Historians of Eastern Europe, let's do a thread below to find each other easier! Share your main country/ies of expertise and your dominant approaches! 🗃 My main contexts are state socialist Hungary and Yugoslavia (from outside the region, Vietnam and Cuba), and I do women's history. #skystorians - ThreadSky

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social • 507 days ago

Historians of Eastern Europe, let's do a thread below to find each other easier! Share your main country/ies of expertise and your dominant approaches! 🗃

My main contexts are state socialist Hungary and Yugoslavia (from outside the region, Vietnam and Cuba), and I do women's history.

#skystorians

Comments

odrachewych.bsky.social•487 days ago

Historian of the Comintern, international communism, and Soviet foreign policy in the interwar period. My recent research has focused on Soviet atrocities in Eastern Europe during and post-WW2 and the parallels with Russian atrocities in Ukraine since 2014 and especially February 2022.

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•487 days ago

An account to follow both for insights on the past and the present, as many of us know!

alexdrace.bsky.social•505 days ago

Hello, I wrote about books, education, travel and what it does to people, focus mainly on 18-19c Romania/Balkans. More recently I wrote about mămăligă and what it does to people..

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•505 days ago

Speaking of which:
https://ceupress.com/book/making-mamaliga

altibel.bsky.social•505 days ago

Alex, are you working on #BookHistory? If so we have a feed
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:lyrmsmhhg7vzz4ghj44y5xzq/feed/8fcd14378514

alexdrace.bsky.social•505 days ago

Thanks Andrea! - a bit less currently, but this was the topic of my PhD...

chrislashhist.bsky.social•506 days ago

I'm mostly a historian of 20th century Poland with a bit of CEE and Global history mixed in. Current project - Polish relations with Africa during the times of Real Socialism (especially relations with the countries of Francophone West Africa).

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•506 days ago

Sounds great, what type of sources do you have for your current project?

chrislashhist.bsky.social•506 days ago

Mostly the Central Archives of Modern Records (AAN) in Warsaw and the MFA archives currently. But have done some oral history (would like to do more) and would love to get out to West Africa to the archives although not sure how much I can find there...

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•506 days ago

Yes, and I can imagine that it is difficult funding-wise too.

sashaetkind.bsky.social•506 days ago

imperial Russia (and the current global crisis)

blenormand.bsky.social•506 days ago

I actually Yugoslavia in a global context; Yugoslavia as a modernization project. I've worked on urban planning, migration, and currently working on maritime trade.

blenormand.bsky.social•506 days ago

Research, not actually 😆

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•506 days ago

A very diverse portfolio, is this current work also a book-length project?

blenormand.bsky.social•506 days ago

It is! Not to let the cat out of the bag, but I'm writing a global history of postwar Rijeka

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•506 days ago

Long fieldwork in Croatia then?

blenormand.bsky.social•506 days ago

Since 2014! 😆

blenormand.bsky.social•506 days ago

My projects are like fine wine (or cheese, take your pick) - they ripen with time. Slow history!

gwendalpiegais.bsky.social•506 days ago

Hi ! I am a historian of the Great War and the Russian Civil War. I have studied the history of the Russian army and the Macedonian front during WW1. I am now working on the French intervention in Ukraine during the Civil War. I'm also focusing on the history of mutinies in France, Russia and Greece

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•506 days ago

An unusual, and surely, very insightful comparison!

gwendalpiegais.bsky.social•506 days ago

And there are even connections between the three cases :)

pwhitewood.bsky.social•506 days ago

Hello, I work on the USSR, and have had projects on the Great Terror and 1920 Soviet-Polish war. Now working on the Soviet Red Cross and international humanitarian law after 1917.

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•506 days ago

Great, one more skystorian of the Soviet Red Cross! What is the timespan of this latter project?

pwhitewood.bsky.social•506 days ago

Civil war era mostly, but with an eye to third Geneva convention of 1929.

rtaavetti.bsky.social•493 days ago

Great 🧵! My field is queer history and the history of sexuality, post-WWII, Estonia (and Finland, if that counts as Eastern Europe). I also do oral history and cultural memory studies.

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•493 days ago

I would have no problem with seeing Finland as part of EE in many contexts :) Have you been doing oral history for long?

rtaavetti.bsky.social•493 days ago

Since PhD, but most of my work is actually on written reminiscences than oral material. Although currently I am writing together with Rebeka Põldsam about Estonian-Finnish lesbian networks during the early 1990s and that study is based on oral history interviews.

zacharymazur.bsky.social•506 days ago

Great idea Reka!
I study the Polish lands (and all the people that lived there), my first book is about economic policy and how it plays into statehood, sovereignty and nationalism.

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•506 days ago

Had a pleasure to listen to one of your talks, it was really inspiring!

andreachandler.bsky.social•505 days ago

I'm writing a book manuscript of Canada's relations with East European states duribg the Cold War. It's a reflection on the choices that democratic states face when engaging with occupied/authoritarian regimes. It explores also the ethical inconsistencies ofCanada's position under neoliberalism.

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•505 days ago

Which Eastern European states are you looking at?

andreachandler.bsky.social•505 days ago

basically the Warsaw Pact member states:
Hungary, Poland, GDR, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria. There are also brief mentions of Yugoslavia and Albania. I should add that I'm a political scientist so I'm a bit of a poser in this thread

debrecenisrac46.bsky.social•505 days ago

Albania was part of it until their split in 1971. Yugoslavia was never part of it as the KGB failed to kill Tito before he could ally himself with Nehru and Suharto.

andreachandler.bsky.social•505 days ago

Canada never had diplomatic relations with Albania until 1987 so there's no point in including it in my study, nobody noticed them

debrecenisrac46.bsky.social•505 days ago

I've reflected on who was part of the Warsaw pact. Soviet leaders always hoped that Bulgarian, Romanian and Albanian leaders could stir up enough ethnic tension that Belgrade implodes and the Warsaw pact can roll in.

maikelehmann.bsky.social•507 days ago

I mainly deal/t with the multiethnic Soviet Union with a focus on non-Slavic groups, esp. Armenia and the Caucasus. Followed by a project on the encounters of Soviet intellectuals with the West and another on socialist subjectivities in EE.

maikelehmann.bsky.social•507 days ago

The latter still on with a focus on kul'turnost' and its role for non/belonging for which I hope that research in CA will become possible besides working with published sources

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•507 days ago

Sure, we all hope that!

immorebitschek.bsky.social•494 days ago

I'm a historian of Imperial Russia, the Soviet Union and Ukraine. I've been focusing on Stalinism, legal history, famine and humanitarianism, biopolitics and imperial history more generally

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•494 days ago

Great to have you here! I hope we'll have even more scholars of Ukraine in this thread.

immorebitschek.bsky.social•494 days ago

I'm sure, others will follow soon. I've put my project on Pavlo Skoropads'kyj currently on the back burner 😉

obyrska.bsky.social•506 days ago

Hi all! Historian of post-WW2 Europe, Poland included, and very interested in colonial relationships/intellectual and cultural cooperation of Poland in the 40s and 50s with Africa and India.

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•506 days ago

And we also have a shared interest in women's (intellectual) history!

piakoivunen.bsky.social•493 days ago

Hi! I have worked on Soviet cultural diplomacy, mega-events, World Youth Festival & the history of experience. My current project studies the Lenin museum & Moscow’s cultural influence on Finland during the Cold War.

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•493 days ago

How interesting! I hope many #skystorians had a chance to take a look at your recent book:
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110761160/html?lang=en

piakoivunen.bsky.social•493 days ago

Thank you so much for mentioning my book 🤩 It’s open access!

alanmaricic.bsky.social•506 days ago

Doing Yugoslav Cold War history, mainly its relations with the two Germanies. Currently a postdoc at the University of Saskatchewan working on this project about decolonizing world news in the 1970s and 80s: https://www.nanrep.org/

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•506 days ago

Thanks for sharing the link! This must be a fulfilling project to pursue. And you have some brilliant colleagues there!

timothynunan.bsky.social•506 days ago

Greetings to those joining this thread! I work on the Soviet Union and its encounters with the Middle East (especially Afghanistan and Iran) during the 20th century. I'm interested in international history and following transnational actors across borders.

