The “New Flowers” of Bulgarian Punk: Cultural Translation, Local Subcultural Scenes, and Heritage

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asya Draganova
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Music Performance ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Totalitarian Regime ◽  
Ethnographic Interviews ◽  
Music Scenes ◽  
Youth Cultures ◽  
Political Environments ◽  
Global Language ◽  
Heritage Discourse

First formed in the late 1970s, the Bulgarian punk band Novi Tsvetya was considered one of the first in the country, and they challenged restrictions associated with the totalitarian regime at the time. Focusing on Novi Tsvetya—or “New Flowers”—who are still active on the scene in the small town of Kyustendil where they first started, this chapter seeks to explore the genesis of the translation of “Western” subcultural music scenes into Eastern European Cold War contexts. It is argued that DIY politics of access, creation, and music performance enabled opportunities for youth agency and expression. They were in symbolic opposition to perceived repressive aspects of Cold War social and political environments in Bulgaria. The chapter also interrogates contemporary developments in relation to the wider interpretation of Bulgarian subcultural scenes, particularly a move towards a DIY cultural heritage discourse: a process of mythologizing youth resistance and creativity. While New Flowers and other bands discussed in this chapter are mostly musically and aesthetically engaged with punk and post-punk, the symbol of flowers in their name highlights the connectedness of subcultural scenes with other, earlier youth cultures, particularly the hippie culture. As the word flowers appears elsewhere in Bulgarian punk/post-punk, such as the song “Flowers of the Late 80s” (1987) by Revu, this chapter seeks to develop the notion of flowers as a conceptual and metaphorical device to understand how pre-1989 subcultural youth practices are holistically memorialized. The study is based on ethnographic interviews and observations, alongside analysis of musical, lyrical, and visual content, interpreting punk as an evolving intergenerational global language with a DIY ethos.

Black-and-White Sensations of History and Female Identity in Contemporary Polish and Czech Cinema

2020 ◽  
pp. 45-64
Author(s):  
Judit Pieldner
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
Female Identity ◽  
European History ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Image Rendering ◽  
Black And White ◽  
The Aesthetic

This chapter addresses the aesthetic of black-and-white filmmaking in the digital age, with special attention to the ways in which the black-and-white image manifests its perceptual otherness in between the analogue and the digital, the natural and the artificial, the cinematic and the photographic. Through examples taken from contemporary Polish and Czech cinema, including Hi, Tereska! (Cześć, Tereska, Robert Gliński, 2001), The Reverse (Rewers, Borys Lankosz, 2009), Ida (Paweł Pawlikowski, 2013), Papusza (Joanna Kos-Krauze and Krzysztof Krauze, 2013), Cold War (Zimna wojna, Paweł Pawlikowski, 2018) and I, Olga Hepnarová (Já, Olga Hepnarová, Tomáš Weinreb and Petr Kazda, 2016), it discusses the uses and functions of the black-and-white image rendering female identity caught in the grip of Eastern European history. The black-and-white image is often associated with high artistry and the photographic quality of film; accordingly, the emphasis is laid on photographic compositions, static shots, long takes and tableau moments, which confer on the digital monochrome subtle sensations of intermediality.

‘New Warsaw Pacts’, ‘Beggar Imperialism’ and interstate rivalry in Central and Eastern Europe

2016 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-290
Author(s):  
Filip Ilkowski
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Specific Form ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Capitalist Development ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
European Area ◽  
Interstate Rivalry

This article addresses newly emerging interstate rivalry between Central and Eastern European states based on unevenness of capitalist development and growing assertiveness of particular states in terms of their various strategies and tactics. It critically analyses the efficacy of ‘New Warsaw Pacts’ concepts and argues that in the Central and Eastern European area, we observe a specific form of a post–Cold War multi-polarity, whereby interstate rivalry is becoming increasingly more complex. The term of ‘Beggar Imperialism’ is utilized as a possibly useful description of a specific form geopolitical strategy shown by the example of Poland.

The North Caucasus between the Ottoman Empire and the Tsardom of Muscovy: The Beginnings, 1552-1570

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-125
Author(s):  
Murat Yaşar
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
North Caucasus ◽  
Spheres Of Influence ◽  
The North ◽  
Rising Power ◽  
First Time ◽  
Shed Light

The present paper explores the hitherto unknown beginnings of the Ottoman-Russian imperial rivalry by focusing on the mid-16th-century encounter between the Ottoman Empire and the Tsardom of Muscovy over the North Caucasus, where the ambitions of these two asymmetric powers—the Ottomans being an established “super power” and the Muscovites a rising power—became entangled for the first time. This first encounter, which was the harbinger of many future engagements not only in this region but also in the broader steppe frontier around the Black Sea, was more of a “cold war” rather than a military confrontation, as both the Ottomans and the Muscovites rather preferred to establish spheres of influence and eventually their hegemony over the North Caucasus through their vassals and clients. In addition to demonstrating the Tsardom of Muscovy’s initial claims and policies over the North Caucasus, this study will shed light on the reasons of the Ottoman failure to transform their nominal claims over the region to a de facto hegemony similar to what they had established over Eastern European principalities.

scholarly journals Maximalist Autofiction, Surrealism and Late Socialism in Mircea Cărtărescu’s Solenoid

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. RLS66-RLS87
Author(s):  
Doris Mironescu ◽  
Andreea Mironescu
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Narrative Structure ◽  
The Self ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
The World ◽  
Late Socialism ◽  
East West

