The genres of the absurd and grotesque are prominent in artistic and literary representations of state socialism. In the paper being discussed at this event, Svetlana Stephenson argues that these genres are also present in the storytelling of (ex)Soviet citizens, through their diaries and oral history accounts. For example, the narratives of extra-judicial shaming rituals (prorabotka meetings) often reveal the…

Please join the East Central European Center at the Harriman Institute for a lecture by Monika Baár, István Deák Visiting Professor at the Harriman Institute. Moderated by ECEC co-directors Aleksandar Bošković and Christopher Caes. The lecture explores a hitherto overlooked episode in the history of human-animal relations: the establishment of professional guide dog training after the First World War, which had its origins in…