scholarly journals Plaster Archeology in Budapest’s Seventh District: Toward a Mode of Engagement with Architectural Surfaces

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 11-22
Author(s):  
László Munteán
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Material Surface ◽  
Efficient Utilization ◽  
Architectural Form ◽  
The Past ◽  
Covering Material ◽  
Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries

Used as a predominant covering material in Central and Eastern Europe throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, plaster’s malleable characteristics also enabled its efficient utilization as a material for imitating decorative features traditionally made from stone and marble. Instead of looking at plaster as an imitation material, this article proposes studying it as a material archive containing unintentionally preserved traces of the past that may include fragments of advertisements, graffiti, bullet holes, or virtually any inscription in plaster that would otherwise be bound to disappear. Plaster archeology is a mode of looking at plaster less as a conduit of architectural form and more as a material surface involving depth. As a discipline, plaster archeology entails a set of practices that allows one to attend to these surfaces, although not with the intention to save traces of the past from disappearance, but rather towards reconceptualizing plaster as a material in its own right that constantly transforms at the whims of human and climatic forces.  By using two buildings located in the heart of Budapest’s seventh district as case studies, I will then demonstrate how the plaster archeologist views and examines façades. Finally, through an exploration of plaster’s characteristics and history, I argue for plaster archeology as a non-interventive mode of engaging with architectural surfaces.

1968. The “Prague Spring”: Fifty Years Later. Historical Essays

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Market Economy ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
General Reader ◽  
The Past ◽  
Relevant Today ◽  
Prague Spring ◽  
The Military

This book is devoted to a symbolic event that defined the life and values of several generations. Half a century ago, Czech communists tried to give a new impetus to their country’s system of government by combining socialist values with a rational market economy and the mechanisms of a developed democracy. This effort failed, and the state was occupied by the military. This book is the result of joint efforts by Russian, Czech, and Romanian historians, archivists, and cultural and literary scholars, who—exploring new documents and materials—have reinterpreted these events and their lessons from a present-day perspective. Objectively, the “Prague Spring” is from a bygone era, but it is still a milestone, and many of the problems encountered during the Prague Spring are still relevant today. The authors hope that they have contributed to the historiography of the now-distant events of 1968 and that their contributions will help in analysing the experiences of the past in order to be prepared for the events of the future. This book is aimed at specialists in the history and culture of Central and Eastern Europe, students of higher educational institutions, and the general reader interested in twentieth-century history.

Negotiating agency and structure: Trade union organizing strategies in a hostile environment

2015 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 473-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dragoș Adăscăliței ◽  
Ștefan Guga
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Organized Labor ◽  
General Situation ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
Union Organizing ◽  
Hostile Environment ◽  
The Past ◽  
Automotive Assembly ◽  
Agency And Structure

This article investigates a case of successful union organizing in one automotive assembly plant in Romania. The authors argue that in order to explain why the union succeeds in defending workers’ rights there is a need to consider both structural and agency aspects that condition labor’s capacity to effectively defend their interests. The findings show that the union at the Romanian plant has made use of a diverse repertoire of protest activities in order to defend its worker constituency. The authors also discuss why as of late protests are less and less used by the union in response to the shifting economic and political environment in which the plant is embedded. They argue that a closer look at the strategy of the Romanian union and the path it has taken in the past decade provides a better understanding of the conditions for union success in an economic, legal, and political environment that has become increasingly hostile toward organized labor. In this sense, the article points to the more general situation unions in Central and Eastern Europe have found themselves in recent years.

scholarly journals Instrumentalization of Law in the Context of Memory Policies in Central and Eastern Europe after 1989

2020 ◽  
pp. 40-50
Author(s):  
Filip Cyuńczyk
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Collective Memory ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Theoretical Concept ◽  
Primary Research ◽  
Region I

The main goal of the article is to conduct case studies of CEE memory policies introduced after the fall of communism and to present them as an interesting field for examining the instrumentalization of law. The primary research question is: Do several case studies of several memory policies implemented in post-communist states help to examine the theoretical concept of the instrumentalization of law? In this paper, I intend to show the hidden potential of such studies. I present some of the specific elements of new constitutionalization attempts in CEE, which included narratives of memory in several constitutions in the region. I also show their relation to the concept of instrumentalization of law. Finally, I describe some political acts of instrumentalization of law in the field of collective memory.

scholarly journals Role of Creative Industries in the Post-Socialist Urban Transformation

2014 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tadeusz Stryjakiewicz ◽  
Michał Męczyński ◽  
Krzysztof Stachowiak
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Creative Industries ◽  
Urban Transformation ◽  
The West ◽  
Local Networks ◽  
The Past ◽  
Path Dependent ◽  
Basic Features

Abstract Over the past two decades the cities in Central and Eastern Europe have witnessed a wide-ranging transformation in many aspects. The introduction of a market-oriented economy after half a century of socialism has brought about deep social, economic, cultural and political changes. The first stage of the changes, the 1990s, involved the patching up of structural holes left by the previous system. The post-socialist city had to face challenges of the future while carrying the ballast of the past. Rapid progress in catching up with the West transformed the city a great deal. Later on, the advent of the 21st century brought a new wave of development processes based, among other things, on creativity and innovation. Hence our contribution aims to explore the role of creativity and creative industries in the post-socialist urban transformation. The article consists of three basic parts. In the first we present the concept of a ‘creative post-socialist city’ and define the position of creative industries in it. We also indicate some similarities to and differences from the West European approaches to this issue. In the second part, examples from Central and Eastern Europe are used in an attempt to elucidate the concept of a ‘creative post-socialist city’ by identifying some basic features of creative actions /processes as well as a creative environment, both exogenous and endogenous. The former is embedded in different local networks, both formal (institutionalised) and informal, whereas the structure of the latter is strongly path-dependent. In the third part we critically discuss the role of local policies on the development of creative industries, pointing out some of their shortcomings and drawing up recommendations for future policy measures.

Built Objects

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglass Bailey ◽  
Lesley McFadyen
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Architectural History ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Architectural Form ◽  
The Past ◽  
Neolithic Europe ◽  
Two Bodies ◽  
European Architecture

This article presents two bodies of work, both of which take an interdisciplinary approach to the study of buildings from Neolithic Europe. The first connects archaeology to theories in architectural history, while the second creates links between archaeology and art. This article works through four ideas about architecture which the article offers as disconnected propositions. There is no easy narrative for this article, just as there is none for the living built environment of the past or the present. This article proposes that archaeologists step away from accepted and comfortable knowledge of architectural form and interpretation. The aim of this article is to work through four case studies from our work on prehistoric European architecture. The case studies illuminate four propositions, which are offered as provocations for further work on architecture by archaeologists but also by anthropologists and other social scientists and humanities scholars whose work engages architecture concludes this article.

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