CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2024
| Author | Koleva, Roberta |
|---|---|
| Title | The "Bulgarian Berlin Wall" Contesting the Past, Thinking the "Post-",Imagining the Future through the Space of the Monument to the Soviet Army in Sofia |
| Summary | This research investigates the recent debates surrounding the dismantling of the Monument to the Soviet Army in Sofia, initiated in December 2023 amidst the Russian-led war in Ukraine. Utilising ethnographic observations, in-depth interviews, and archival, visual and discourse analysis, it explores how this site functions as a territory where the past, present, and future are actively negotiated and re-imagined. Viewing space not merely as a “lens” but as a “social territory”, the study employs a Lefebvrian framework to analyse how different clusters of spatial arguments reflect everyday geopolitics, identity tensions, and negotiations concerning “Bulgarianness”, “Eur opeannessȁ d;, and “democracy”, spurred by the ongoing war in Ukraine. The term “Bulgarian Berlin Wall” that puts into comparison the Monument to the Soviet Army and the Berlin Wall is an emic metaphor derived from the field, underscoring the symbolic struggles over the re-imagination of the Bulgarian “Europea n”/ 1c;Western 1d; path concerning not only the country’s geopolitical positioning but also old discussions about its “civilisational” choices. In alignment with Lefebvre's notion that transformative shifts necessitate the creation of new space, the Monument, much like the Wall, came to be seen by some citizens as a lingering obstacle to post-socialist transition and a desired “normal” future more than 30 years after 1989. In this sense, this thesis critically revisits theoretical discussions on “post-socialism”, examining emic understandings of concepts such as “transition”, “democracy”, “good life”, “communism”, and “fascism” and how they are instrumentalised amid state-led neoliberal policies. It also contributes to understanding the evolving nature of anti-communist rhetoric, memory and identity crisis in post-socialist public spaces and the built environment’s relationship with ideology, social mobilisations, and nationalism. |
| Supervisor | Bodnar Judit |
| Department | Sociology MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2024/koleva_roberta.pdf |
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