Anthropologist Daphne Berdahl was one of the leading scholars of the transition from state socialism to capitalism in central and eastern Europe. From her pathbreaking ethnography of a former East German border village in the aftermath of German reunification, to her insightful analyses of consumption, nostalgia, and citizenship in the early 21st century, Berdahl's writings probe the contradictions, paradoxes, and ambiguities of postsocialism as few observers have done. This volume brings together her essays, from an early study of memory at the Vietnam War memorial in Washington, D.C., to research on consumption and citizenship undertaken in Leipzig in the years before her untimely death. It serves as a superb introduction to the development of the field of postsocialist cultural studies.

Pathbreaking studies of the postsocialist transition

About the Author

Daphne Berdahl (1964-2007) was Associate Professor of Anthropology and Global Studies at the University of Minnesota. She is author of Where the World Ended: Re-Unification and Identity in the German Borderland and editor (with Matti Bunzl and Martha Lampland) of Altering States: Ethnographies of Transition in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union.

Matti Bunzl is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is author of Symptoms of Modernity: Jews and Queers in Late-Twentieth-Century Vienna and Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia: Hatreds Old and New in Europe.

Reviews

[Berdahl's] work reinforces the importance of European ethnography and acts as a critical resource on the study of borders, cultural change and social belonging. . . Berdahl's essays are well crafted, infused with feeling, dotted with specific examples, and evoke larger theoretical questions, not just about Eastern Germany, but about understandings of self, memory and belonging. Her writing manages to capture fleeting moments and movements in postsocialist Germany, and the book is both informative and a joy to read. 28. 1 2010

* ANTHROPOLOGY E EUROPE REVIEW *

Scholars interested in meaning, memory, consumption and representation of the East German past will greatly benefit from reading this thoughtful volume. 29.2 2011

* German History *

As a posthumous publication and deserved labour of love, this compilation understandably has some repetitions and loose ends, but also highly suggestive arguments that remain ours to pursue. It is a pleasure to follow Berdahl's lines of thought and growth as a scholar, her consummate fieldwork and writing.

* Anthropological Notebooks *

This highly readable book spans a full life of research and offers researchers and students alike an opportunity to continue the discussions which Berdahl pioneered as the historical events themselves were taking place.

* German Studies Review *

This collection is an excellent introduction to Daphne Berdahl's generous and insightful ethnography... [R]eaders will be rewarded by her perceptive research, skillful prose, and humanizing insights.April, 2011

* H-SAE *



Book Information
ISBN 9780253221704
Author Daphne Berdahl
Format Paperback
Page Count 192
Imprint Indiana University Press
Publisher Indiana University Press
Weight(grams) 313g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 155mm * 13mm