CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2018
| Author | Zimbrek, Ivana Mihaela |
|---|---|
| Title | Mirrors of the City: Department Stores, Urban Space and the Politics of Retail in Socialist Yugoslavia (1950s-1960s) |
| Summary | In this thesis, I examine the development of the leading Yugoslav department store chain “Na-Ma” in Zagreb in order to show the significant way that department stores as modern retail spaces both reflected and contributed to the economic, social and urban development in Socialist Yugoslavia in this period. By drawing on a wide range of sources, from minutes of meetings of various city councils, economic development plans, as well as opinions of retail experts published in the “Na-Ma” chain's official newspaper, I argue that through the introduction of the self-service system, department stores served as principal vehicles for improving retail, supply, production, as well as personal consumption as the main economic and social tasks of the Yugoslav state from the late 1950s. Furthermore, by analyzing architectural projects, as well as discussions of Yugoslav architects and urban planners published in various professional journals, I place these economic and social contributions in the urban context of Zagreb. In this way, I show the significant role that department stores had in improving the urban and social environment by increasing the living standard and creating new spaces for communal life in the rapidly growing city. Finally, I also analyze the transnational exchanges between Socialist Yugoslavia and “the West” in the realm of retail, as well as in architecture and urban planning in order to demonstrate the important transnational dimension in the development of Yugoslav department stores. Therefore, by focusing on the department store as both a modern retail space and an urban institution under state-socialism, I connect and develop the history of retail, urban planning and transnational exchange in Socialist Yugoslavia in the early Cold War period. |
| Supervisor | Marsha Siefert |
| Department | History MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2018/zimbrek_ivana.pdf |
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