Studying the Post-Socialist City in Yugoslavia: An Examination of Multi-Disciplinary Methodologies and Theoretical Approaches

Studying the Post-Socialist City in Yugoslavia: An Examination of Multi-Disciplinary Methodologies and Theoretical ApproachesSince the end of the state-socialist era in the early 1990s – and effectively, since the end of the Yugoslav federation and the subsequent wars that had engulfed the Western Balkans for almost a decade – the study of the twentieth-century South-Eastern Europe has intensified. The scholarship on the region’s twentieth-century architecture has been prolific since the early years of the new millennium, and the new generation of urban and architectural scholars has further amplified this trend. However, an inquiry into the post-socialist city in Western Balkans has been relegated largely to the secondary position to the study of the Yugoslav modernist architecture and its role within the socio-political mechanisms of the Cold War era. In this discourse, the study of the post-socialist urban space remains lacking in architectural and urban history – it is mainly conducted within the methodological and theoretical frameworks of sociology, socio-cultural anthropology, and urban geography.To bridge this scholarly gap and identify possible new trajectories of inquiry, I probe into the different scholarship dealing with the post-socialist city and the urban, ideological, and social remnants of the state-socialist era in former Yugoslavia. I argue that the study of the multi-disciplinary nature of the scholarship examining the state-socialist and post-socialist city serves as a vital step in the more comprehensive understanding of the (post-)Yugoslav architectural space, its particulars, and idiosyncrasies. Methodologically, I identify and outline the different disciplinary strands in the study of the post-socialist space in general, and post-Yugoslav space in particular, followed by an analysis of the established discourses and their points of interference and overlap. By investigating qualitative methodologies and different theoretical approaches in the study of the Central-East European and Yugoslav post-socialist city, I explore the post-socialist urban space in former Yugoslavia in a wide-ranging manner, ultimately identifying conduits for future research.Istraživanje postsocijalističkog urbanog prostora u bivšoj Jugoslaviji: analiza multidiciplinarnih metodologija i teoretskih pristupaOd svršetka perioda komunizma u Evropi u ranim devedesetima—i tehnički, od raspada Jugoslavije i rata koji je obilježio posljednju deceniju dvadesetog stoljeća na Balkanu—stručni istraživački rad na temu jugoistočne Evrope se samo intenzivirao. Tematski akademski projekti posvećeni arhitekturi dvadesetog stoljeća su prisutni u nauci još od začetka novog milenija, a nova generacija istoričara arhitekture i urbanizma dodatno naglašava i širi već postojeće teme. Ipak, studij postsocijalističkog arhitektonskog perioda u gradovima zapadnog Balkana zauzima pak sekundarni položaj u odnosu na istraživačke djelatnosti posvećene arhitekturi modernizma u Jugoslaviji te ulozi arhitekture u sociopolitičkim preturbacijama perioda hladnog rata. U okviru diskursa istorije arhitekture i urbanizma, studij postsocijalističkog urbanog prostora je tek minimalno zastupljen—stručno-istraživački projekti na temu se prvenstveno vrše u oblasti