Re-inventing Europe: Culture, style and post-socialist change in Bulgaria

On the basis of extended field research in Sofia, Bulgaria, between 2004 and 2006, this project provides an ethnographic account of the predicament of art and culture producers after the end of socialism. The end of socialism deprived the Bulgarian intelligentsia from its economic security, prestige, and a sense of clear moral mission. Now young cutting-edge artists, writers, designers, theater directors and other culture producers seek a way out of this predicament and aspire to become moral leaders of the nation. Through ethnographic participant-observation at the lifestyle magazine Edno, a mouthpiece for this social segment, and through research radiating from the offices of the magazine to the fringes of contemporary Bulgarian art and culture, this project demonstrates that the new culture producers comprise a social segment in a state of flux, an elite in-the-making. While its future is uncertain---it could solidify in a new dominant faction of the intelligentsia, could disintegrate or could take the shape of a qualitatively new configuration---its present condition sheds light on post-socialist debates about artistic merit, the importance of national versus international recognition, and the changing value of cultural capital. The dissertation investigates how the young culture producers strategically code their artistic preferences and ways of life as "European," and demonstrates that they strategically capitalize on a historical local anxiety that Bulgaria is deficient and less modern than an imagined "Europe." The project is indebted to a Bourdieusian understanding of the relationship between taste and social class, and pays close attention to aesthetic preferences in two fields: lifestyle and creative work. At the same time, it departs from Bourdieu in recognizing that while well-suited to account for social reproduction, his model is less successful in explaining social production: the emergence of new social groups and the re-ordering of existing social relations in the context of rapid social change. The project addresses this problem through the prism of Foucauldian ethics. It suggests that the young culture producers have an at least partially correct understanding of their objective circumstances and consciously reflect on the mismatch between their expectations, and the reality of post-socialist Bulgaria

Trans-national approaches to locally situated concerns: exploring the meanings of post-socialist space

The need to examine critially existing understandings of processes of societal change in Russia and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) has formed a key area of debate in recent years. Suggested means for furthering this debate include an examination of the meaning and usefulness of the post-socialist category, a critique of the conceptual and practical divides between East and West, attention to the various impacts of change at the local level, and an active engagement with a wide range of actors (academics, policymakers and practitioners) working both in the UK and in the regions in question

Formal and Informal Institutional Change : the Experience of Postsocialist Transformation

Diversity of trajectories of post-socialist transforming economies is a stylized fact of this experience of system change. The paper explores the relations between change in formal and informal rules in historical perspective, discussing new institutional views about rationality of formal institutions and detrimental inertia of informal institutions. It submits that an open and complex approach of the centrality of formal/informal rules interaction may give a better explanation to the multiplicity of national post-socialist pathways.Post-socialist transformation ; diversity of trajectories ; institutional change ; formal rules ; informal rules ; enforcement

Sailing in troubled waters : drinking water provision in Timisoara ; paper for the conference 'Alltag der Globalisierung. Perspektiven einer transnationalen Anthropologie', January 16-18, 2003, Institute of Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main

After more than a decade of post-socialist transition, transition theories are increasingly criticised for their inability to grasp the new post-socialist reality. However, even in the light of political, economic, social and cultural restructuring processes taking place on a global scale, the structural legacies of socialist and pre-socialist development are not erased. On the contrary, they continue to play an important role by filtering the impact of global tendencies upon post-socialist societies. With reference to a case study from the Romanian city of Timisoara I will address in the following the ambivalencies connected to the efforts of local elites in the process of implementing global-level requirements in a post-socialist environment

Internal migration, the propiska, and post-socialist urban change in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, there has been remarkable enthusiasm for theorising how transitional processes have unfolded in post-socialist cities. In seeking to extend literature that uses the post- socialist condition as a tool for theory building, we draw attention to the ongoing processes of institutional change in post-socialist cities. In doing so, we reject a ‘top-down’ perspective and examine how these institutional transitions are shaped through processes of ‘domestication’, negotiation and contestation between different interest groups in the city. We develop our argument, by drawing attention to the local political debates surrounding the propiska in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The propiska developed throughout the Soviet Union to control internal migration and is still used today in a less restrictive form. By discussing our case study, we hope to foster attention towards the ongoing contested processes of institutional transition in post- socialist cities

