romania, with occasional references to the cases of Poland and the GDR. Based on an interdisciplinary approach, including history, anthropology, cultural studies and sociology, the volume examines the mechanisms and processes that influence, determine and mint the private and public memory of communism in the post-1989 era. The common denominator to all essays is the emphasis on the process of remembering in the present, and the modalities by means of which the present perspective shapes processes of remembering, including practices of commemoration and representation of the past. The volume deals with eight major thematic blocks revisiting specific practices in communism such as popular culture and everyday life, childhood, labor, the secret police, and the perception of “the system”.




Sharing Sacred Spaces in the Mediterranean


Book Description

“Will spark debate . . . and hopefully further research into points of contact between the monotheistic religions, and others.” —The Levantine Review While devotional practices are usually viewed as mechanisms for reinforcing religious boundaries, in the multicultural, multiconfessional world of the Eastern Mediterranean, shared shrines sustain intercommunal and interreligious contact among groups. Heterodox, marginal, and largely ignored by central authorities, these practices persist despite aggressive, homogenizing nationalist movements. This volume challenges much of the received wisdom concerning the three major monotheistic religions and the “clash of civilizations,” as contributors examine intertwined religious traditions along the shores of the Near East from North Africa to the Balkans.




Bright Balkan Morning


Book Description

CD contains: Market Day in Jumaya -- Afternoon at Mahala Café -- At home in Mahala -- At church, Sunday, December 31 -- Pre-New Year's parties in Serres -- Parties for the new year in Sohos -- Taverna party at Nikisiani -- The road home.