sociologije, sociokulturne antropologije i urbane geografije.Cilj stručnog rada „Studying the Post-Socialist City in Yugoslavia“ je analiza postojeće literature na temu postsocijalističke arhitekture te studij urbane, ideološke i sociološke baštine socijalističke Jugoslavije; drugi cilj rada je identifikacija mogućih pravaca daljeg istraživanja na temu. Tvrdim da studija multidisciplinarnih istraživačkih radova na temu socijalističke i postsocijalističke arhitekture služi kao krucijalan korak u razumijevanju jugoslovenskog i post-jugoslovenskog urbanog prostora kao i njegovih idiosinkratičnih karakteristika. Metodološki, „Studying the Post-Socialist City in Yugoslavia“ prvenstveno identificira pristupe temi različitih disciplinarnih oblasti i njihovih tačaka preklapanja te vrši analizu postojećeg diskursa. Dalje, kroz studije različitih metodoloških i teoretskih pristupa u već postojećem istraživačkom diskursu na temu postsocijalističke arhitekture gradova središnje Evrope, „Studying the Post-Socialist City in Yugoslavia“ predlaže i definira moguće pravce u daljim studijama postsocijalističke arhitekture i urbanizma u zemljama bivše Jugoslavije.Badanie przestrzeni miasta postsocjalistycznego na obszarze byłej Jugosławii: analiza wielodyscyplinowych metodologii i perspektyw teoretycznychOd upadku ładu komunistycznego w Europie na początku lat 90. XX wieku, czemu towarzyszył rozpad Jugosławii i wojna, która naznaczyła ostatnią dekadę minionego stulecia na Bałkanach, intensywnie rozwijają się badania naukowe poświęcone Europie Południowo-Wschodniej. Od początku nowego tysiąclecia pojawiają się projekty akademickie dotyczące dwudziestowiecznej architektury, zaś nowe pokolenie historyków architektury i urbanistyki z rosnącym zainteresowaniem rozwija poruszaną dotąd tematykę. Jednakże badania nad architekturą okresu postsocjalistycznego w miastach zachodnich Bałkanów odgrywają drugorzędną rolę w porównaniu z aktywnością naukową poświęconą architekturze modernizmu w Jugosławii, jak też miejscu architektury w przemianach społeczno-politycznych podczas zimnej wojny. Badania przestrzeni miejskiej w okresie postsocjalistycznym zajmują marginalne miejsce w dyskursie historii architektury i urbanistyki, zaś projekty naukowe o tej tematyce rozwijają się głównie w perspektywie socjologii, antropologii społecznej i geografii miasta.Celem artykułu jest analiza dotychczasowej literatury dotyczącej architektury postsocjalistycznej oraz miejskiego, ideologicznego i socjologicznego dziedzictwa socjalistycznej Jugosławii; przedstawione przeze mnie prace starają się również określić możliwe kierunki dalszych studiów nad tą problematyką. Uważam, że analiza wielodyscyplinowych badań naukowych dotyczących architektury socjalizmu i okresu post-socjalistycznego może być kluczowym krokiem w procesie odkrywania znaczeń jugosłowiańskiej i postjugosłowiańskiej przestrzeni miejskiej, jak też w próbach scharakteryzowania jej specyfiki. Pod względem metodologicznym artykuł rekonstruuje sposoby badania typowe dla poszczególnych dyscyplin oraz ich punkty wspólne, jak też dokonuje analizy istniejącego już dyskursu naukowego. Ponadto dzięki badaniu różnorodnych perspektyw metodologicznych i teoretycznych w studiach na temat miast Europy Środkowej w artykule zaproponowano możliwe kierunki dalszych prac badawczych nad architekturą i urbanistyką okresu postsocjalistycznego w krajach byłej Jugosławii.

