CBEES

Attaining Whiteness is the first book-length sociological study of how ideas about race resonate in post-Soviet Russia. The book charts how tropes of self, hybridity, and maturity constitute important symbolic vehicles for applying the idea of race to the drawing of differences. A new theoretical framework is developed that casts light on fields of study that have not yet received sufficient attention in Western European and American research concerning racial issues. This study of racialization takes a step towards providing a better understanding of how the discourses of race are extended and transformed through the production of social knowledge and social relations. This volume addresses the resilience of genetic criteria for defining cultures and behaviors in both the sciences and humanities in Russia, and also examines the ongoing and pervasive policy of racialized exclusion. The study argues that the concepts and practices of race, whiteness, and Russianness operate ambivalently insofar as they both hold the social fabric together, organizing the perception of the “Other”, but also undermine the unity of society. Racialization thus fosters, first, the sense that Russia belongs to the core of civilization as opposed to the Third World; second, the formulation of policies towards the internal peripheries that support social control informed by the notion of human material; and, finally, the promotion of exclusionary ethnic self-identifications that employ the discourse of hybridity.

In the years after WWII the Baltic Sea Area developed into an area strongly divided between East and West. Because of the tensions between the blocs, the coastal areas where strongly militarized and prepared for war.The new political situation after 1989 propelled an international military disarmament and closing down of bases, training areas around Europe. Since the Baltic Sea Area was one of the heaviest militarized part of Europe the question of disarmament here is of particularly great economic, social and cultural importance.This study is about the post-military landscape in the Baltic Sea Area with examples from Dejevo on the Estonian island Saaremaa, Dranske on the (East)German island Rügen and Fårösund on the Swedish island Gotland.The aim of this thesis is to shed light on the process where the military landscape of the Cold War is transformed in order to be incorporated in the macro-regional endeavors for unity in the new Europe. I want to analyze the implications that planning visions have on the everyday life of people. A following aim is to shed light on the challenges that urban planning has to face in this transformation. Three research questions frame the study. The first question analyzes the process where the coastal areas of the Baltic Sea after the end of the Cold War are disarmed and transformed, from a landscape of production of military services and objects into a landscape of consumption for recreation and tourism. The second question takes its point of departure in the relation between planning visions and everyday life. The third question concerns the matter of the past and analyzes what aspects of the military landscape are emphasized respectively pushed aside in the transformation into post-military landscape.The study is based on interviews with inhabitants and local planners as well as macro-regional and local planning documents, articles and photographs.

This thesis focuses on the Soviet painter Tatyana Nazarenko and her position as an influential artist in the Soviet Union of the 1970’s, a decade when Nazarenko depicted everyday life and events from Russian history. The main purpose of this thesis is to shed light upon the importance of especially these motifs in their historical, political and aesthetic context. In this way, the thesis is a study of the artist’s work in a contextual perspective. In order to understand the general conditions for Soviet Art in the 1970´s, and Tatyana Nazarenko´s picture world, the official State-regulated Art is given attention, as Socialist Realism came to be the normative frame of reference for artistic life and the individual artists. Artistic life in the Soviet Union was well regulated and official Art dominated from the early 1930´s until the collapse of the Soviet Union, while especially during the 1970´s, became subjected to so-called unofficial Art, also known as underground. The unofficial, as well as the official Art, became important for Tatyana Nazarenko, for, while not belonging to either side, she came to have a constant relationship with them. She belonged, however, to a small art circle, balancing between the official direction and criticism of the system, later known as permitted. This thesis clarifies the relationship between what is defined as official, permitted and unofficial Art. In exposing her aesthetic strategies, it is shown in what way she deviates from the official and how far the artist could extend the permitted limitations. On the question of her aesthetic strategies a further question arises of how an awareness of history is expressed in motif and form. Finally, the importance of women’s experience in her picture world is discussed. Picture material in this thesis is composed partly of some thirty works from Tatyana Nazarenko´s own production and partly of works with a contextualized and comparative function, encompassing some fifty works taken from Soviet Art History. A few examples from Western Art History constitute further comparative material. The motifs consist mainly of depictions of historical events and pictures of everyday life i.e. genre pictures.

