Chapter 3 The Politics of Nostalgia in the Aftermath of Socialism’s Collapse: A Case for Comparative Analysis

Recalling Socialism through Clubbing Posters: A Visual Analysis of Grassroots Alternative Memory Practices

“…Last, but not least, and within a larger time span, the "socialist" aspect of clubbing posters may be related to the spread of (online) alternative memory practices in a new digital and generational context (Bardan and Vasilendiuc 2019;Petrescu 2017;Pohrib 2017). The second weaker wave, which is also signaling a start in the decline of this marketing practice, may be related to similar trends identified for other Eastern European countries in studies accounting for the progressive waning of the nostalgia industry and the marketing of socialist memorabilia (Bach 2015: 125;Nadkarni and Shevchenko 2015;89). Data recorded in our corpus showed, overall, that the communist themed clubbing posters phenomenon stretched over a roughly six-year span.…”

“…Public debates over the misreading of the communist past are a common theme across Eastern European countries (Mitroiu 2016;Nadkarni and Shevchenko 2015;Rekść 2015). In this perspective, the above comments on communist themed clubbing join critiques of practices that contribute to a pop cultural revival concurring to reify a selective memory of communism, thus promoting a collective amnesia over a traumatic past.…”

“…Beyond a certain point, products, practices, and services framing the socialist past become harder to grasp, given the multiple and contradictory meanings that shape how they are understood. Whether they are called communist themed parties, like the ones identified in Romania, or nostalgia parties, raves, bars, theme cafés, coffee shops and restaurants in Budapest, Berlin, Sankt Petersburg, Kiev, and Prague (Nadkarni and Shevchenko 2015;Berdahl 1999;Bach 2015;Kalinina 2014), they have been considered in the broader framework of the commodification of the recent past. Key to this trend is also the wider context of the posters' productions, stemming from but also targeting the new creative classes of the globalized neoliberal society, conceptualized in Bennett's understanding of the "neotribes" (2000: 83)-whether they are called "millennials," "hipsters," "neo-yuppies," etc.-less centered on class, a fragmented and fluid construction of individual and collective cultural identities expressed within the clubbing context.…”

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“…Last, but not least, and within a larger time span, the "socialist" aspect of clubbing posters may be related to the spread of (online) alternative memory practices in a new digital and generational context (Bardan and Vasilendiuc 2019;Petrescu 2017;Pohrib 2017). The second weaker wave, which is also signaling a start in the decline of this marketing practice, may be related to similar trends identified for other Eastern European countries in studies accounting for the progressive waning of the nostalgia industry and the marketing of socialist memorabilia (Bach 2015: 125;Nadkarni and Shevchenko 2015;89). Data recorded in our corpus showed, overall, that the communist themed clubbing posters phenomenon stretched over a roughly six-year span.…”

“…Public debates over the misreading of the communist past are a common theme across Eastern European countries (Mitroiu 2016;Nadkarni and Shevchenko 2015;Rekść 2015). In this perspective, the above comments on communist themed clubbing join critiques of practices that contribute to a pop cultural revival concurring to reify a selective memory of communism, thus promoting a collective amnesia over a traumatic past.…”