NEP4DISSENT: New Exploratory Phase in Research on East European Cultures of Dissent

Resistance and dissent in former socialist Europe 1945-1989 constitutes a remarkable chapter of Europe’s recent past, which not only informs in a decisive way the identities of post-socialist societies, but has also reshaped the continent as a whole and still provides an important reference for contemporary social movements worldwide. The proposers of this Action believe that, after a period of growth and consolidation, this field of study and the respective domain of cultural heritage have stalled and fell short of its true significance. This state of affairs results from (1) the inheritance of Cold War-era conceptual distinctions, (2) confinement of research within national silos and (3) neglecting the problem of access to original archival sources for digitally enabled research due to both their heterogeneity and uneven investment in research infrastructures. The main aim of the Action is to trigger the next discovery phase of this legacy through forging a new, reflexive approach and providing a platform for incubating networked, transnational, multidisciplinary and technology-conscious research with creative dissemination capacities. The Action will create a valuable interface for communication between three communities of practice: researchers and archivists, art and cultural heritage curators and IT experts with humanities and social sciences expertise in order for future research to be technologically advanced and better disseminated. The Action will enable participant researchers to train with cutting edge digital tools, and to increase their capacities for creative dissemination through engaging in productive dialogue with art and cultural heritage curators, proposing best practices of cooperation between those three communities  of practice.

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