On the Social Life of Postsocialism

Daphne Berdahl (1964–2007) was Associate Professor of Anthropology and Global Studies at the University of Minnesota. She is author of Where the World Ended: Re-Unification and Identity in the German Borderland and editor (with Matti Bunzl and Martha Lampland) of Altering States: Ethnographies of Transition in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union.Matti Bunzl is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is author of Symptoms of Modernity: Jews and Queers in Late-Twentieth-Century Vienna and Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia: Hatreds Old and New in Europe.

"The wide-ranging themes of this marvelous collection—memory and history, consumption, citizenship, nostalgia, identity, postsocialism—are unified by Daphne Berdahl's sophisticated overarching conception of their interconnections and her splendid gift for ethnography. A valuable and enduring resource for anyone interested in socialism's aftermath."—Katherine Verdery, The Graduate Center, City University of New York"[Berdahl's] work reinforces the importance of European ethnography and acts as a critical resource on the study of borders, cultural change and social belonging. . . Berdahl's essays are well crafted, infused with feeling, dotted with specific examples, and evoke larger theoretical questions, not just about Eastern Germany, but about understandings of self, memory and belonging. Her writing manages to capture fleeting moments and movements in postsocialist Germany, and the book is both informative and a joy to read. 28. 1 2010"—ANTHROPOLOGY E EUROPE REVIEW"Scholars interested in meaning, memory, consumption and representation of the East German past will greatly benefit from reading this thoughtful volume. 29.2 2011"—German History"As a posthumous publication and deserved labour of love, this compilation understandably has some repetitions and loose ends, but also highly suggestive arguments that remain ours to pursue. It is a pleasure to follow Berdahl's lines of thought and growth as a scholar, her consummate fieldwork and writing."—Anthropological Notebooks"This highly readable book spans a full life of research and offers researchers and students alike an opportunity to continue the discussions which Berdahl pioneered as the historical events themselves were taking place."—German Studies Review"This collection is an excellent introduction to Daphne Berdahl's generous and insightful ethnography... [R]eaders will be rewarded by her perceptive research, skillful prose, and humanizing insights.April, 2011"—H-SAE

• Preface by Michael HerzfeldAcknowledgmentsIntroduction by Matti BunzlPart 1. Washington, D.C.1. Voices at the Wall: Discourses of Self, History, and National Identity at the Vietnam Veterans MemorialPart 2. Kella2. Consumer Rites: The Politics of Consumption in Re-Unified Germany3. "(N)Ostalgie" for the Present: Memory, Longing, and East German Things4. "Go, Trabi, Go!": Reflections on a Car and Its Symbolization over Time5. Mixed Devotions: Religion, Friendship, and Fieldwork in Postsocialist East GermanyPart 3. Leipzig6. The Spirit of Capitalism and the Boundaries of Citizenship in Post-Wall Germany7. Local Hero, National Crook: "Doc" Schneider and the Spectacle of Finance Capital8. Expressions of Experience and Experiences of Expression: Museum Re-Presentations of GDR History9. Goodbye Lenin, Aufwiedersehen GDR: On the Social Life of SocialismNotesReferencesIndex