Pieces of contested memories: The history of monuments in Banja Luka

The inventorying of historical monuments [Kunsttopographie / Denkmaltopographie] is the first major collective and joint undertaking of Hungarian art history and monument protection. Within this project, monuments in four and a half of Hungary’s 19 counties and the Buda districts of Budapest were processed and published in 12 volumes between 1953 and 1987, by adopting the conception of the Austrian inventory of monuments (Österreichische Kunsttopographie) published from 1907. Sufficient conditions for systematic work for this fundamentally important project for both art history and monument conservation were only given in the period specified above. In connection with the radical institutional changes brought about by the building out of a Soviet-type state administration from 1948, the paper reconstructs the series of events which made it possible – based on the excellent professional legacy and human resource and thanks to the keen judgement of some specialists in key positions – that this grand project could be launched with great zeal and survived – at a decelerating pace but at unchanged professional level – for three decades to come. The professional contents of the program is illumined by three documents and a conference paper read in November 1950 on the conception of the inventory of Hungarian historical monuments, which are enclosed in the supplement. The scholar to present the project was the art historian Dezső Dercsényi, who became the supreme professional guide of Hungarian monument protection until his retirement by virtue of his professional competence and exceptional diplomatic skills. The inventory was being elaborated under the aegis of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences reorganized upon the Soviet model in late 1949. Against this background did that unique intellectual constellation evolve in which the cooperation of the Marxist philosopher György Lukács, who had returned from emigration in Moscow in 1945 and played an active role in the Sovietization of culture including scholarship; of the Christian philosopher Lajos Fülep, a youthful intellectual comrade of Lukács in internal exile in this period whom Lukács asked to head the art historical community; of Dercsényi and the excellent specialists promoted the cause of the registration of Hungarian historical monuments to success. In this way the major break in history did not entail the interruption of so-far achieved results and up-to-date strategic endeavours in the studied area of culture and science but resulted in an unprecedented consolidation of the positions of Hungarian monument protection and art history at an elevated level.

Theories of Farmer Knowledge and Food Security

Historical memory is a necessary element of the nation-building process. It has various forms of realization, including visual ones. The article discusses one of the forms of visualization of historical memory through specific historical places – officially confirmed historical monuments. The author proves the thesis that the list of national historical monuments depended on the history politics implemented by the authorities and considers the evolution of this politics from 1826 (the first decree of Emperor Nicholas I on compiling in Russia a list of historical monuments, this was done by the Ministry of the Interior) until 1917. Initially, the authorities sought to recreate the picture of the historical past by fixing the surviving monuments. However historical politics was changing in the late 19th – early 20th centuries. The purpose of the empire was to present Russian history as the apotheosis of the Romanov dynasty, especially its last representatives (Alexander II, Alexander III, Nicholas II). Therefore, according to their description of 1901–1903, most historical monuments were modern monuments to the last emperors and members of the imperial family. They were not historical monuments in the true sense of the term. It was an ideological, a propaganda campaign. The author draws attention to its inefficiency; these monuments could not improve the image of the Romanovs in the eyes of society. The author draws attention to the similarity of the principles of visualization of history through historical monuments in the Russian Empire and the USSR. In both cases, an ideological basis shaped the history politics, which was less about preserving historical memory and more about ideology and channeling specific ideas through selected monuments. Moreover, in both cases, it was a cause of inefficiency of history politics.

Cynical Realism is an idiom created consciously by Li Xianting, a Chinese contemporary art critic under a clear purpose of wanting to inform the Chinese art industry earnestly along with the creation of idioms like ''Political Pop Art'' and ''Gaudy Art''. The paths of these terms were mainly through magazines and the Venetian and Sao Paulo Biennale in Brazil which were done in 1993, 1995 and 1997, and the works exhibited here were sold in each market of the world art since mid-2000. This led China''s contemporary art to enter the capitalist line, and virtual realism became the most “Chinese” part of Chinese contemporary art by selling it at the highest price. In particular, these cynical realism artists who were educated in the socialist era wanted to open a new socialist art in the post-socialist era were like li Wei, Fang Lijun, Zhang Xiaogang, Yue Minjun, and Zheng Fanzhi. The characteristics are as follows. First, they focus on the ''face''. This confirms the status in which art was used in the last socialist period. It represents important symbols in post-socialist China by replacing the face of the present in the portraits of Mao Zedong. Second, ''family'' stands out as the identity of the individual and stands at the crossroads of ''people'', a member of the socialist era. This is read as a movement to push out the existence of ''workers, peasants, soldiers'' who existed only as constituent members of socialism in the past socialism, and to find their identity in the family members. Third, they pay attention to ‘emotion’ such as laughter or depression. This is also is in contrast to Mao''s expressionlessness. which was the face of a public hero during the socialist era. The face of the in the post-socialist era is just one person who is in the process of being happy. Especially, their emotions need attention because they are laughters and depressions that are pretended expressions rather than direct expressions. The post-Socialist “people” were now different from the positions of the socialist people. They have evolved into many classes, and in the present situation, the are actually in contact with the so called social lows after 2000.Thus, it can be said that the cynical realism is a realistic demonstration of the fact that the term people which was used in the socialism period, should be reconsidered.

