Dear All,

With the usual apologies for cross posting, this is to let you know that 
registrations are now open for the interdisciplinary conference 
'Remembering Dictatorship: State Socialist Pasts in Post-Socialist 
Presents'.  Further information, the programme, and details of how to 
register can be found at 
<http://www.bris.ac.uk/german/events/dictatorship.html>,  and the deadline 
for
registrations is 17 August 2011. For further information, please contact:
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It would be great to see as many of you as possible at the conference in 
order to continue our earlier discussions in the wider context set out 
below. Sara and I look forward to hearing from / seeing you soon.

All best wishes,

Debbie

It is twenty years since the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the 
beginning of the transition to democracy in Eastern Europe. Nonetheless, 
the impact of the state socialist past can still be felt in those countries 
previously under Soviet influence or control. In recent years, the legacy 
of socialist dictatorship and its impact on the post-socialist present have 
received considerable attention in a variety of disciplines: amongst 
others, cultural, literary, media and museum studies, history, anthropology 
and political science. The boom in interest in (individual, cultural, 
social and collective) memory has seen the development of a range of 
theoretical and methodological tools with which we can approach the impact 
of national history or histories on politics, society and culture. 
Nonetheless, most of this work has taken place in isolation, within one 
disciplinary area or focusing on a single geographical location. Working 
from a comparative approach that crosses both disciplinary and geographical 
borders, this conference asks for a (re)evaluation of the processes of 
coming to terms with state socialist pasts in post-socialist contexts. We 
aim to examine the impact of memories of dictatorship on policy-making, 
social interactions and the production of cultural artefacts (e.g., 
literature, film, museums and memorials) and to initiate a dialogue between 
researchers working in very different fields.

Dr Debbie Pinfold
Senior Lecturer in German
School of Modern Languages
17 Woodland Road
Bristol BS8 ITE
0044 (0)117 92 88797
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