This dissertation analyses social critique, communication critique and aestheticalcritique in television produced by artists. Theoretically it draws on researchon alternative media, TV studies, especially genre analysis and narratology,and media aesthetics. It conducts a text-production study of three examplesof alternative television from the period 2004-2008: ContemporaryArt Center TV (CAC TV): A show produced by the CAC in Vilnius, Lithuaniaand aired on a commercial TV-channel; Good TV who aired video art ona local public access channel in Stockholm, Sweden; and Candyland TV, apirate transmission from an art gallery in central Stockholm.Empirically it builds on TV-texts, web sites and documents, as well asinterviews with participants. Through a study of form and stylistics, relationto conventional genres and modes of narration, it engages in a discussionabout the features of a critical, alternative media text.The study shows how these televisions work in a tradition of alternativetelevision and connects them to tactics and aesthetical forms as found inhistorical examples, but also how this type of formalist media critiquemight inform an understanding of alternative media. From the analysis ofrelations between social and formalist aspects of alternative television, adistinction between alternative as ”alternative worldview” and as ”alternativeexpressions” is suggested, a distinction that contributes to the developmentof theory in the study of alternative media.

How do young people in Estonia experience the political, politics and citizenship? How are these civic experiences connected to young peoples’ experiences with the media? Anne Kaun’s thesis Civic Experiences and Public Connection presents a theoretical and empirical investigation of how civic experiences, particularly public connection, emerge in the context of contemporary Estonia. Employing open-ended online diaries and in-depth interviews, she aims to develop an in-depth understanding of how young people experience democracy today, and how they express themselves as citizens; expression not only through the physical performance of citizenship, but also through orientation, interest in, and reflection about issues that are of common concern or should be seen as such. The empirical investigation of public connection as critical media connection, playful public connection and historical public connection, is based on narrative analysis and embedded in a theoretical exploration of key concepts in the context of civic culture studies, namely the political, politics and citizenship.Combining Chantal Mouffe’s conflict theory with Paul Ricoeur’s narrative identity, Kaun aims to shed light on contemporary democracy from the citizens’ perspective. The author proposes a holistic approach to both civic experiences and the role that media might play in relation to them. Following a non-media- centric approach, she shows that media, despite their ubiquity, are an important but not exclusive source of the civic experiences of young adults in Estonia.

Zoroastrianism is ascribed to the teachings of the legendary prophet Zarathustra and originated in ancient times. It was developed within the area populated by the Iranian peoples, and following the Arab conquest, it formed into a diaspora. In modern Russia it has evolved since the endof the Soviet era. It has become an attractive object of cultural productiondue to its association with Oriental philosophies and religions and its rearticulation since the modern era in Europe.The lasting appeal of Zoroastrianism evidenced by centuries of book publishingin Russia was enlivened in the 1990s. A new, religious, and even occult dimension was introduced with the appearance of neo-Zoroastrian groups with their own publications and online websites (dedicated to Zoroastrianism). This study focuses on the intersectional relationships and topical analysis of different Zoroastrian themes in modern Russia.

This dissertation examines the implementation of the SS’s Greater Germanic idea in the Danish border region of South Jutland. Its focus is on how Danish and ethnic German (volksdeutsche) national socialists, organised in their respective Nazi parties, dealt with the SS’s crusade on behalf of a supranational racial vision. The study traces why the two groups reacted so negatively to the SS’s ideology - despite the SS’s power, despite the Greater Germanic promise of high racial prestige, and despite shared service in “Germanic” units of the Waffen-SS.The SS’s attempts to use a race-based ideology to overcome the disputes that divided South Jutland’s two Nazi parties ran aground on fundamentally nationalist identities. For most members of the German minority, the Greater Germanic ideology was a threat. The German minority hoped for border revision; to acknowledge Danes as racial equals would endanger their political goals. Nor were Danish Nazis more enthusiastic. To be sure, the SS’s vision did provide an ideological weapon in the fight against demands for border vision. But the potential imperialism of the Greater Germanic idea worried those who prized continued Danish sovereignty. After all, the first hope of the Danish Nazis was to rule an independent national-socialist Danish state.The study makes it clear, however, that the fate of the Greater Germanic idea cannot be understood simply in terms of Realpolitik. Rather, the conflicts between the SS and its collaboration partners must also be understood as a clash between racial and völkisch concepts of community. The SS's vision of a Greater Germanic Reich based on ideologies of race clashed with the German-minority and Danish national-socialist commitment to Volk-based nationalism. Despite their strong commitment to Nazi ideologies, both collaboration partners found the SS’s racial community “unimaginable”.

There were many ways of bordering manliness during the historical period covered by my research. Borders have been metaphorically understood as those invisible, often non-enunciated limits that have safeguarded manliness. There were borders separating masculinity from femininity and from childishnes, but there is also a more distant border, separating masculinity from the bestial. The term un-manliness is a useful concept for this analysis, for it can be used to illuminate the different ways in which masculinity has been interrogated. The concept can also be used in comparative analyses of how tolerance towards men deviating from ideas of ideal masculinity has differed according to situation and culture. It has been my ambition to elucidate the particular attitudes, values, customs, knowledge and requirements that influenced the view of masculinity at both individual and the group level. The clearest-cut aspects of manliness and un-manliness expressed in court proceedings were those having to do with sexuality, relations within the household, and the subordinate and dominant masculinities displayed by different court-room actors. The latter, in turn, reflected contemporary social structures, including the social gap that divided the Livonian peasantry’s serfs or former serfs from the ruling Baltic-German elite. Records from the court proceedings have shown the subordinate masculinity of the defendants, subordinate not only to that of the officers of the court but to that of the witnesses. This subordination was an inevitable consequence of the nature of the accusations, regardless of whether they were deemed well-founded or false.  The defendants were placed in a situation where they were forced constantly to be on the alert, ready to defend themselves and show their best sides. As a result, they would often give extremely clear expression to their views of proper masculinity. Such actors stressed, consciously or unconsciously, certain manly traits and behaviour patterns that characterised themselves and others. Their arguments provide insights into what they thought of each other and how they conceived a man should generally be, behave and act in different situations. By the same token, they clearly showed what kinds of behaviours were considered undesirable or outright unmanly. The positioning of the borders of manliness was linked both to time and to space. Deviations have helped different societies set the borders for what they considered acceptable behaviour. There was a clear cultural and geographical border between Sweden as such, and the Swedish province Livonia. This emerges clearly when one compares Livonian results with earlier studies on bestiality in Sweden. This shows that the view of manliness and the tolerance towards certain kinds of behaviour changed as one moved East.

The Republic of Moldova was one of fifteen states to emerge from the dissolution of the Soviet Union. With weak historical legacy of statehood, deteriorating economy and serious national divisions, the young state lacked many of the prerequisites deemed necessary for successful democratization. From the very beginning of independence, Moldova became the battleground of Romanianists, propagating for the Romanian character of Moldova’s majority population, and Moldovanists, who viewed the people as a separate nation. In the literature on democracy and democratization, a divided nation is singled out as a serious threat to statehood and democratization efforts alike. Without a nation in place it is generally understood that democracy cannot take root.Nevertheless, Moldova in a few years time managed to make considerable progress on its path towards democracy. A main theme of the dissertation is thus the issue of national division and how it has affected political developments in general and democracy in specific. This picture is then further expanded by including close analysis of political support.The dissertation contributes to discussions about how nation and democracy goes together in transitional states with no legacy of either of them. The analysis shows that national division in Moldova works on different levels. While political actors often seek support from the electorate according to their positions on the nation, national identity by itself does not suffice to explain differences in political support. Instead other aspects, such as generational values, degree of urbanity and level of education, play a much larger role. Democracy, as a platform where different political ideas and ambitions may form, can both complicate transitions since it provides opportunities for conflicts, but democracy also holds the prospects to find ways to resolve disagreements. In the long run, this carries the seed of consolidation of both democracy and nation alike.

Under sent 1900-tal har andelen kvinnor och män i nationella demokratiska parlament i Europa blivit alltmer jämstora. Politiska partier formar politisk representation genom att välja egna kandidater till val. Forskare har visat att partiers beteende på den punkten inte sker i isolering, men det finns ändå en brist på systematiskt jämförande studier om vilka kombinationer av villkor som leder till jämn könsrepresentation i nationella parlament. Dessutom vilar tidigare studier ofta på kunskap om situationen i Västeuropa.Den här doktorsavhandlingen undersöker hur villkor i och utanför politiska partier kombineras för att uppnå jämställd parlamentarisk representation. Den utforskar i vilken grad de västeuropeiska erfarenheterna är användbara i Öst- och Centraleuropa, och studerar villkoren som upprätthåller manlig dominans i parlamentariska partier. Den presenterar tre empiriska studier. Den första är en kvalitativt jämförande studie (fsQCA) av 57 Västeuropeiska partier under sent 1980-tal, en period då andelen kvinnor i nationella parlament ökade. Den andra studien tillämpar kunskapen från den första studien på fall i Öst- och Centraleuropa. Studien bygger på ett unikt dataset med sex partier från fyra EU-stater, i en strukturerad fokuserad jämförelse. Slutligen presenteras en fallstudie av ett ovanligt jämställt parti i Lettland.Analyserna visar att lika andelar kvinnor och män i nationella parlament åstadkoms när villkor i och utanför partier kombineras, och att inget villkor är nödvändigt eller ensamt tillräckligt. Frånvaro av jämn representation upprätthålls av andra kombinationer än de som leder till jämn representation. Operationaliseringarna som utvecklades för Västeuropa är applicerbara i Öst- och Centraleuropa. De senare fallen visar också att organisatorisk instabilitet inte behöver hindra en jämställd parlamentarisk närvaro.

In the German Democratic Republic (GDR) the overthrow of the socialist regime did not only bring about both an economic and political shift, it resulted also in the inclusion of the GDR into the Federal Republic of Germany. The fall of the Wall brought with it transformations in everyday life as well as changes in social identities.This study examines how people who grew up in the GDR define the East and the West in unified Germany, as well as identifying which concepts play a role in the self-interpretations given by former GDR citizens. Through applying discourse theory, I investigate how identities are partially fixed and change over time, relating this always to historically situated discourses. In the analysis, East and West are considered as floating signifiers, which, through articulations made with other categories such as class, nation, place and gender, come to be filled with meaning. The study is based on twenty-five life story interviews conducted in Eastern Germany. The group of interviewees consisted of fifteen women and ten men born in the GDR between the years of 1970 and 1979, all of whom had different levels of education.The demise of the socialist state and the transition to a capitalist society is central in the interviewees’ life stories. Their narratives about the past are formed in a discursive order other than the one in which the events themselves took place. Conversely, the past is used as a foil against which the present is compared. With the dislocation, the interviewees have developed a reflexive stance to both themselves and the world. The study reveals both how East and West are still used to make the world intelligible in a number of fields and, at the same time, how these same concepts are transcended. It shows in what ways the interviewees employ different strategies to adapt to the new circumstances and to handle a potentially marked position in unified Germany.

The city as a focal point of both domestic and international security policy is characteristic of the 21st century security landscape in Europe. Amidst the 'War on Terror' and the pan-European battle against organised crime, the city is the location where global processes are actually taking place. Urban security is the local policy response both to such global threats as terrorism and local ones, such as violent crime. Public transport systems in particular came under threat after the terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001, Madrid in 2004, and London in 2005. This doctoral thesis studies security policy in three public transport systems – Berlin, Stockholm, and Warsaw – from a comparative perspective focusing on the conditions that made new and very specific understandings of security possible.The study argues that urban transport security has undergone radical changes during the last ten years. While transport authorities and the police used to conceive security as related solely to crime rates, today the focus of security practices consists of passengers' perceptions. The study shows how this shift is paralleled by a new discourse of 'security as emotion', and how it came into being. It concentrates specifically on the central role that surveillance and private policing assumes as the security policy shifts objectives to the inner life of the passengers. Today, complex governance networks of both public and private actors manage security in the three cities. The analysis shows how passengers are constructed in the urban security policy as children, consumers, and citizens. These different 'roles' constitute the passenger in the eye of urban security governance characterised by technocracy, 'friendly security', and individual responsibility. The introduction of new governance models for public administration, the legacy of European communist regimes, and rising fear of crime are central conditions for this new, sensitised urban transport security.