Journey to Points Beyond Utopia Course home
An introduction to the anthropology of postsocialism
 
 
Supplementary themes with suggested literature
Each student group chooses one of the below Supplementary themes, studies it and holds a student presentation on it for the course in plenum. The curriculum for each of these themes may be modified or added to by the group, using the Supplementary literature list and the Monograph list as a basis. MA students must include at least one monograph in their Supplementary theme curriculum.
NB! The Supplementary themes should include approx. 387 pages (for MA students) and approx. 187 pages (for BA students). As they stand at present, all theme curricula are too short to fulfill this norm. I hope to locate the additional literature within the first 1-2 weeks of the course, but the groups are also welcome to locate relevant literature themselves.
  4a. Collective memory, life stories (Expanded Core theme)      
20 Berdahl, Daphne (1999): "'(N)Ostalgie' for the Present: Memory, Longing, and East German Things, Ethnos, Vol. 64, No.2, p.192-211. East Germany 1999 Collective memory
13 Boym, Svetlana (1999): "From the toilet to the museum: Memory and metamorphosis of Soviet trash", in: A. M. Barker (ed.): Consuming Russia: Popular Culture, Sex and Society since Gorbachev, London: Duke University Press, p.383-396. Russia 1999 Collective memory
21 Clark, Katerina (1995): "Aural Hieroglyphics? Some Reflections on the Role of Sound in Recent Russian Films and Its Historical Context", in Nancy Condee (ed.): Soviet Hieroglyphics. Visual Culture in Late Twentieth-Century Russia, p.1-21, Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Russia 1995 Collective memory
12 Kaser, Karl & Joel M. Halpern (1998): "Historical Myth and the Invention of Political Folklore in Contemporary Serbia, Anthropology of East Europe Review, Vol. 16, No. 1. Downloaded from: http://www.depaul.edu/~rrotenbe/aeer16_1.html Balkans: Serbia  1998 Collective memory
28 Lass, Andrew (1999): "Portable Worlds. On the Limits of Replication in the Czech and Slovak Republics", in Michael Burawoy & Katherine Verdery (ed.): Uncertain Transition. Ethnographies of Change in the Postsocialist World, p.273-300, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. Czechia, Slovakia 1999 Aid; Collective memory
29 Pahl, Ray & Paul Thompson (1994): "Meanings, Myths and Mystifications. The Social Construction of Life Stories in Russia", in Chris M. Hann (ed.): When History Accelerates. Essays on Rapid Social Change, Complexity and Creativity, p.130-158, London: Athlone. Russia 1994 Narrative
14 Vitebsky, Piers (2002): "Withdrawing from the land: Social and spiritual crisis in the indigenous Russian Arctic," in: C. M. Hann (ed.): Postsocialism: Ideals, ideologies and practices in Eurasia, p.180-195, London: Routledge. Siberia 2002 Property, Religion
5 Voukov, Nikolai (2003): "Death and the desecrated: Monuments of the socialist past in post-1989 Bulgaria", Anthropology of East Europe Review, Vol. 21, No. 2. Downloaded from: http://condor.depaul.edu/~rrotenbe/aeer/v21n2/Voukov.pdf Bulgaria 2003 Collective memory
179 Skultans, Vieda (1998): The Testimony of Lives. Narrative and Memory in Post-Soviet Latvia, London: Routledge. Latvia 1998 Monograph
  This theme contains 321 pages (142 pages without the monograph).
  5a. Generation (Expanded Core theme)      
16 Anderson, David (2004): "‘Everything is still before you’: the irony of youth discourse in Siberia", Sibirica, Vol.4, No.1, p.14-30. Siberia 2004 Generation
25 Attwood, Lynne (1996): "Young people, sex and sexual identity", in: H. Pilkington (ed.): Gender, Generation and Identity in Contemporary Russia, London: Routledge, p.95-120. Russia 1996 Gender, Generation
14 Barchunova, Tatyana & N. Beletskaya (2004): Without Fear and Reproach: The Role-Playing Games Community as a Challenge to Mainstream Culture, Novosibirsk: Working paper. Siberia 2004 Generation, Civil Society
18 Linnet, Jeppe T. (2002): "An Everyday Moral Economy: NGO Activism among Young Latvians", in: Arnstberg & Borén (eds.): The Everyday Economy of Russia, Poland and the Baltic States, p.1-18. Baltic: Latvia 2002 Public-Private
10 Markowitz, Fran (1997): "Reflections of Consistency and Projections of Ease in Russian Teenagers' Life Stories", Anthropology of East Europe Review, Vol. 15, No. 1. Downloaded from: http://condor.depaul.edu/~rrotenbe/aeer/aeer15_1.html#Markowitz Russia 1997 Generation
29 Shmulyar, Oksana (2002): "Networking into a business career: A new generation of Russian managers", Copenhagen: NECEN, Paper presented at the Fourth Nordic Conference on the Anthropology of Post-Socialism, April 2002. www.anthrobase.com/Txt/S/Shmulyar_O_01.htm Russia 2002 Business, Generation, Networks
250 Kürti, László (2002): Youth and the State in Hungary: Capitalism, Communism and Class, London: Pluto Press. Hungary 2002 Monograph
  This theme contains 346 pages (96 pages without the monograph).
