Abstract On 26 April 1986, the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Soviet Ukraine led to a massive disaster, the consequences of which affected millions of people in northern and eastern Europe. Today, 35 years later, we recall it not only as one of the greatest catastrophes in the history of nuclear power but also as one of the main political preconditions or factors that led to the end of the USSR. This paper presents the initial stage of a comparative study on the memories of this disastrous event among Ukrainians, Belarusians, Russians, and Bulgarians living on the periphery of the affected zone. The aim is to trace diverse aspects of public reflection in connection with people’s awareness and the degree to which they were affected, the reactions to the disaster, its effects and consequences, the preparedness of the population, and the latter’s assessment of post-disaster management.
{"title":"Local Reflections on the Chernobyl Disaster 35 Years Later: Peripheral Narratives from Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and Bulgaria","authors":"Yelis Erolova, Yulia Tsyryapkina","doi":"10.1515/soeu-2021-0069","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/soeu-2021-0069","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract On 26 April 1986, the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Soviet Ukraine led to a massive disaster, the consequences of which affected millions of people in northern and eastern Europe. Today, 35 years later, we recall it not only as one of the greatest catastrophes in the history of nuclear power but also as one of the main political preconditions or factors that led to the end of the USSR. This paper presents the initial stage of a comparative study on the memories of this disastrous event among Ukrainians, Belarusians, Russians, and Bulgarians living on the periphery of the affected zone. The aim is to trace diverse aspects of public reflection in connection with people’s awareness and the degree to which they were affected, the reactions to the disaster, its effects and consequences, the preparedness of the population, and the latter’s assessment of post-disaster management.","PeriodicalId":29828,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Southeast European Studies","volume":"71 1","pages":"12 - 31"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43253495","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract In 1957 there occurred a technological disaster in the Southern Urals in the form of a nuclear accident at the Mayak chemical plant in Ozersk, Soviet Union. The accident led to the resettlement of two historical centres of the first wave of the Russian colonization of the region, as the villages along the Techa river were declared restricted areas during the cleaning of the radiation trail, and their residents were resettled. As a result, the original culture of the villages was lost. The inspiration for our research is Alexey Mityunin, a local historian, enthusiast, and public activist, who collected a martyrology of the disappeared Ural villages. This paper presents the results of field expeditions to Brodokalmak carried out in 2014–2017 by students of the Miass Branch of Chelyabinsk State University, Russia. Brodokalmak is the village where the people resettled from contaminated lands Zamanikha, Boevka, and Muslyumovo live or lived.
{"title":"Atomic Atlantis: Ethnography of Settled Villages","authors":"T. V. Saveleva, Natalia B. Danilenko","doi":"10.1515/soeu-2021-0062","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/soeu-2021-0062","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In 1957 there occurred a technological disaster in the Southern Urals in the form of a nuclear accident at the Mayak chemical plant in Ozersk, Soviet Union. The accident led to the resettlement of two historical centres of the first wave of the Russian colonization of the region, as the villages along the Techa river were declared restricted areas during the cleaning of the radiation trail, and their residents were resettled. As a result, the original culture of the villages was lost. The inspiration for our research is Alexey Mityunin, a local historian, enthusiast, and public activist, who collected a martyrology of the disappeared Ural villages. This paper presents the results of field expeditions to Brodokalmak carried out in 2014–2017 by students of the Miass Branch of Chelyabinsk State University, Russia. Brodokalmak is the village where the people resettled from contaminated lands Zamanikha, Boevka, and Muslyumovo live or lived.","PeriodicalId":29828,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Southeast European Studies","volume":"71 1","pages":"32 - 47"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44934754","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The study considers disaster as a social phenomenon that affects individuals, communities, and societies. It focuses on a specific technological catastrophe—a train explosion in the village of Hitrino in Shumen region, Bulgaria, that killed seven, left 23 injured, and demolished 23 houses. The article describes and analyses the local community’s reactions based on fieldwork, i.e. ethnographic and sociological surveys conducted in 2018 to 2019. Attention is paid to the behaviour, management, and methods of coping with the short-term and long-term consequences of the disaster on individual, group, and institutional levels, as well as to the changes in social and ethnic relations. Hitrino is defined as a community in crisis in relation to the degree of its ability to develop a local strategy in advance, and due to the experience it accumulated. The study shows that disaster recovery strategies must include work with local communities which play a key role in reducing the negative impact of catastrophe.