This inquiry interrogates the experiences of local implementation actors of the Philippine Department of Education as they navigate through reform efforts within systemic corruption. Departing from dominant analytical paradigms centred on patron–client frameworks, the article introduces the typology of complex linkages where local actors play their roles as they find themselves trapped in between the powerful discourse of reform on the one hand and corruption on the other. Empirical findings of how local actors make sense of the challenges of reform amidst corruption as well as reflections towards greater analytical clarity are proposed.

The article is devoted to the analysis of data compiled in 1902 by the construction department of the Perm Provincial Committee on “all ancient buildings and ancient monuments existing in the Perm province, as well as on modern monuments erected in honor of the Imperial and other persons or in memory of various events”. The background of the compilation of this list is characterized in the context of the development of a law on the protection of monuments and public discussion of the criteria for identifying objects to be protected. The authors describe the province’s monuments associated with the Romanovs, for the first time included in the range of objects of protection (largely lost in the subsequent time). A comparison is made of the information on the region’s religious objects indicated in this source with the 1902 description of parish churches of Ekaterinburg diocese. The information limits of the 1902 provincial list are identified. They were caused by the method of obtaining information for the list: reliance on documents preserved in the office of the provincial government, lack of cooperation with diocesan structures during the preparation of the list, subjectivity of assessments of the cultural value of the objects and an insufficient level of studying ancient monuments in the local history literature of that time. At the same time, the importance of this event is emphasized as the first attempt in the region to systematize information about the objects to be protected as monuments of history and culture. The compilation of an inventory of protected monuments had been for the authorities a certain step in the politics of memory, since a significant part of the heritage indicated in the list was associated with the idea of a monarchy, and the Urals were presented as a part of the Orthodox empire mastered by the Russian people.

During the socialist era, economists in the Balkan countries rarely published their work in the West due to political restrictions, methodological differences with the West, and inadequacy in Western languages. After the collapse of socialism, political barriers were lifted, a Western style of education in economics was adopted, and English began to be taught widely as the common language in the academic realm. The aim of this study is to discuss the impact of these policies on the publication performance of economists in the former socialist countries of the Balkans region. The results reveal that the number of international publications increased gradually over the post-socialist period and fast-reforming countries performed better than the slow movers.

This article looks at soup-making as a lens to view the impact of societal change for Hungarian pensioner women. Food as a practice illustrates agency: strategies and tactics used in time and space to communicate meaning for people in everyday life. During the socialist period, women endured frustrations of long lines and scarce resources. In the post-socialist era, their heroic clout as food providers is diminished by the introduction of a market economy. Nevertheless, the survival skills learned in the socialist era allow them to adapt to the new era of high inflation and high unemployment. I use descriptions of one woman to connect personal experience to historical and political change. This article makes two main points—first, to look at food practices developed during state socialism that carry over and adapt to the post-socialist condition; and second, to illustrate how this impacts gender and agency of elderly Hungarian women.1

European agroecosystems host a variety of farm woodlands that act as primary determinants of biodiversity and ecosystem services. While woodland areas have been in decline worldwide, they have regionally increased, for example, in Eastern Germany. This study performs a quantitative and spatially explicit assessment of differences in species richness, diversity, and evenness as well as forest physiognomy and structure among Eastern German farm woodlands established during (1) the presocialist era (until 1945), (2) the socialist era (1945–1990), and (3) the postsocialist era (after 1990). Aerial imagery was used to allocate woodlands to one of the three eras, after which a forest inventory of 120 woodlands was performed. The results show substantial differences in forest composition and structure. Presocialist-era woodlands are composed of native (mean 96 %), deciduous (mean 94 %) tree species. Mean diameters and species richness values are high. Typical socialist woodland species are nonnative (mean 35 %) and/or coniferous (mean 51 %). Stands have a uniform, even-aged stand structure. Species richness/diversity indices are generally low. Postsocialist woodlands exhibit a high degree of variability. Percentages of nonnative (7 %) and coniferous (10 %) individuals are low. The findings suggest that socialist and postsocialist farmland and forest policies translated into distinct land-use legacies in the newly established farm woodlands, which differ considerably from the composition and structure of presocialist woodlands. We argue that forest conservation planning should actively consider land-use legacies, which are of particular relevance in the landscapes of Central and Eastern Europe, as these have undergone multiple, abrupt, and severe land-use transitions.