  9. Gender and civil society      
26 Ashwin, Sarah. 2000. Introduction: Gender, state and society in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. In: S. Ashwin (ed.): Gender, State and Society in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia. London: Routledge. p.1-26. Russia 2000 Gender
25 Grunberg, Laura (2000): "Women's NGO's in Romania", in: Reproducing Gender: Politics, Publics and Everyday Life after Socialism, Princeton: Princeton University Press, p.307-336. Romania 2000 Gender, Civil society
34 Haney, Lynne (1999): "'But We Are Still Mothers': Gender, the State, and the Construction of Need in Postsocialist Hungary", in Michael Burawoy & Katherine Verdery (ed.): Uncertain Transition. Ethnographies of Change in the Postsocialist World, p.151-184, New York: Rowman & Littlefield. Hungary 1999 Gender
16 Lindquist, Galina. 2003. Selling and buying power: the economy of a magic center in Moscow. In K.-O. Arnstberg & T. Borén, eds. Everyday economy in Russia, Poland and Latvia. Huddinge: Södertörns högskola (Södertörn academic studies, no.16). p.53-70. Russia 2003 Gender, Exchange
26 Lukic, Jasmina (2000): "Media representations of men and women in times of war and crisis: The case of Serbia", in: Reproducing Gender: Politics, Publics and Everyday Life after Socialism, Princeton: Princeton University Press, p.393-423. Balkans: Serbia 2000 Gender, Media, Conflict
100 Linnet, Jeppe (2002): EU Accession and Personal Enlightenment: Everyday Sociality and Political Mobilization among Young Latvian NGO Activists, MA Thesis: University of Copenhagen, Institute of Anthropology. www.anthrobase.com/Txt/L/Linnet_J_04.htm Latvia 2002 Monograph
100 Hojer, Maja (2004): Reforming Habitus, Reordering Meaningful Worlds. Soldiers’ Mothers and social change in postsocialist Russia, M.A thesis, Institute of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen. Russia 2004 Monograph
  This theme contains 327 pages (127 pages without the monographs).
  10. Corruption, informal networks      
11 Creed, Gerald W. and Janine R. Wedel (1997): "Second Thoughts from the Second World. Interpreting Aid in Post-Communist Eastern Europe", Human Organization, Vol. 56, No. 3, p.253-263. Russia, Bulgaria 1997 Aid, Corruption
18 Hivon, Myriam (1994): "Vodka: The 'Spirit' of Exchange", Cambridge Anthropology, Vol. 17, No. 3, p.1-18. Russia 1994 Exchange
28 Humphrey, C. (2002): "Russian protection rackets and the appropriation of law and order". I: The Unmaking of Soviet Life. Everyday Economies After Socialism, pp. 99-126. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Russia 2002 Crime, Corruption
13 Koehler, Jan (1999): "The School of the Street: Organizing Diversity and Training Polytaxis in a (Post-) Soviet Periphery", Anthropology of East Europe Review, Vol. 17, No.2, pp. 39-51. http://condor.depaul.edu/~rrotenbe/aeer/v17n2/Koehler.pdf Caucasus: Georgia 1999 Politics, Corruption
15 Mars, Gerald and Yochanan Altman (1983): "The Cultural Bases of Soviet Georgia's Second Economy", Soviet Studies, Vol. 35, No. 4, p.546-560. Caucasus: Georgia 1983 Exchange, Soviet
22 Rasanayagam, Johan (2003): Market, State and Community in Uzbekistan: reworking the concept of the informal economy, Halle: Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Working paper No. 59. Uzbekistan 2003 Informal economy
8 Sedlenieks, Klavs (2002): "Latvian-Azande parallel: Corruption as witchcraft as witchcraft for Latvia during the transition", paper presented at the 4th Nordic conference on the anthropology of post-socialism, Copenhagen: NECEN. www.anthrobase.com/Txt/S/Sedlenieks_K_01.htm Baltic: Latvia 2002 Corruption
235 Ledeneva, Alena (1998): Russia's Economy of Favours: Blat, Networking and Informal Exchange. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Russia 1998

Monograph
  This theme contains 378 pages (143 pages without the monograph).
