Workshop "Boundaries of Common Soviet Memories" 8 June 2010

IRTG1540 (Greifswald): Baltic Borderlands: Workshop in Tartu

Due to the leading role of the Soviet Union in the political arrangements for the Eastern European sphere after World War II, countries that were included eastwards of the German-German border and Finland share a common memory of the Soviet past. Some of these countries were less dominated by Soviet influence than others, but nonetheless, Soviet political, social and cultural ideologies shaped world views and perceptions in all these countries. We will try to discuss the boundaries and borders which are drawn by different perceptions and experiences in the common Soviet memory after 1989/90/91 when the Eastern block started its dissolution and the emergence of free states gave a different form to an important part of the world which still struggles on different levels between past and future.

University Council Hall (Ülikooli 18)

Tuesday, 8 June:

9.30 Welcome

10.00 Dr Maria Mälksoo (Tartu) Securitizing the Legacy of Communism in the Baltic States, Poland, Ukraine, and Russia

12.30 Lunch

14.00 Kirsti Jõesalu (Tartu) The Meaning of Late Socialism: Analysing Estonians Post-Soviet Memory Culture

14.45 Elo-Hanna Seljamaa (Tartu/Ohio State University) Home to over 120 Nationalities: On Estonian Policies towards Ethnic Minorities

15.30 Coffee

15.45 Prof Dr Alexander Wöll (Greifswald) Colonial Discourse and Ukrainian Post-Soviet Literature

16.15 Odeta Mikstaite (Greifswald) The Lithuanian folklore in the Soviet period: new perspectives on memory of the Soviet past

17.00 Fabian Pfeiffer (Greifswald) Perceiving the "Others" Memory – Linking Common History, Its Perception and Foreign Policy in Estonia

17.45 Final discussion