Post-Yugoslav Area Research Center at the Institute of Western and Southern Slavic Studies (PROP, University of Warsaw) and the Center for Research of Nationalism and Culture (CINIK, Skopje) kindly invite you to participate in the workshop
Post-Socialist City in a Social and Cultural Perspective
which will take place on June 7th-8th, 2021, in an online form.
The research on the city as a social community and space has flourished, as the urban way of life continuously becomes dominant among human societies. An intense urbanization in Central and Southern Europe can be seen as an important feature in the period after World War II, gaining momentum in the transitional times of the 1990s. On the other hand, cities and towns were spaces of economic, but also ideological investment of ruling elites in countries of the Eastern bloc, where changes in social life, ideological patterns, and everyday culture were the most visible.
We propose a discussion on the social and cultural changes which have taken place in cities and towns in Central and Southern Europe since the end of the socialist era. A lot of research has been done in the field of social sciences, trying to identify patterns and direction of the change; memory studies, anthropology of the urban space and communities, and studies on identity offer various approaches to the question in concern.
Considering that the post-socialist city could be treated as a research category, we invite young scholars, PhD and MA students to join the workshop.
Here are five major themes which will guide our discussions, and could serve as inspiration for particular contributions and case studies:
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memory of socialism & socialist heritage
What has happened with sites of memory, and with places invested with strong symbolic meanings by the socialist elites? How is the heritage of the socialist period treated in countries of the-ex Eastern bloc?
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social change and urban space
The transformation of the economy and political system was accompanied by multifaceted changes in social life and cultural patterns. How can they be observed in urban space?
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post-industrial space
Another important aspect of the transformation period was deindustrialization, resulting in profound changes in social structure. Post-industrial spaces have become a burden, which cities have to deal with. We invite you to discuss responses to that need of rearrangement of space.
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local identities, small towns, and the nation-state
The tension between centers and peripheries seems to be growing, as a dominant ideology of unity and central governance was fading away, and agency of local authorities came along with (re)appearance of different social actors and different identities in both discursive and physical space. Which are the ways of social and cultural development of small towns and local identities?
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theoretical frames
We invite contributions from various disciplines, which take into consideration the theoretical frame of the notion of post-socialist city. Can it be seen as a research category, a notion helping to understand changes in the urban space of the area?
Contributions should not exceed 15 minutes, and a vast space for discussion is previewed.
Please, send a title and short description up to 21th April at the one of the following e-mail addresses: mfalski@uw.edu.pl, trajanovskinaum@gmail.com, m.blahuta@uw.edu.pl
Workshop board
Maciej Falski (Post-Yugoslav Area Research Center, University of Warsaw)
Naum Trajanovski (Graduate School for Social Research, Polish Academy of Sciences)
Iga Bolewska (Institute of Western and Southern Slavic Studies, University of Warsaw)
Milena Błahuta (Faculty of sociology, University of Warsaw)
Kacper Latawiec (Institute of Western and Southern Slavic Studies, University of Warsaw)
Adam Zygmunt (Institute of Western and Southern Slavic Studies, University of Warsaw)