Experimental Cinemas in State Socialist Eastern Europe

Was there experimental cinema behind the Iron Curtain? What forms did experiments with film take in state socialist Eastern Europe? Who conducted them, where, how, and why? These are the questions answered in this volume, the first of its kind in any language. Bringing together scholars from different disciplines, the book offers case studies from Bulgaria, Czech Republic, former East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and former Yugoslavia. Together, these contributions demonstrate the variety of makers, production contexts, and aesthetic approaches that shaped a surprisingly robust and diverse experimental film output in the region. The book maps out the terrain of our present-day knowledge of cinematic experimentalism in Eastern Europe, suggests directions for further research, and will be of interest to scholars of film and media, art historians, cultural historians of Eastern Europe, and anyone concerned with questions of how alternative cultures emerge and function under repressive political conditions.

JANOS KORNAI AND HIS MEMORABLE WORK

Janos Kornai is the foremost economist of the socialist and post-socialist countries in the last 50 years. He was a world-famous scientist, who left behind the great legacy of works published in more than 20 languages. His theory of system anti-equilibrium in the centrally planned economy, the concept of soft and hard budget constraints, and the economic deficit had revolutionary significance for the scientific explanation of the production processes and distribution and deepening of capital in the state socialist economics. His contribution to the political economy of socialism, which he taught at Harvard University was particularly significant. In practice, Kornai was satisfied with the descriptive approach analysing of the socialist system whereas, in works published after 1989 he drew attention to normative economics, proposing the ways of structural reform, institutional constructions, and economic policy in the post-socialist transition stage. His last book, in which anti-equilibrium characterized by deficits under socialism compared with the anti-equilibrium specific to the overflows under capitalism is essential. The evolution of the academic thought of this eminent economist and its influence on real economic processes was analyzed. Polemical comments about the interpretation of economic and social processes, which takes place in China are added.

Orbánistan and the Anti-gender Rhetoric in Hungary

This chapter introduces Hungary’s anti-liberal political rule and its gender regime. It traces policy changes in Hungary since 2010, discusses the legacies of the state socialist gender regimes and the formation of a new, anti-liberal one. I introduce the term “carefare” and discuss how the concept of “gender” has been deployed by Hungarian politicians to legitimate an increase in women’s unpaid care burden and their lack of attention to gender inequality in the labor market. I end the chapter with a description of my research methods and provide an outline for the rest of the book.

Strictly Confidential Anthropology

Anthropological interest in secrecy and silence – and related aspects such as lying, knowledge, memory, and forgetting – has been long and precarious. Through what may be called personal anthropology, in this article, I describe both private and professional anthropological experiences including family memories, fieldwork sites, and academic practices. By recalling state socialist ideology, censorship, and family secrets, I illustrate how citizens have relied on each other in order to counter state hegemony. I highlight how surveillance in Romania expressly encouraged my informants as well as the secret police to engage in mutual intelligence and observation tactics as evasive tactics. Building on these strategies, I argue that academic life is not immune to secrecy, silence and covert action. I introduce an anthropologist who worked for the Hungarian secret police, and consider how academic life continues to rely on covert programs and an institutionalized hierarchy to promote and maintain its structures and interests.

Instrumentalization of the Border Zone. Environment and Ideology in the Educational Films Made between 1955 and 1989 by the Hungarian Ministry of Interior’s Film Studio

Analysing the output of the Hungarian Ministry of Interior’s own film studio, which produced educational films between 1955 and 1989, this essay investigates the modes in which the border zone was represented during the decades of state socialism. Considering the vicinity of the border as an area, where ideological confrontations are battled out, the article argues that there is a significant difference between the films produced in the 1950-60s, and those from the mid-1960s onwards. The earlier pieces depict an emotionally charged border zone the defence of which is a social-political duty: father-type superiors teach rookie soldiers about this obligation in coming-of-age stories. However, from the mid-1960s onwards, the films seem to confine themselves to an instrumental mode of persuasion, which presents border protection as a merely technical question. The article briefly ties these shifts to the changing modes in official discourses during the decades of state socialist Hungary.

From class origins to individual psychopathology: Spousal murder according to state socialist Czechoslovak criminology

Over the course of 40 years of state socialism, the explanation that Czechoslovak criminologists gave for spousal murder changed significantly. Initially attributing offences to the perpetrator's class origins, remnants of his bourgeois way of life, and the lack of positive influence from the collective in the long 1950s, criminologists then refocused their attention solely on the individual's psychopathology during the period known as ‘Normalization’, which encompassed the last two decades of state socialism. Based on an analysis of archival sources, including scholarly journals and expert reports, and following Ian Hacking's insight that ‘kinds of people come into being’ through the realignment of systems of knowledge, this article shows how new kinds of spousal murderer emerged as a result of shifting criminological expertise. We explain the change as the result of the psychiatrization of criminology that occurred in Czechoslovakia at a time when the regime needed to consolidate after the upheavals of the Prague Spring of 1968. The criminological framing of spousal murder as belonging squarely in the individualized realm of the private sphere reflected the contemporaneous effort of the regime to enclose the private as a sphere of relative state non-interference.