{"title":"How Local Communities Overcome Disaster and Crisis","authors":"Mila Maeva","doi":"10.1515/soeu-2021-0068","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/soeu-2021-0068","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The study considers disaster as a social phenomenon that affects individuals, communities, and societies. It focuses on a specific technological catastrophe—a train explosion in the village of Hitrino in Shumen region, Bulgaria, that killed seven, left 23 injured, and demolished 23 houses. The article describes and analyses the local community’s reactions based on fieldwork, i.e. ethnographic and sociological surveys conducted in 2018 to 2019. Attention is paid to the behaviour, management, and methods of coping with the short-term and long-term consequences of the disaster on individual, group, and institutional levels, as well as to the changes in social and ethnic relations. Hitrino is defined as a community in crisis in relation to the degree of its ability to develop a local strategy in advance, and due to the experience it accumulated. The study shows that disaster recovery strategies must include work with local communities which play a key role in reducing the negative impact of catastrophe.","PeriodicalId":29828,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Southeast European Studies","volume":"71 1","pages":"96 - 118"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49082382","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Carsten Stahn, Carmel Agius, Serge Brammertz and Colleen Rohan: Legacies of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia: A Multidisciplinary Approach","authors":"Mina Radončić","doi":"10.1515/soeu-2022-0044","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/soeu-2022-0044","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":29828,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Southeast European Studies","volume":"71 1","pages":"141 - 144"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49637749","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Lea Ypi: Free: Coming of Age at the End of History / Margo Rejmer: Mud Sweeter than Honey. Voices of Communist Albania","authors":"Christian Voß","doi":"10.1515/soeu-2022-0029","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/soeu-2022-0029","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":29828,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Southeast European Studies","volume":"71 1","pages":"134 - 137"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42704361","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract While post-disaster rebuilding is an urgent task for affected areas, an approach without consideration for climate protection will probably lead to another disaster of carbon lock-in. Therefore, policymaking and implementation are critically important. This paper takes the Guangyuan prefecture as a case study, where the local government took the lead in low-carbon initiative and made a great contribution to low-carbon development. Based on long-term field investigations and semi-structured interviews, using the theory of multi-level governance, it discusses policy formation and implementation in the Guangyuan prefecture, and how the governance system promoted an environment-and-climate-friendly rebuilding. The results demonstrate the urgency of carbon decoupling in post-disaster-rebuilding and the significance of an effective governance system. This provides insight to the contemporary world that post-disaster rebuilding is not only a revitalization of the affected areas, but a comprehensive undertaking to avoid other possible disasters and ensure a sustainable future.
{"title":"Breaking the Carbon Lock-In Effect in Post-disaster Rebuilding: A Case Study of a Wenchuan Earthquake-Stricken City in China","authors":"Wei Jiang","doi":"10.1515/soeu-2021-0064","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/soeu-2021-0064","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract While post-disaster rebuilding is an urgent task for affected areas, an approach without consideration for climate protection will probably lead to another disaster of carbon lock-in. Therefore, policymaking and implementation are critically important. This paper takes the Guangyuan prefecture as a case study, where the local government took the lead in low-carbon initiative and made a great contribution to low-carbon development. Based on long-term field investigations and semi-structured interviews, using the theory of multi-level governance, it discusses policy formation and implementation in the Guangyuan prefecture, and how the governance system promoted an environment-and-climate-friendly rebuilding. The results demonstrate the urgency of carbon decoupling in post-disaster-rebuilding and the significance of an effective governance system. This provides insight to the contemporary world that post-disaster rebuilding is not only a revitalization of the affected areas, but a comprehensive undertaking to avoid other possible disasters and ensure a sustainable future.","PeriodicalId":29828,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Southeast European Studies","volume":"71 1","pages":"48 - 73"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45723572","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Danilo Mandić: Gangsters and Other Statesmen. Mafias, Separatists and Torn States in a Globalized World","authors":"Věra Stojarová","doi":"10.1515/soeu-2022-0072","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/soeu-2022-0072","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":29828,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Southeast European Studies","volume":"71 1","pages":"145 - 146"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49600237","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The most important records of the Austro-Hungarian administrative history of Bosnia and Herzegovina are kept in the fonds of the Provincial Government in Sarajevo and of the Joint Ministry of Finance, Department for Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Vienna, both forming part of the collection of the Archives of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo and together amounting to approximately 2000 shelf metres. The author looks here through the lens of “colonial archives” to assess the missed potential of the two fonds for writing the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina, pointing out that historians have hitherto used them primarily to study political history and a few segments of socio-economic history, neglecting recent approaches to re-establishing archives’ value for research. Yet, as the author shows, the so-called “archival turn” would prove to be an asset in deepening the understanding not only of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Austro-Hungarian imperial history, but its history more generally.
{"title":"Understanding Colonial Archives: Reflections on Records from Habsburg Times in the Archives of Bosnia and Herzegovina","authors":"Amila Kasumović","doi":"10.1515/soeu-2022-0038","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/soeu-2022-0038","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The most important records of the Austro-Hungarian administrative history of Bosnia and Herzegovina are kept in the fonds of the Provincial Government in Sarajevo and of the Joint Ministry of Finance, Department for Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Vienna, both forming part of the collection of the Archives of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo and together amounting to approximately 2000 shelf metres. The author looks here through the lens of “colonial archives” to assess the missed potential of the two fonds for writing the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina, pointing out that historians have hitherto used them primarily to study political history and a few segments of socio-economic history, neglecting recent approaches to re-establishing archives’ value for research. Yet, as the author shows, the so-called “archival turn” would prove to be an asset in deepening the understanding not only of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Austro-Hungarian imperial history, but its history more generally.","PeriodicalId":29828,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Southeast European Studies","volume":"70 1","pages":"667 - 685"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46787287","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Tatjana Sekulić: The European Union and the Paradox of Enlargement: The Complex Accession of the Western Balkans","authors":"Kamil Glinka","doi":"10.1515/soeu-2022-0032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/soeu-2022-0032","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":29828,"journal":{"name":"Comparative Southeast European Studies","volume":"70 1","pages":"748 - 749"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44856434","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}