The centuries-old debate over whether certain countries belong to the East or the centre of Europe has fairly little to do with geography. In this Gagarin podcast episode, anthropologist Iván Kalmár discusses privilege, race and cultural hegemony.
Wasn’t the East-West divide supposed to go away?
Discussing ‘The Legacy of division: Europe after 1989’ with the curators
Was it foolish to expect Europe to unite after the Iron Curtain fell? What kept the wounds from healing? Talking the post-Communist heritage in Gagarin, the Eurozine podcast.
Can one speak of a new East–West split? How has our understanding of the two halves of Europe, shaped by the Iron Curtain, changed in the past three decades? Some seem to forever carry the East with them, while others substitute the colloquial ‘end of history’ with shallow concepts for political gain. Easterners are tired of the perpetual post-Communist stigma, while Westerners suggest the promised land wasn’t quite so promising in the first place.
Listen to this episode of Gagarin, the Eurozine podcast on Spotify, Apple podcasts, Castbox, Stitcher or Soundcloud.
Curators Ferenc Laczó and Luka Lisjak Gabrijelčič discuss the new Eurozine anthology, a series of original essays and conversations, 35 contributors from the fields of European and global history, politics, and culture address questions fundamental to our understanding of Europe today. This volume offers a unique cross-section of perspectives and experiences from authors like Aleida Assmann, Philipp Ther, Barbara J. Falk, Ivan Krastev, Diana Georgescu, Karl Schlögel, James Wang, Joachim von Puttkammer, Holly Case, Owen Hatherley, and more. You can order the book here.
Photo courtesy of Dóra Papp.
Gagarin, the Eurozine podcast is a series of conversations with authors and editors from throughout Europe and beyond. Our 90+ partners are journals, magazines and associates from Belgium to Belarus, from Norway to Bulgaria, publishing literature and analyzing politics, reflecting on culture and bringing diverse voices to a joint conversation.
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Published 20 October 2020
Original in English
First published by Eurozine
© Eurozine
PDF/PRINTIn focal points
- The legacy of division: dual book launch
- Wasn’t the East-West divide supposed to go away?
- Out of love for the South
- New fences
- The distorting mirror
- Unaltered dilemmas and novel challenges
- European Utopias from below
- This mess of troubled times
- The promise recalled: Reads
- Legacies of 1989 for dissent today
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