This article studies the fictionalization of late Eastern-European socialism in contemporary Romania, namely the literary projection of the 1980s in Mircea Cărtărescu’s autofictional novel Solenoid (2015). The novel is an ample, paranoid, metaphysical, and counterfactual autobiography that uses a late-communist backdrop to create a metaphorically skewed representation of the self and the world. In order to describe this narrative structure as an emergent subgenre of the postmodern maximalist novel, we coined the term ‘maximalist autofiction.’ We then discussed Cărtărescu’s option for maximalist autofiction and the effects this literary choice has had on his representation of Romanian late socialism. This option is influenced by the author’s biography, as well as by his own relationship with the memory burden of socialism in today’s post-Cold War world. Cărtărescu uses hyperbole, metaphysical parody, and a maximalist surrealist imagination to propel the discussion of socialism and cultural peripherality beyond the dated parameters of the East/West dichotomies.

scholarly journals NATO in Europe: Between Weak European Allies and Strong Influence of Russian Federation

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (80) ◽  
pp. 5-32
Author(s):  
Lidija Čehulić Vukadinović ◽  
Monika Begović ◽  
Luka Jušić
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Strong Influence ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Mutual Trust ◽  
Security Environment ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
The Times

AbstractAfter the collapse of the bipolar international order, NATO has been focused on its desire to eradicate Cold War divisions and to build good relations with Russia. However, the security environment, especially in Europe, is still dramatically changing. The NATO Warsaw Summit was focused especially on NATO’s deteriorated relations with Russia that affect Europe’s security. At the same time, it looked at bolstering deterrence and defence due to many concerns coming from eastern European allies about Russia’s new attitude in international relations. The Allies agreed that a dialogue with Russia rebuilding mutual trust needs to start. In the times when Europe faces major crisis from its southern and south-eastern neighbourhood - Western Balkan countries, Syria, Libya and Iraq - and other threats, such as terrorism, coming from the so-called Islamic State, causing migration crises, it is necessary to calm down relations with Russia. The article brings out the main purpose of NATO in a transformed world, with the accent on Europe, that is constantly developing new security conditions while tackling new challenges and threats.

scholarly journals Changes in Europe and the USSR: An Overview for Southern Agriculture and Agribusiness

1991 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.B. Penn
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Market Orientation ◽  
European Region ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Sufficient Time ◽  
Political Pluralism ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The World ◽  
The Cold War

The world was astonished in 1989 by the initial collapse of socialist institutions and subsequently by the pace at which change swept across the Eastern European region. For a time, even the Soviet Union seemed to be moving toward greater political pluralism, market orientation and the effective end of the Cold War. It is now approaching two years since this political convulsion began (in Poland). This is sufficient time to enable the transition programs to take form, and to permit informed speculation about the potential for their success and, ultimately, how the Eastern European and Soviet situations could affect the farming and food sectors of our economy.

The Party in Peril

2019 ◽  
pp. 428-474
Author(s):  
A. James McAdams
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
National Security ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Brute Force ◽  
Chernobyl Fallout ◽  
Significant Change ◽  
Marxist Interpretation

This chapter describes the decline of the communist party and its attempts to salvage major disasters, such as the Chernobyl fallout. Unlike in the preceding decades of communist rule, when they could supplement a Marxist interpretation of their conditions with references to looming threats to national security, Cold War tensions, and economic perils, the credibility of these rationales had faded. This is not to say that opponents of significant change were equally disadvantaged in other parts of the communist world. In the case of China, the chapter highlights, the regime managed to defend its rule. But China's leaders faced a different type of party crisis and responded with a different remedy—the use of brute force—that neither the Soviet Union's leader nor his Eastern European allies dared to implement. Otherwise, the need for the vanguard that had made sense in its original European and Russian contexts vanished.

Japan-EEC/EU Relations, 1970-2005: Re-Emergence as Strategic Partners in Trade and Environment

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-36
Author(s):  
Hitoshi SUZUKI ◽  
Izuru MAKIHARA
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Foreign Trade Policy ◽  
Business People ◽  
European Business ◽  
The Common ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Eu

Negotiations on a Japan-EEC trade agreement faced a deadlock only three years after the launch of the common foreign trade policy in 1970. The European Commission adopted a step-by-step approach to change the climate. European business people were sent to Japan under the ETP-Japan. The Commission welcomed Japanese investments so that Japanese exports could be reduced. Japanese plants were launched in Britain. After the cold war ended, Japanese manufacturers headed towards the newly liberalised countries. Japan’s policy of commitment - via both aid and investments - was an extension of her relations with the Central and Eastern European countries during the cold war, namely towards the GDR. However, after 1991, Japan’s priority was not limited to her market share in Europe and gained a longer perspective to stabilise the region. Joint efforts made Japan and the EU claim themselves as global actors. Both shared fears on global warming and agreed upon the Kyoto Protocol of 1997.

Vaccination and the communist state: polio in Eastern Europe

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dora Vargha
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Archival Research ◽  
The West ◽  
Communist State ◽  
East And West ◽  
The Cold War

Through the case of Czechoslovakia and Hungary, this chapter explores the role of Eastern European states in polio prevention and vaccine development in the Cold War. Based on published sources and archival research, the chapter demonstrates that polio facilitated cooperation between the antagonistic sides to prevent a disease that equally affected East and West. Moreover, it argues that Eastern Europe was seen – both by Eastern European states and the West - as different when it came to polio prevention, since the communist states were considered to be particularly well suited to test and successfully implement vaccines.

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