Altering States: Ethnographies of Transition in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet UnionDaphne Berdahl, Matti Bunzl, Martha Lampland The dominant focus in transition studies to date has been on economic and political factors--analyses generally conducted at the national or international level. The essays in Altering States instead bring us a closer look at what has been happening in everyday life in urban contexts in Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Armenia, and Russia. The contributors to the volume--all anthropologists--use ethnographic methods to make visible problems and challenges that have until now been obscured. From synagogue restoration in Eastern Europe to gay tourism in Prague to the politics of rock music in Hungary, specific, local topics lead the authors to confront difficult questions of individual agency and discursive practices in the move away from socialism. Broader themes touched on include race and ethnicity, sexuality and postcoloniality, the politics of environmental restoration, and memory and remembrance in the politics of history. Altering States will fill an important gap in the study of transition in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. It will appeal to anthropologists, political scientists, and sociologists and will be accessible to undergraduate and graduate students alike. Daphne Berdahl is Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Minnesota. Matti Bunzl is Aaron and Robin Fischer Professor of Jewish Culture and Society and Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Martha Lampland is Associate Professor of Sociology, University of California at San Diego. |
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Contents
Acknowledgments | |
An Anthropology of Postsocialism | 1 |
The Moscow Metro | 14 |
On Synagogue Restoration in Eastern Europe | 40 |
Gay Male Sex Tourism and the Neocolonial Invention of an Embodied Border | 70 |
Reconstructing Environment and Memory in Postsocialist SaxonyAnhalt | 96 |
Daily Life History and Identity during Armenias Transition to Independence 19911994 | 114 |
Memory History and Remembrance Work in Dresden | 139 |
AntiPolitics of Arts Autonomy and Transition in Hungary | 158 |
Openings and Closings in PostSoviet Siberia | 181 |
Afterword | 209 |
| 219 | |
Contributors | 241 |
| 243 | |
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apartment Armenian Austrian authority Bauhaus became become began building called Central Central Europe Circle closed collective colonial concept constituted construction context continued crisis cultural Czech daily depth described discourse discussion dusha East German Eastern Europe economic environment essay European example experience fact figurations former gay male groups ideas identity imagined important individual industrial inside internal Jewish landscape living meaning memory metaphor metro Moscow movement museum musicians narratives nature neocolonial Omsk opposition organ past political practices Prague present production question reference reflect Reformed region relations remains representatives restoration rock Russian sense sexual social socialist society soul Soviet space specific station streets structure synagogue things tion tourists tradition transformation transition urban voice West Western women young
Bibliographic information
| Title | Altering States: Ethnographies of Transition in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union |
| Editors | Daphne Berdahl, Matti Bunzl, Martha Lampland |
| Edition | illustrated, reprint |
| Publisher | University of Michigan Press, 2000 |
| ISBN | 0472086170, 9780472086177 |
| Length | 252 pages |
| Subjects | › › Social Science / Anthropology / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |