Conference aims

Summary

This multi-disciplinary conference seeks to explore the vast and mostly uncharted role played by cultural
exchange and cultural currents in the development of the Cold War, especially in the context of East-West relations.

Cultural exchange in the Cold War has received little attention compared to traditional areas of Cold War studies: diplomacy, military affairs, and even economics. Although the cultural Cold War has in recent years received growing attention internationally, the research is still very scattered. With this conference we aim to bring together research concerned with cultural exchanges during the Cold War era, both from the East and the West. Furthermore, we hope to encourage a theoretical discussion about the still rather vague definition of the cultural Cold War, and indeed about the validity of the concept itself.

Possible paper topics include, but are not limited to:

·         Soviet cultural diplomacy and cultural initiatives

·         Western tourism in the East / Eastern tourism in the West

·         Everyday experiences of cultural exchanges

·         Trans-national networks across the Iron Curtain

·         Media as an agent in cultural exchange (incl. program exchange)

·         Concrete and imagined borders

·         Material and consumer cultures

·         Festivals and international cultural competitions

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