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•506 days ago

Sovietologists are very much present over here already, as it seems. Do you have perhaps a book-length project underway?

timothynunan.bsky.social•506 days ago

I'm currently completing a book manuscript, albeit one focused more on the perspective of Shi'a Islamist actors and how they developed alternatives to Communism. That being said, I'm always interested in seeing how actors from both the socialist world and the Middle East understood one another!

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•506 days ago

These (mis)understandings intrigue me too, I hope I will get to hear more about your project at a conference/talk!

martinawinkle14.bsky.social•507 days ago

My research covers an admittedly weird mix of contemporary Czech and Slovak stuff plus Muscovy and 18th c. Russia. Childhood on the one hand, Empires on the other...

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•507 days ago

Exciting mix!

stergarr.bsky.social•507 days ago

I am a historian of the long nineteenth century, who focuses on Habsburg nationalisms, WWI, and postimperial transition in the Slovene part of Yugoslavia.

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•507 days ago

We do need to know more about the perspective of the Slovene part!

erikrscott.bsky.social•506 days ago

Thanks for getting this thread started! I work on the history of the multiethnic Soviet Union, migration, diaspora, and comparative empires.

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•506 days ago

Thanks for contributing! Which diaspora(s) are you looking at?

erikrscott.bsky.social•506 days ago

My first book was on the concept of internal diasporas in the USSR and focused on Georgians. My second book (Defectors) looks at a range of different emigre/diaspora groups and their responses to those fleeing the Soviet Union.

kristyironside.bsky.social•506 days ago

I'm an econ historian of the USSR. I wrote a book on the ruble after 1945. I'm now working on 3 projects, all having to do with Soviet international history: 1) international copyright; 2) a biography of a Soviet foreign agent in the US; 3) the entry and exit of McDonald's from the Soviet market.

debrecenisrac46.bsky.social•506 days ago

Is transferable rubel aka iou part of it?

kristyironside.bsky.social•506 days ago

I wrote on the cash ruble in circulation, not the bank or accounting ruble. https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674251649

debrecenisrac46.bsky.social•506 days ago

Between 90 and 94 the Russians paid their debt in goods as their currency was worthless hence why I asked.

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•506 days ago

3 projects must be a lot! Are you writing about a Russian foreign agent?

kristyironside.bsky.social•506 days ago

Yes! It's an outgrowth of my copyright project. She was the USSR's photographic, literary, and musical agent in the US 1931-1951 and thus held legal rights to works there. She was also one of the first people registered under the FARA. https://www.nypl.org/blog/2022/11/02/nypl-researcher-spotlight-kristy-ironside

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•506 days ago

Great to hear that it is going to be a woman's biography!

priskakomaromi.bsky.social•105 days ago

Great idea!
I work on the history of gender/ sexuality/ sex work in postwar CEE (Hungary but in a transnational perspective). My current project is on 'foreign' men, sex tourism/ masculinity/ transactional intimacy in state-socialist Hungary between the 1960s-80s.

siobhanhearne.bsky.social•506 days ago

Good idea! I've mainly worked on the history of gender & sexuality in the Russian Empire and USSR, particularly the Baltic region. Now working on the history of humanitarianism & the Soviet Red Cross in the second half of the C20th

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•506 days ago

The Second World's humanitarian involvements attract more and more attention, an exciting field to work in!

nivukobratovic.bsky.social•506 days ago

Late 18th century Croatia and Slavonia on the one hand. On the other 1990s in Croatia.

In both cases history of political ideas and historical anthropology of violence and power.