Public land privatisation and commodification as a field of changing social relations: The making of the Albanian Riviera

This study examines the growth and spatiality of Chinese urbanism with special reference to changes in state-society relations. Imperial China was well-known for a relatively strong state, weak society, and underdeveloped market. Earlier Chinese urbanism was shaped by an imperial state of tributary nature, a society stratified in the Confucian doctrine, and a relatively relaxed state-society relation. In the socialist era, important features of (anti-)urbanism were linked with a special state-society relation that privileges the interests of the working class, discriminates merchants, values equality, and stresses urban manageability. The reformation of state-society relations in the post-socialist era has facilitated the growth of modern urbanism characterized by the dramatic expansion of urban size, high inner-city density, growing diversity, heterogeneity, and inequality. The urban scale has been expanded and stretched as the state manages to negotiate with forces of globalization, enhance China's international competitiveness, and maintain domestic social stability. Chinese urbanism has been hybrid, path-dependent, and locally constituted, blending elements from the past with the present and the local with the global.

History and the past not being the same, it is easy to see that historical interpretations of Yugoslavia, themselves deconstructed in the post-socialist era, were heavily burdened by ideological context. This text considers several legitimising models that have become the dominant ideological matrices that seriously limit scientific contributions to the study of the Yugoslav experience. This text first analyses the influence of anticommunism as a globally dominant post-Cold War matrix that delegitimises all historical knowledge on the socialist era. By levelling fascism and socialism through the narrative of two totalitarian orders, this revisionist movement seeks to establish itself within the mainstream of social science. Influenced by nationalist matrices in post-Yugoslav historiography, antitotalitarian discourse reduces to anti-Yugoslavism and anti-Titoism. In the case of Serbia, any study on modernising and democratising movements within the Yugoslav Socialist system carries a particular stigma and accusations of national betrayal. As such, it is the narrowest limiting ring to historical research. With these global and local obstacles in mind, the text seeks to elaborate on the remaining manoeuvring space to the historian attempts to objectively understand socialist Yugoslavia.

During the socialist era, inner residential areas of Eastern European cities were left to decay both physically and socially, and became mostly occupied by elderly inhabitants. Drawing on 2007–2011 EU-SILC data, we have analysed processes of socio-spatial differentiation in the inner cities of Prague and Tallinn during the post-socialist era, and indicate the household-level drivers of such differentiation. We found a high preference for inner city living among young people and childless households, but also the persisting patterns of elderly population in some inner city sub-areas. A weak correlation between household socio-economic status and place of residence in the inner city, however, suggests that inner cities continued to be socially mixed in the late 2000s, although differences existed in this regard between sub-areas and between the two studied cities. To a large extent, such differentiation relates to the roots found within socialist and pre-socialist legacies, but it also contains new post-socialist features, such as those created by different social and housing policies applied during the post-socialist reforms.

For much of the past two centuries German governments encouraged or even sponsored the construction of war monuments. By the turn of the twentieth century Germany was covered in more than a thousand such shrines, most of which had local or regional significance as places of annual celebration or commemoration. Government, media, and business all contributed to an elaborate hagiography of Germany's battles, war heroes, and martyrs, with monuments usually serving as the centerpieces. Millions of middle-class Germans attended or participated in commemoration ceremonies at war monuments all over the country, and/or filled their homes with souvenir trinkets, tableware, wall decorations, coffee-table books, and other quotidian items that reproduced images of the monuments or scenes from the events they memorialized.

Localization has emerged as a dominant reform paradigm guiding humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding efforts on a global scale. It signals a commitment to shift power to local actors by recognizing, valuing, and strengthening their role in humanitarian or peacebuilding interventions. Despite this commitment, a noticeable reorientation of power to local actors has not occurred. This article contributes to the critical scholarship on localization by analysing 22 United Nations reports to examine their understanding of local actors and their envisaged contributions to missions in Iraq since 2003. The study engages with the UN's perspectives on localization across its key mission areas: development, stabilization, and humanitarianism. The findings show a lack of consistency in the Unites Nations’ perception of local actors and their contributions, with different sub-sectors presenting disparate views. The reports predominantly emphasize the instrumental use of local actors to achieve pre-defined mission objectives. Consequently, this article shows that the case of Iraq exposes a disconnect between the progressive and normative scholarly framing of localization as a political project aimed at restructuring power dynamics, and its on-ground implementation, which often simplifies localization as mere involvement of local actors.