Cultural Transformations After Communism

Central and Eastern Europe in Focus

Barbara Törnquist-Plewa, Krzysztof Stala, Barbara Törnquist-Plewa, Krzysztof Stala

• Publisher: Nordic Academic Press
• Year: 2011
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9789187121821
• Subtopic: 20th Century History
• Index: History

Focusing on the profound transformation in Central and Eastern Europe since the fall of the Iron Curtain, this record analyzes complex cultural dimensions, such as lifestyles, habits, value markers, and identity. Written by a group of experts, it presents case studies from the former communist countries that are members of the European Union today and attempts to answer crucial questions about the constructions of a new identity in the region: Have the processes of democratization and opening the borders produced mentality changes and new value systems? Is there a convergence of values and cultures between the new and old EU-members? Have there been backlashes in the processes of reconstructing national identities? This book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in European integration, issues of national identity, and the politics and culture of the post-Communist countries.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1. Eurosis – a critique of the EU discourse in Slovenia
• 2. Globalisation and mode of habitation in Hungary
• 3. From Soviet to a Western-dominated political scene
• 4. The Polish Christian Right and the idea of the West
• 5. Homo Sovieticus surviving democracy?
• 6. From regime legitimation to plurality of history?
• 7. Looking back, going forward
• 8. Nationalism in Romanian textbooks
• 9. Estonian transformation From an eastern outpost in the West to a western outpost
• 10. Lithuanian national identity
• 11. Ethnic minority schools and politics in post-Soviet Latvia
• Contributors