Now that nearly twenty years have passed since the collapse of the Soviet bloc there is a need to understand what has taken place since that historic date and where we are at the moment. Bringing together authors with different historical, cultural, regional and theoretical backgrounds, this volume engages in debates that address new questions arising from recent developments, such as whether there is a need to reject or uphold the notion of post-socialism as both a necessary and valid concept ignoring changes and differences across both time and space. The authors’ firsthand ethnographies from their own countries belie such a simplistic notion, revealing, as they do, the cultural, social, and historical diversity of countries of Central and Southeastern Europe.
Table of Content
List of llustrations
Preface
Chapter 1. Introduction: Postsocialist Europe and the Anthropological Perspective from Home
László Kürti and Peter Skalník
Chapter 2. Gender and Governance in Rural Communities of Postsocialist Slovakia
Alexandra Bitušíková and Katarína Koštialová
Chapter 3. Property Relations, Class, and Labour in Rural Poland
Michał Buchowski
Chapter 4. Migs and Cadres on the Move: Thoughts on the Mimetic Dimensions of Postsocialism
Hana Červinková
Chapter 5. Diasporas Coming Home. Identity and Uncertainty of Transnational Returnees in Postcommunist Lithuania
Vytis Čiubrinskas
Chapter 6. A Rainbow Flag Against the Krakow Dragon. Polish Responses to the Gay and Lesbian Movement
Grażyna Kubica
Chapter 7. Olivia’s Story: Capitalism and Rabbit Farming in Hungary
László Kürti
Chapter 8. Punk Anthropology: From a Study of a Local Slovene Alternative Rock Scene towards Partisan Scholarship
Rajko Muršič
Chapter 9. Being Locked Out and Locked In: The Culture of Homelessness in Hungary
Terézia Nagy
Chapter 10. Political Anthropology of the Postcommunist Czech Republic: Local–National and Rural–Urban Scenes
Peter Skalník
Chapter 11. Comparative Cultural Aspects of Work in Multinational Enterprises
Gabriel-Ionut Stoiciu
Chapter 12. Immigrants from Ukraine in the Czech Republic: Foreigners in the Border Zone
Zdeněk Uherek
Chapter 13. Afterword – Under the Aegis of Anthropology: Blazing New Trails
Christian Giordano
Notes on Contributors
Index
About the author
Peter Skalník currently teaches social anthropology at the University of Pardubice. He was the Czech ambassador to Lebanon (1992–1997). He has edited or co-edited: The Early Writings of Bronislaw Malinowski (1993), The Post-communist Millennium: The Struggles for Sociocultural Anthropology in Central and Eastern Europe (2002), Anthropology of Europe: Teaching and Research (2004), Studying Peoples in the People’s Democracies: Socialist Era Anthropology in East-Central Europe (2005).