A Litmus Test Case of Modernity: Examining Modern Sensibilities and the Public Domain in the Baltic States at the Turn of the Century(5 Interdisciplinary Studies on Central and Eastern Europe)

This volume offers the insights of Baltic and Western European scholars into present socioeconomic, migration, identity, gender, race, media, and historical memory issues in the Baltic States. The book attempts to show the intensity and depth of social, economic and cultural change in the Baltic region. It throws light on why and how three small countries have become a litmus test case of modernity and its sensibilities, stretching from authoritarian and totalitarian past to liberal-democratic present. An historic jump from the Soviet Union to the European Union was accompanied by a dramatic struggle of the Baltic States for their inalienable right to return to the political map of the world. The Baltic States allow us a glimpse of the twentieth century history better than anything else. This interdisciplinary volume, by virtue of different perspectives employed by political scientists, gender and race scholars, communication and journalism researchers, linguists, and anthropologists will enable a readership to get the first-hand knowledge about an unprecedented social and political change that took place in the Baltic States over the past nineteen years. In addition, the book allows a point of departure into some historical memory clashes, controversies, and moral and political debates over the past and its impact on the present.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Tatjana Muravska: The EU Approach to Socio-Economic Democracy and the Post EU Accession Latvia – Kaarel Kilvits: Delocalization of Production: Threats and Opportunities for Estonia – Irina Novikova: (In)visibilities of Race, Ethnicity and Gender - Baltic Contexts – Vytis Ciubrinskas: Lithuanian Transnationalism: Politics of (Trans)migrant Identity – Gabrielle Hogan-Brun: Crossing Boundaries? Negotiating Diversity from East to West – Aukse Balcytiene: The Baltic Media and Journalism in Context: Sketching the Regional Picture – Kristina Juraite/Epp Lauk/Vita Zelce: The Professionalization of Journalism in the Baltic States: The Origins of Practices, Structures and Cultures (until 1940) – Robert van Voren: Lost History. Memories of pre-War Podbrodz-Pabrade in Lithuania – Joe Narotzky: Memories of Podbrodz (Pabrade) – Dovid Katz: On Three Definitions. Genocide; Holocaust Denial; Holocaust Obfuscation – Leonidas Donskis: Nationalism and Patriotism Revisited: An East-Central European Perspective.

About the Author :
The Editor: Leonidas Donskis, Ph.D., is a Member of the European Parliament. As an academic writer and editor, he wrote and edited seventeen books, seven of them in English. An interdisciplinary scholar, he combines political theory, history of ideas, philosophy of culture, and essayistic style. Among other books, he is the author of Troubled Identity and the Modern World, Power and Imagination, and Forms of Hatred. He lectured and researched in the USA, Great Britain, and Europe.