Chocolate and Surveillance: Modern Convergences

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by Robert Imre, Tampere Peace Research Institute, Tampere University, Finland I love sportszelet. Always have. The slightly dry chocolate, with just a hint of rum flavour, and the off-normal rectangular size of 25 grams, always appealed to me, especially as a child. Being different to the chocolates that were around where I grew up in a suburb of Toronto, Canada, made it even more appealing; something unique. My earliest memory of the green label was eating the chocolates after some…

Religious socialization of a new generation in Georgia and Croatia

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Written by coldwarchildhoods May 20, 2020 memories of childhood postsocialism reconnect recollect religion

In Central and Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, 1989-1991 marked a watershed. Political monopoly and planned economy were exchanged with political pluralism and capitalist economies. At the same time, from total suppression, or tight control and monitoring, a religious ‘marketplace’ appeared with the rewriting of constitutions and reinstating religious freedom, in which various traditional Churches wanted to strengthen their positions and influence. Religious organizations attained a larger role in public life. There was also a substantial increase in religious…

Glances of performing memories

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Written by coldwarchildhoods May 15, 2020 art workshop memory soundscape memory workshop performance reconnect recollect

text by Camila da Rosa Ribeiro It was a rainy morning - no surprises there as it is October in Helsinki - and I was rushing to get the tram that would drop me at the door of the place where we start the second Reconnect/Recollect workshop day exploring memories of childhood. Our group in Helsinki worked on memories related to materialities. Memories of toys, boots, make up and birthday parties filled the room. I wanted to be there early…

Re/connecting research and teaching: Memory work as pedagogical tool

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Written by zsuzsamillei May 8, 2020 memory work pedagogy socialist childhood teaching and research university course

In our research project, ‘Re-Connect / Re-Collect: Crossing the Divides through Memories of Cold War Childhoods’, we explore memory stories created in collective biography workshops that tell about experiences of childhood in socialist societies during the Cold War. The project brings into view personal histories with an aim to connect generations and the public across still existing divides. Utilizing the perspectives of our research and turning memory work into a pedagogical tool, we decided to experiment with a course at…

Thinking upon thinking, frame upon frame

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Written by coldwarchildhoods May 1, 2020 Ceaușescu generations history postsocialism Revolution

Written by Raluca Țurcanașu How can you write about the Revolution when only now, like a baby, 30 y after that you learn about it? HoW DaRE yoU?? How can you tell it to boomers? How can you tell it to folks double your age who f-the-king lived it Each on his own? How can you approach GenXers, With empathic criticism: „Mum, Dad, why didn’t you tell me more?” “Hey Auntie, how was it like to be a teenager then,…

Imaginary escape during Chilean dictatorship

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Written by coldwarchildhoods April 24, 2020 dictatorship imagination upheaval

I was born in Chile, a country where between 1970 and 1973 there was an elected socialist government. This kind of regime was a novelty because until then, all socialist countries had come to power through violent means and many of them became totalitarian societies controlling their populations’ most intimate practices. It was through such violence that the democratically-elected socialist government of Chile was overthrown. The coup d’état of Tuesday, September 11, 1973 (Chilean 9/11) established a dictatorship led by…

From another planet: Childhood experiences of foreignness in communist Romania

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Written by coldwarchildhoods April 15, 2020 memories of childhood reconnect recollect socialism

Written by Mihaela Enache Mihaela has worked in the education field for more than three decades, as a teacher in the early childhood and primary sectors, as well as a lecturer and a professional learning facilitator. At present, she is a PhD candidate at the University of Auckland. Having immigrated to New Zealand in 2001, she found a passion in culture and diversity studies, teacher identity and volunteer work in the community. She is actively involved with the Romanian community…

Activist Children during the Last Days of the Cold War

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Written by coldwarchildhoods April 15, 2020 children protest Cold War memories of childhood politics and children reconnect recollect socialism

Children, during the Cold War asked their governments to make peace in light of an immanent Nuclear War. Today children protest around the world to urge leaders to take action on the unfolding Climate Crisis.

Un/Doing Collective Biography

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Written by zsuzsamillei March 19, 2020 collective biography memories of childhood recollect reconnect socialism

In September and October 2019, our memory workshops ran across 4 sites - Berlin, Riga, Helsinki and Mexico City. We were excited to meet participants in person after getting to know everyone a little bit through online workshops and our online workspace on Slack. Alongside generating memory stories through sharing, discussion and writing, we also incorporated site-specific arts-based experiments and visits to exhibitions and theater. We decided to use collective biography (Davies and Gannon, 2006) as a methodology to produce…