Rethinking the Post-Soviet Experience: Markets, Moral Economies, and Cultural Contradictions of Post-Socialist Russia

Thus, one goal of this book is to challenge and expand our understandings of post-Soviet transformations by tapping theories so far underutilized (if used at all) in analyses. I will draw on various sources of data--original primary-source data as well as secondary data from various disciplines and accounts--to map out a theoretical landscape.One important goal is to rethink how to look at these data. I want to look deeper into social dynamics of institutional change.https://scholarship.richmond.edu/bookshelf/1210/thumbnail.jp

'Becoming Lina': approaching the constitution of girlhood in a 'post-socialist' area through empiricist commitment

The paper addresses a gap in the literature on childhood and/in post-socialism and uses everydayness as the conceptual means that links both themes. It presents a story of Lina, a seven-year old Roma girl from a deprived urban neighbourhood in Bratislava, and maps everyday encounters, practices and recognitions that imply what matters in Lina's life. The paper stresses importance of ungrounded empirical inquiry, and through identifying complex and heterogeneous associations in Lina's life, it highlights acknowledgment of both broader social situations (such as post-socialism), but also mundane and often unremarkable moments in children's lives. The notion of post-socialism is thus situated within the 'descaled' geographies of Lina's everyday life, rather than as an imposing social condition.L'article preten omplir un buit en la literatura sobre infancia i/en el post-socialisme i utilitza la vida quotidiana com a eina conceptual que relaciona ambdos temes. Es presenta la historia de Lina, una nena gitana de set anys d'un barri pobre de Bratislava, i es registren els encontres, les practiques i els reconeixements que condicionen allo que es important a la vida de la Lina. L'article emfasitza la importancia de la recerca empirica desconnectada, i a traves de la identificacio d'associacions complexes i heterogenies a la vida de la Lina, es subratlla tant el reconeixement de situacions socials importants (post-socialiste) com tambe moments trivials i sovint irrellevants en la vida dels infants. La nocio de post-socialisme es situa dins les geografies 'aescalars' de la vida quotidiana de la Lina, mes que no pas com una condicio social imposada.El articulo pretende llenar un vacio en la literatura sobre infancia y/en el post-socialismo, y utiliza la vida cotidiana como instrumento conceptual que relaciona ambos temas. Se presenta la historia de Lina, una nina gitana de siete anos de un barrio pobre de Bratislava, y se registran los encuentros, las practicas y los reconocimientos que condicionan lo que es importante en la vida de Lina. El articulo enfatiza la importancia de la investigacion empirica desconectada, y a traves de la identificacion de asociaciones complejas y heterogeneas en la vida de Lina, se subraya tanto el reconocimiento de situaciones sociales importantes (post-socialismo) como tambien momentos triviales y a menudo irrelevantes en la vida de los ninos y ninas. La nocion de post-socialismo se situa dentro de las geografias 'aescalares' de la vida cotidiana de Lina, y no como una condicion social impuesta.L'article vise a combler une lacune dans la litterature sur l'enfance et / post-socialisme et utilise la vie quotidienne comme un outil conceptuel qui concerne les deux themes. Il presente l'histoire de Lina, une jeune gitane de sept ans d'un quartier pauvre de Bratislava, et se registren les reunions, les pratiques et les examens qui determinent ce qui est important dans la vie de Lina. L'article souligne l'importance de la surface empirique deconnecte et a travers de l'identification des associations complexes et heterogenes dans la vie de Lina, souligne a la fois la reconnaissance de l'importance des situations sociales (post-socialisme) autant de fois futiles et souvent sans pertinence dans la vie des enfants. La notion de postsocialisme est situe au sein des geographies 'aechelles' de la vie quotidienne de Lina, plutot que comme une condition sociale imposee