Re-Constructing Perestroika(s)
In Search of a New Vocabulary for the Transformation of Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia

Perestroika, originally associated with topdown reforms led by Mikhail Gorbachev, unfolded as an era characterised by diverse voices, intense emotions, and economic struggles. Extending beyond the realms of politics and economics, Perestroika permeated every aspect of society, culture, and intellectual thought. This workshop intends to transcend the conventional boundaries—both geographic and temporal —of our typical understanding of Perestroika as well as aspires to bring forth fresh perspectives on the period spanning Central and Eastern Europe, as well as Eurasia.

Organizer: Institute of Contemporary History, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague; Georgetown University, Washington DC; Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History (ZZF), Potsdam

The Workshop is co-funded by the European Union and supported by the Lumina Quaeruntur award of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
This workshop is a part of the ERC-project "Perestroika from Below".

Workshop Programme

Thursday, March 14, 2024

9.00 - 9.30 |  Welcome and Introduction

9.30 - 11.00 | Panel 1: Perestroika as a Local and Professional Community Event

Chair: Kelly Smith, Georgetown University

• Victoria Musvik (University of Oxford) | De-Centralizing Perestroika: Local Russian Photographic Communities, Alternative Socialism and Unbroken Memory
• Margarita Pavlovа (Justus Liebig University Giessen / Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam) | Grassroots Groups and Ambiguities of Perestroika in Leningrad
• Karolina Koziura (European University Institute, Florence) | Holodomor Unveiled: The Emergence of Grassroot Memory of Famine in Ukraine under Perestroika

11.30 - 13.00 | Panel 2: Perestroika as an Expression of Artistic Non-Conformism

Chair: Martin Babička, Institute of Contemporary History of the Czech Academy of Sciences

• Ilya Kalinin (Humboldt University, Berlin) | Universal (Non-/Anti-)Soviet Lexicon: Between Deconstruction and Affirmation
• Kateryna Yeremieieva (Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich) | Without Words: The Speaking Process in Perestroika Caricatures
• Ondřej Daniel (Charles University, Prague) | Black Celebration in Red Prague: Concert of Depeche Mode in March 1988

14.00 - 15.45 | Panel 3: Perestroika as a Moral Debate

Chair: Václav Rameš, Institute of Contemporary History of the Czech Academy of Sciences

• Anna Ivanova (Humboldt University, Berlin) | “If Cooperatives Win – We All Win!”: Discussions of Private Enterprise and Social Justice in the Soviet Union during Perestroika
• Matej Ivančík (Comenius University, Bratislava) | Markets in the Name of Morality. Economic Thought and Democracy in Post-Socialist Slovakia
• Jogilė Ulinskaitė (Institute of International Relations and Political Science, Vilnius University) | Negotiated and Justified Stories about the Post-Communist Transformation in Lithuania
• Annina Gagyiova (Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague) | Moving from Risk to Risky: Hungary’s Second Economy and its Transition to Market after 1989

16.15 - 17.15 | Keynote Roundtable Discussion “How to Speak About Perestroika Now?”

Chair: Bradley Gorski, Georgetown University

• Epp Annus (Tallinn University / Ohio State University)
• Juliane Fürst (Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History, Potsdam)
• Matěj Spurný (Institute of Economic and Social History, Charles University, Prague)
• Veronika Pehe (Institute of Contemporary History, Czech Academy of Sciences,Prague)

Friday, March 15, 2024

9.30 - 11.15 | Panel 4: Perestroika as a Transnational Event

Chair: Irina Gordeeva, Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam

• Kirsten Bönker (University of Cologne) | Building a “Common European Home”? Town Twinning between Soviet, West and East German Cities during Perestroika
• Emma Friedlander (Harvard University) | The Soviet New Age: A Pop Culture Chronology of Soviet Collapse, 1975-2000
• Vlad Strukov (University of Leeds) | Queer Exchanges: Re-Inventing Sexualities during and after Perestroika
• Tetiana Perga (Institute of World History, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine) | “External Factor”: The Role of the Diaspora in the Development of the Environmental Movement in Ukraine during the Period of Perestroika

11.45 - 13.15 | Panel 5: Perestroika Outside Time and Place

Chair: Corinna Kuhr-Korolev, Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam

• Isaac Scarbrough (Leiden University) | Perestroika Did Not End – Perestroika is Ongoing: The Extended Reform and Collapse of the USSR across the Soviet Divide
• Tamar Qeburia (Georg-August University Göttingen / Ilia State University) | Pre-Perestroika Dynamics in a Georgian Factory
• Isabel Jacobs (Queen Mary University of London) and Katerina Pavlidi (University College Dublin) | Perestroika as Return: Late Soviet Temporalities and the Myth of Stagnation

14.15 - 15.30 | Panel 6: Perestroika in the Mind

Chair: Marie Černá, Institute of Contemporary History of the Czech Academy of Sciences

• Courtney Doucette (State University of New York, Oswego) | Perestroika: The Last Attempt to Create the New Soviet Person
• Hubert Guzik (Czech Technical University, Prague) | What Can Historians of Perestroika Learn from Opinion Polls?
• Jonáš Jánsky (Central European University, Vienna) | “Islands of Positive Deviation” in Slovakia

Final Discussion

For further questions please contact Margarita Pavlova at margarita.pavlova [at] zzf-potsdam.de