  11. Methodology and ethics      
10 Barsegian, Igor (2000): "When text becomes field: Fieldwork in 'transitional' societies", in: H. de Soto & N. Dudwick (eds.): Fieldwork Dilemmas: Anthropologists in Postsocialist States, London: University of Wisconsin Press, p.119-129. (Region) 2000 Methods
19 Berdahl, Daphne (2000): "Mixed devotions: Religion, friendship and fieldwork in postsocialist Eastern Germany", in: H. de Soto & N. Dudwick (eds.): Fieldwork Dilemmas: Anthropologists in Postsocialist States, London: University of Wisconsin Press, p.172-194. E. Germany 2000 Methods
15 Dudwick, Nora (2000): "Postsocialism and the fieldwork of war", in: H. de Soto & N. Dudwick (eds.): Fieldwork Dilemmas: Anthropologists in Postsocialist States, London: University of Wisconsin Press, p.13-30. Caucasus: Armenia 2000 Methods, Conflict
21 Hann, Chris, Caroline Humphrey and Katherine Verdery (2002): "Introduction: Postsocialism as a topic of anthropological investigation", in: C. M. Hann (ed.): Postsocialism: Ideals, ideologies and practices in Eurasia, p.1-28, London: Routledge. (Region) 2002 Methods
16 Kürti, László (1999): "Cameras and other gadgets: Reflections on fieldwork experiences in socialist and post-socialist Hungarian communities", Social Anthropology, 7, 2, p. 169–187. Hungary 1999 Methods
11 Mihailescu, Vintila (2003): "The legacies of a 'nation-building ethnology': Romania, in: D. Dracklé et al (eds.): Educational Histories of European Social Anthropology, New York: Berghahn, p.208-219. Romania 2003 Anthro Hist
16 Nielsen, Finn Sivert (2003): "Fieldwork in the Soviet Union: An anthropological research project in early 1980's Leningrad", Copenhagen: Working paper. Russia 2005 Methods
23 Povrzanovic, Maja (1993): "Ethnography Of A War: Croatia 1991-92," Anthropology of East Europe Review, Vol. 11, Nos. 1-2. http://condor.depaul.edu/~rrotenbe/aeer/aeer11_1/povrzanovic.html Balkans: Croatia 1993 Methods, Conflict
16 Schwartz, Jonathan (1997): "Listening for Macedonian Identity. Reflections from Sveti Naum", in: László K ürti & Juliet Langman: Beyond Borders. Remaking Cultural Identities in the New East and Central Europe , Boulder Col.: Westview Press, p.95-110. Balkans: Macedonia 1997 Nationalism
18 Zanca, Russell (2000): "Intruder in Uzbekistan: Walking the line between community needs and anthropological desiderata", in: H. de Soto & N. Dudwick (eds.): Fieldwork Dilemmas: Anthropologists in Postsocialist States, London: University of Wisconsin Press, p.153-171. Uzbekistan 2000 Methods
20 Zdravomyslova, Elena (2000): "A Cultural Paradigm of Sexual Violence reconstructed from a Woman's Biographical Interview", in: M. Liljestrom et al (eds.): Models of Self: Russian Women's Autobiographical Texts, Helsinki: Aleksanteri Institute. Downloaded from: http://www.cisr.ru/publ_gender.html#gender_en Russia 2000 Gender, Life-stories, Methods
115 Mankova, Petia (2004): Privatisation Face-To-Face: Support Networks And The Former State Enterprise In A Remote Russian Village, MA-thesis: Department of Social Anthropology, University of Tromsř. www.anthrobase.com/Txt/M/Mankova_P_01.htm Russia 2004 Monograph
  This theme contains 300 pages (185 pages without the monograph).