Course objectives: The main aim of this course is to recognize specifities of postsocialist cultural spaces, to analyze and interpret different phenomena in contemporary literature and art in regional and transregional contexts.

Enrolment requirements and/or entry competences required for the course:  None

Learning outcomes at the level of the programme to which the course contributes:

(1) Recognize and explain the ways in which local, national, and transnational processes influence social structures in Southeast Europe

(2) Explain the fundamental concepts and approaches to regional studies

(3) Critically assess and apply theoretical approaches to the analysis of phenomena and processes in Southeast Europe

(4) Analyse and interpret phenomena in the field of art in the regional context

Expected learning outcomes at the level of the course:

(1) To name, explain and use key terms related to postsocialist literature, art, and theory.

(2) Recognize different phenomena in the context of the history of postsocialist literature and art by looking at examples in regional and transregional historical, social, and cultural contexts.

(3) Interpret and critically evaluate different approaches to works of literature and art.

(4) Analyse the role of critical discourse in (re)defining postsocialist literature and art.

(5) Critically use primary and secondary sources related to contemporary literature, art, and theory.

Course content (syllabus):   

(1) Cultural Theories of (Post)Socialist Condition – an Overview (literature)

(2) Cultural Theories of (Post)Socialist Condition – an Overview (art)

(3) Postcolonial Approaches to Contemporary Postsocialist Cultures – an Overview (literature)

(4) Postcolonial Approaches to Contemporary Postsocialist Cultures – an Overview (art)

(5) Contemporary Literature in Croatia and Russia – an Overview

(6) (Hi-)Stories of (Post)Socialism in Literature

(7) Memory Frictions in Contemporary Literature

(8) The Economic Development as a Battlefield: Literary Examples

(9) Eastern World(s) Under the Western Eye(s)

(10) Contemporary Art in Croatia and Southeast Europe – an Overview

(11) (Hi-)Stories of (Post)Socialism in Art

(12) The Construction of Identity in (Post)Socialist Art

(13) Materialization of Memory in Contemporary Art

(14) Art as a Critique: Critical approaches to Economic Systems in Contemporary Art

(15) Southeast European Art as Art of the Other: Between Unease and Importance

Format of instruction: lectures, seminars and workshops 

Student responsibilities: regular class attendance, participation in discussions,

preparation and presentation of final paper

Monitoring student work: class attendance, seminar paper, written exam         

1. Cvejić, B.; Pristaš, G. S. (ur.) 2013. Parallel Slalom: A Lexicon of Non-aligned Poetics, Belgrade, Zagreb: Walking Theory ‒ TkH, CDU – Centre for Drama Art, Zagreb.
2. Galliera, I. 2017. Socially Engaged Art After Socialism: Art and Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe, London/New York: I.B. Tauris.
3. Janevski, A.; Marcoci, R.; Nouril, K. (ur.) 2018. Art and Theory of Post-1989 Central and Eastern Europe: A Critical Anthology. New York: Museum of Modern Art.
4. Kürti, E.; László, Zs. (ur.). 2021. What Will Be Already Exists: Temporalities of Cold War Archives in East-Central Europe and Beyond. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag.  
5. Moore, Ch. D. 2001. “Is the Post- in Postcolonial the Post- in Post- Soviet? Toward a Global Postcolonial Critique,” PMLA, 116 (1): 111–128.    
6. Mufti, A. R. 2016.Forget English! Orientalisms and World Literatures. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press.
7. Badovinac, Z. (ed.), Body and the East: From the 1960s to the Present, London, Cambridge, Mass., London: MIT, 1999.
8. Rancière, J. 2004. The Politics of Aesthetics. Ed. and transl. by Gabriel Rockhill. London, New Delhi, New York, Sydney: Bloomsbury. 
9. Tlostanova, M. 2017. Postcolonialism and Postsocialism in Fiction and Art. Resistance and Re-existence. New York, London: Palgrave Macmillan.             
10. Todorova, M. 2009. Imagining the Balkans. Updated Edition. Oxford University Press.

1. Annus, E. 2018. Soviet Postcolonial Studies. A View from the Western Borderlands. London and New York: Routledge.
2. Bailyn, J. F.; Jelača, D.; Lugarić, D. 2018. The Future of (Post)Socialism: Eastern European Perspectives. New York: State University of New York Press.
3. Chatterjee, P. 2006. “A Brief History of Subaltern Studies.” In: Budde, G.; Conrad, S.; Janz, O. (eds.) Transnationale Geschichte. Themen, Tendenzen und Theorien. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht: 94–104.
4. Chakrabarty, D. 2000.
5. Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
6. Damjanović, D. Magaš Bilandžić, L. Miklošević, Ž. Walton J. F. (eds.). 2019. Art and Politics in the Modern Period. Conference Proceedings. Zagreb: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb.
7. Irwin (ed.). 2006. East Art Map: Contemporary Art and Eastern Europe. MIT Press.
8. Jelača, D., Kolanović, M.; Lugarić, D. (eds.) 2017. The Cultural Life of Capitalism in Yugoslavia: (Post)Socialism and Its Other. New York, London: Palgrave Macmillan.
9. Kolanović, M. 2011. Udarnik! Buntovnik? Postrošač…: Popularna kultura i hrvatski roman od socijalizma do tranzicije. Zagreb: Naklada Ljevak. 
10. Kolanović, M. (ed.) 2013. Komparativni postsocijalizam – slavenska iskustva. Zagreb: FFpress and Zagrebačka slavistička škola.
11. Kolešnik, Lj. (ed.). 2012. Socijalizam i modernost: umjetnost, kultura, politika 1950.-1974. Zagreb: Muzej suvremene umjetnosti, Institut za povijest umjetnosti.
12. Lugarić Vukas, D. (ed.) 2021. “Nove mogućnosti? Postkolonijalna čitanja ruske i (post)sovjetske književnosti [A New Possibilities? Postcolonial Readings of Russian and (Post)Soviet Literature].” Artikulacije, (12), 3-7. https://artikulacije.hr/objavljne-je-novi-12-broj-artikulacija/.
13. Lugarić Vukas, D. (ed.) 2020. Istok – Zapad – Rusija, ili SAD kao metafora [East – West – Russia, or USA as a Metaphor]. Sic: časopis za književnost, kulturu i književno prevođenje, 3 (6), 1-6. doi:10.15291/sic/3.10.ewrs.1. https://www.sic-journal.org/Article/Index/605
14. Maković, Z. 2007. „Postskulptura, in: K15: pojmovnik nove hrvatske umjetnosti“. Zagreb: Art magazin Kontura. Str. 116–125.
15. Marjanić, S. 2013. Kronotop hrvatskoga performansa: od Travelera do danas. Zagreb: Institut za etnologiju i folkloristiku: Udruga Bijeli val.
16. Piotrowski, P. 2009. In the Shadow of Yalta: Art and the Avant-Garde in Eastern Europe, 1945-1989. London: Reaktion.
17. Susovski, M. (ed.) 1978. Nova umjetnička praksa 1966-1978. Zagreb: Galerija suvremene umjetnosti.
18. Šuvaković, M. 2005. Pojmovnik suvremene umjetnosti. Zagreb, Ghent: Horetzky; Vlees & Beton.