Katherine Verdery analyzes the 2,781 page surveillance file the Romanian secret police compiled on her during her research trips to Transylvania in the 1970s and 1980s. Reading it led her to question her identity and also revealed how deeply the secret police was embedded in everyday life.
Katherine Verdery Orden de los libros (cronológico)
Katherine Verdery es una distinguida antropóloga cuyo trabajo profundiza en la economía política, las relaciones étnicas y el nacionalismo, con un enfoque en el contexto rumano. Su investigación ha evolucionado desde el examen de la desigualdad social hasta el análisis de los procesos transformadores tras la caída del socialismo, particularmente en lo que respecta a los cambios en las relaciones de propiedad dentro de la agricultura. Verdery explora cómo se manifiestan estos cambios dentro de las comunidades, diseccionando las complejas cuestiones de propiedad y valor en un panorama postsocialista. Sus extensos proyectos desvelan la dinámica de la formación de granjas colectivas y estatales y sus profundos impactos en las poblaciones rurales.
What Was Socialism, and What Comes Next?
- 316 páginas
- 12 horas de lectura
Katherine Verdery offers a unique anthropological perspective on the aftermath of Soviet-style socialism in Eastern Europe through a collection of essays. Drawing from her extensive ethnographic research in Romania and Transylvania, she examines the implications of political transformations, focusing on themes like civil society, market economy creation, privatization, national and ethnic conflicts, and evolving gender relations. Her work synthesizes primary data and broader sources to deepen the understanding of socialism's legacy and its potential replacements.
The current transformation of many Eastern European societies is impossible to understand without comprehending the intellectual struggles surrounding nationalism in the region. Anthropologist Katherine Verdery shows how the example of Romania suggests that current ethnic tensions come not from a resurrection of pre-Communist Nationalism but from the strengthening of national ideologies under Communist Party rule.