and Balkan Europe
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Call for Papers - Panel: Consumption in Transition: Material Cultures 1980-2000
Conference venue: San Antonio (USA)
Period: November 20-23, 2014
Deadline for submitting abstracts: December 15, 2013
Description
The Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies launched the Call for Papers "Consumption in Transition: Material Cultures 1980 - 2000" for their 2014 Convention.
In 1989, the Polish lifestyle magazine Pan (The Gentleman), which openly promoted affluent consumption, published an interview with a successful craftsman who belonged to prywaciarze, a new income elite of private entrepreneurs. The craftsman stated “in our poor country a color TV set is a luxury and we have to acknowledge that only the chosen can acquire it.”
This statement excellently captures consumer culture in transition. First, it sheds light on broader social trends of shaping new lifestyles through the possession of material artifacts. Secondly, it shows the radical change in consumer culture occurring in the late 1980s. In the political discourse of state socialism, a color TV was an item of “international modernity.” Despite “temporary difficulties,” state planners were desperate to introduce color TV to all Polish household. But economic and social realities in Poland in the late 1980s was such that the ideology of mass consumption was replaced by the individualistic ethos of new social classes which openly acknowledged social inequalities.
Eligible topics for the conference
The aim of this panel is to discuss cultural practices related to consumption shortly before and after the demise of state socialism in East Central Europe. We are especially interested in two themes:
- The analysis of consumer infrastructure, including studies of the development of modern-day “bazaars”—that is, the sites of informal economy, trader tourism, the rise of private retail trade, local dealers and representatives of western manufacturers. Who was successful in the fight for new consumers and why? What tactics—potentially from the communist era—were used to gain the upper-hand in markets where the consumer was frequently poor and impressionable?
- The connection between cultural practices of consumption and rapid social change—such as the rise of new classes of private owners and entrepreneurs with a significant dispensable income. Who were the new rich, and (given the transformation) how “new” were they? In other words, was capitalism merely another springboard for the party cadre to get rich with, or were the new rich socially and culturally distinctive?
We welcome abstracts from all fields of research (history, sociology, political science, literary studies, etc.). It is our expressed interest to explore the culture of consumption with an interdisciplinary approach. Advanced graduate students and young professionals are also encouraged to submit.
Please note: we are unable to provide funding to the annual convention.
Guidelines for submission
Please send a short abstract and brief CV by 15 December 2013 to keck@europa-uni.de.
Organizer
Information & contacts
Mr. Mark Keck Szajbel
M. A., Center for Interdisciplinary Polish Studies, Europa-Universität Viadrina
e-mail: keck@europa-uni.de
Mr. Patryk Wasiak
Ph. D., Institute for Cultural Studies, University of Wrocław
e-mail: patrykwasiak@gmail.com
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