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Societies
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Communism and Post-memory among Young People in East-Central Europe
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Communism and Post-memory among Young People in East-Central Europe

A special issue of Societies (ISSN 2075-4698).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 June 2022) | Viewed by 18626

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Remus Cretan

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Guest Editor
Department of Geography, West Timisoara University, 300223 Timisoara, Romania
Interests: social inequalities and sustainable development of marginal groups (Gypsy/Roma people); marginalization and stigmatization in disadvantaged urban and rural areas; geographies of protests and social justice; corruption and sustainability; sustainable development and resource exploitation (gold mining, shale gas etc); sustainable energy development (hydropower; renewable energies etc); memory / intergenerational memory and technological development; transitional justice and museum studies; place naming studies; place attachment and sense of belonging
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Duncan Light

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Bournemouth University Business School, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole, Dorset, BH12 5BQ, UK
Interests: tourism and transitional justice; tourism and memory; tourism at places of death and suffering; Romania

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

The growth of academic debates on remembering the communist past in East–Central Europe has sparked the interest of many scholars over the last three decades, not only because communism is a locus of nostalgia, but also because communism in this region is often perceived as a repressive system. Post-memory—understood as a relationship that people of subsequent generations bear to the trauma of their forefathers, which they cannot directly remember but rather know through imagery, stories, and behavior—plays an important role in the reproduction of communist memories for the post-communist younger generation. This Special Issue aims to explore the nature of post-memory in East–Central Europe among the younger post-communist generation, as well as the social, cultural, and institutional responses that can counteract them for sustainability goals. Therefore, selected papers in this issue should link post-memory to issues of social and cultural sustainability (including United Nation Sustainable Development Goal no 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions).

The papers will tackle aspects such as: a) the nature and magnitude of post-memory and its relationship with social inequalities in communist times; b) nostalgia for the communist era among those without first-hand experience of it; and c) intergenerational post-communist reshaping of memories. Papers which consider the settings in which post-memory is made and transmitted (such as the home, education, museums and other memorial sites, and a range of other settings) are particularly welcomed.

This Special Issue aims to publish recent advancements in memory studies and novel design methodologies (including both qualitative and quantitative methods) for having an insight into the nature of post-communist memories of the younger generation for communism period. Furthermore, specialized aspects that are relevant to the following topics and others, even if not directly specified, both as case studies or theoretical papers, which cover aspects of post-communist post-memory are welcome.

Prof. Remus Cretan
Dr. Duncan Light
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as conceptual papers are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Societies is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Memories of the communist past
  • Post-communist nostalgia
  • Post-memory
  • Prosthetic memory

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 2071 KiB  
Article
Communism and Anti-Communist Dissent in Romania as Reflected in Contemporary Textbooks
by Radu Săgeată, Nicoleta Damian and Bianca Mitrică
Societies 2021, 11(4), 140; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc11040140 - 30 Nov 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3982
Abstract
The structural changes brought about by the collapse of the communist system also included the reconfiguration of social memory, so that future generations have a more objective imagining of the impact of the communist period on the societies from Central and Eastern Europe. [...] Read more.
The structural changes brought about by the collapse of the communist system also included the reconfiguration of social memory, so that future generations have a more objective imagining of the impact of the communist period on the societies from Central and Eastern Europe. In this view, the depoliticization of recent history is a top priority. The present study aims to highlight the way in which the schoolbooks in Romania bring into the memory of the young generation a strictly secret episode in recent (pre-1990) history: anti-communist dissent. Two categories of methods were used: researching the data and information contained in history textbooks and other bibliographic sources on anti-communist dissent in Romania in the overall socio-political context of that era; and assessing—with the help of a set of surveys—the degree of assimilation by young people in Romania of the knowledge about communism conveyed through textbooks. Research points to the conclusion that the Romanian curriculum and textbooks provide an objective picture of the communist period in this country, but young people’s perception of communism in general and of Romanian communism in particular tends to be distorted by poor education, poverty and surrounding mentalities rooted in that period. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Communism and Post-memory among Young People in East-Central Europe)
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15 pages, 702 KiB  
Article
Memorial Ambivalences in Postcommunist Romania: Generational Attitudes towards the Symbolic Legacy of Communism
by Mihai Stelian Rusu and Alin Croitoru
Societies 2021, 11(3), 99; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc11030099 - 16 Aug 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4983
Abstract
After the demise of state socialism, public space became an issue of contention that occupied an important place within societies’ efforts to come to terms with the recent past. Extant scholarship documented extensively how postcommunist societies in Central and Eastern Europe have reconfigured [...] Read more.
After the demise of state socialism, public space became an issue of contention that occupied an important place within societies’ efforts to come to terms with the recent past. Extant scholarship documented extensively how postcommunist societies in Central and Eastern Europe have reconfigured the public space by removing the symbolic presence of the former regime (e.g., monuments and statues, but also place- and street names). However, there is a scarcity of research done on exploring the reception of these broad changes brought to the public statuary and urban nomenclature. In this study, we aim to contribute to this nascent strand of literature by investigating the generational differences in social attitudes towards the symbolic transformation of public space in postcommunist Romania. Data collected through a national web-survey conducted in February 2021 (n = 1156) revealed significant intergenerational differences regarding the removal of monuments and the renaming of streets. In particular, higher approval of such memory work was found among the generations born during communism in comparison to the postcommunist generation. Taking stock of these generational differences, as well as the factors underpinning them, contributes to a better understanding of how ordinary people relate to the politics of memory enacted in transforming societies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Communism and Post-memory among Young People in East-Central Europe)
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21 pages, 293 KiB  
Article
Museums and Transitional Justice: Assessing the Impact of a Memorial Museum on Young People in Post-Communist Romania
by Duncan Light, Remus Creţan and Andreea-Mihaela Dunca
Societies 2021, 11(2), 43; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc11020043 - 12 May 2021
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 7366
Abstract
Memorial museums are frequently established within transitional justice projects intended to reckon with recent political violence. They play an important role in enabling young people to understand and remember a period of human rights abuses of which they have no direct experience. This [...] Read more.
Memorial museums are frequently established within transitional justice projects intended to reckon with recent political violence. They play an important role in enabling young people to understand and remember a period of human rights abuses of which they have no direct experience. This paper examines the impact of a memorial museum in Romania which interprets the human rights abuses of the communist period (1947–1989). It uses focus groups with 61 young adults and compares the responses of visitors and non-visitors to assess the impact of the museum on views about the communist past, as well as the role of the museum within post-communist transitional justice. The museum had a limited impact on changing overall perceptions of the communist era but visiting did stimulate reflection on the differences between past and present, and the importance of long-term remembrance; however, these young people were largely skeptical about the museum’s role within broader processes of transitional justice. The paper concludes that it is important to recognize the limits of what memorial museums can achieve, since young people form a range of intergenerational memories about the recent past which a museum is not always able to change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Communism and Post-memory among Young People in East-Central Europe)
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