College of Liberal Arts & SciencesUniversity of Florida

ECES Curriculum: Required Courses

ANT 3930/EUS 3930:
 Anthropology of Eastern Europe and Postsocialism

This course looks at the societies of Eastern Europe in the midst of rapid and momentous change. It examines the processes and particulars of what have become known as the "transitions from socialism to capitalism", providing also a historical perspective to this shift. To what extent do the so-defined "transitional" projects, launched by Eastern European governments in the wake of 1989, projects which goal meant to bring these countries within the orbit of democracy and market economy, mimic Western institutional experience, and whose interests they reflect? Or are these "transitions" rather represent unique "post-socialist" constructs? How are Eastern Europeans now made members of their transforming states and societies differently, from what it was during socialism; and how are "postsocialist" countries claiming membership in the post-Cold War geo-political space at large?

We will approach the field of postsocialist studies from a distinctly anthropological perspective: that is, one that begins by exploring the daily lives of people, and how they manage to redefine their experiences in light of new institutions and logic of economic and social activities.

An anthropological perspective takes as its goal an enhanced comprehension of how postsocialist lives are defined, experienced and understood by those living them. In so doing, we will focus on the contradictions, paradoxes and ambiguities of postsocialism by looking closely at emerging forms of nationalism, gender relations, language use, production and consumption, identification with place, and new assumptions about identity, memory, personhood and nation. The course materials draw from recent ethnographic writing on the topic, some historical accounts on socialism, and finally from journalistic accounts, film and fiction writings.

For more information, please contact the instructor: Dr. Maria Stoilkova

EUH 3330:
 History of the Central and Eastern Europe
 in the 18th and 19th Centuries

This course will study the multiethnic Habsburg dynastic state as it strained to modernize, rationalize, and was being pulled apart by nationalist forces.

For more information, please contact the instructor: Dr. Alice Freifeld

EUH 3564: Central and Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century

This course studies the emergence of six small European successor states (Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania and Yugoslavia) through a tumultuous period of nationalist rivalry, holocaust, and forced cooperation. The first focus of this course will be the violent ethnic division that divided and divides this area. After being the battlefield and slaughterhouse of Europe, Eastern Europe seemed to disappear from European concern for nearly fifty years. What happened in Central Europe while it was in the icebox of Communism? Our last focus will be the immediate and long-range causes of the unexpected chain of revolutions that swept through the region in 1989.

For more information, please contact the instructor: Dr. Alice Freifeld

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EUS 3930/CPO 3614:
 The Politics of Postcommunist Eastern Europe

This class will provide a survey of the politics of postcommunist Eastern Europe, from the emergence of national states in the interwar period to their recent accession to the European Union. Just as the collapse of the region's communist regimes took social scientists by surprise in 1989, so too has the remarkable divergence of political and economic trajectories since. In some countries, democratic institutions were swiftly consolidated. In others, free elections produced "illiberal democracies." Likewise in the economic sphere, outcomes have varied widely: while some governments quickly managed difficult reforms and laid the conditions for growth, others faced extended economic stagnation. Finally, a number of the region's states have joined the European Union and NATO, a process that, arguably, has deepened democracy and cemented economic reforms even as it adds new complexity to the postcommunist transition. In short, the range of outcomes in postcommunist Europe makes the region an ideal laboratory for testing the explanatory power of major theories of comparative politics.

Our survey of political and economic developments in this region will cover democratization and political participation; privatization and macroeconomic reform; nationalism and ethnic conflict; as well as state-building and institutional development. Though we will cover the whole region, the countries that will receive primary consideration are Poland, the former Czechoslovakia, Hungary, the former Yugoslavia, and Romania.

For more information, please contact the instructor: Dr. Conor O'Dwyer

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