Occasionally other interesting topic from history of the Serbian community in Croatia :)

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•506 days ago

That's a long time span there!

nivukobratovic.bsky.social•506 days ago

With a 200 year gap though :)

martkuldkepp.bsky.social•487 days ago

I'm a historian of Estonia and the Scandinavian countries in the first half of the 20th century (especially around the 1905 Russian revolution and WWI), but I frequently branch out into other topics. I'm also very much interested in Russia and Germany in the same period.

bibliotequetress.bsky.social•507 days ago

I'm going to jump in though I don't exactly fit-- I studied (& worked in as an archives tech) Cold War intelligence and diplomacy, with an emphases on US-Soviet proxies in Eastern Europe and in Latin America

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•507 days ago

But you have Eastern Europe right there - sounds like a fit to me!

bibliotequetress.bsky.social•507 days ago

Well, ty!

neja-bh.bsky.social•105 days ago

I'm focusing on (im)migration, late Austria-Hungary period and first Yugoslavia (Yugoslavian territory, esp. Slovenia). Interested also in nationalism studies, intellectual history and with excursions to digital humanities (working with census data).

jolaycock.bsky.social•506 days ago

I research migration, refugees and humanitarianism, currently trying to finish a book on Armenian refugees and the early Soviet South Caucasus (nearly there). Ím based in Manchester and have an unrelated side interest in the Manchester Guardian and global and local news networks.

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•506 days ago

A very intriguing case study, I hope you will finish the book soon then!

alexoberlaender.bsky.social•506 days ago

Hi everybody. I am seriously aiming at finishing my manuscript on "A Cultural, Emotional and Economic History of Work in the Late Soviet Union" within a time frame that is tantamount to saying "I am *currently* finishing...". My first book was about sexual violence in late Imperial Russia.

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•506 days ago

From late imperial to late Soviet! I wish you a swift and painless last stage with your manuscript!

alexoberlaender.bsky.social•506 days ago

Yep, "late" seems to be my (every)thing.

hellawyn.bsky.social•507 days ago

Czechoslovakia (more CZ than SK) / Late Habsburg Bohemia / Czechs in US. Hints of Jewish history here & there. Interdisciplinary (history, IR, social psychology, political science), focusing on nationalism & national identities, newspapers, discourse analysis approach.

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•507 days ago

Great, interdisciplinarity is extremely demanding, but so much to gain there.

samkra.bsky.social•507 days ago

I focus on nationalism, minority rights and transitions to democracy in 20th century CEE. Focus right now is on the Baltic States (Estonia!) but potentially expanding out - probably Subcarpathia.

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•507 days ago

Wow, CEE and the Baltics, that is a lot to cover!

samkra.bsky.social•507 days ago

I primarily focus on Estonia, but yes, it's a very wide area! They're very interconnected I'd say, particularly in the 1990s.

gwenyth.bsky.social•487 days ago

Hello everyone. A mixed bag: Budapest in Hungarian literature, post-89 antisemitic print revivals in Hungary, now juggling freelance work with a project on western CP reactions to 56, 68, 81 etc. In other words the original tankies. Into digital humanities projects too.

debrecenisrac46.bsky.social•487 days ago

You are braver than I. Csurka may be dead as is his party wanting Tanks retconning the treaty of Versailles, players from that era like budahazy and his sister roam free.

debrecenisrac46.bsky.social•487 days ago

On another note I'd be interested to learn how tankies reacted to David Irving writing a book about 1956 on Kádár's request.

gwenyth.bsky.social•487 days ago

On Kádár's request? Not heard that one before. Nobody paid Irving so much attention in the early 80s. His version was quite similar to the official line but he framed it as a popular uprising against Jewish CP

debrecenisrac46.bsky.social•487 days ago

As 1981 was started coming around, the regime feared a new generation coupled with one growing up outside the iron curtain, they wanted to preface the 25th anniversary abroad by a book sympathetic to the regime.

debrecenisrac46.bsky.social•487 days ago

At the same time Irving's views excluded him from the larger community, yet he desired access to the KGB archives in hopes of proving the Holocaust denier talking points. The end product contained geographical errors.

gwenyth.bsky.social•487 days ago

Of course, but he was not invited to write it, they didn't know who he was at the start. Assuming you read Hungarian!
http://beszelo.c3.hu/cikkek/david-irving-kalandja-1956-tal

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•487 days ago

This sounds very fascinating! What will be the outcome of this current project?

gwenyth.bsky.social•487 days ago

Good question! It's still open, I'm working on a few shorter pieces while gathering too much material & applying for funding. Thank you for starting this thread, happy to see all the divergent interests.

rekakrizmanics.bsky.social•487 days ago

Fingers crossed! I am too familiar with the problem of gathering too much material...

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply