Histories of emotion in Communist and post-Communist Europe after 1945

Abstract

ABSTRACT What can we learn about the recent history of central and eastern Europe by focusing on the theme of emotions? Conversely, how can the history of emotions benefit from contemporary historical work on these specific world regions? Opening a special section that sheds light on these questions, this introduction outlines the research field of emotion history and discusses pertinent studies on central and eastern Europe since 1945. To prevent emotion from becoming a catch-all concept, the introduction argues for a distinctive understanding of feelings that takes into account the dimensions of the body and the senses. It also shows that the history of emotion forces us to confront binary historiographical patterns of thought (nature vs. culture, inside vs. outside, feeling vs. expression of feeling). With regard to the analysis of state socialism, the revolutions of 1989–91, and the transition to a post-socialist order, the introduction argues that emotional dynamics should not be deterministically derived from political and economic processes, but rather that “emotion” should be understood as a category of analysis in its own right.