Research project

Beyond Post-Communism: Imagining the Future in Times of Transition

How did people across Central and Eastern Europe imagine the future during the transitions of the 1980s and 1990s? The umbrella term ‘post-communism’ does not provide an answer to this question. This project explores how writers and cultural theorists saw the potential future of their societies during perestroika and the (early) 1990s. By comparing Russia and Eastern Germany, this study maps the diverse future scenarios envisioned in the former communist region of Europe. By examining cultural reflections on transitions in the recent past, the project seeks to contribute to present-day societal debates about the urgency of imagining alternative futures.

Duration: 2024 - 2028
Contact: Dorine Schellens
Funding: NWO
Partners: Leiden University

Exhibition view of two scenarios for 1989 in the GDR: Peaceful demonstrations leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall vs. military violence preventing this, based on violent suppression of the Tiananmen Square protests in China. Photos taken at the exhibition Roads not Taken by Dorine Schellens (2023).

Project introduction

In 2023, an exhibition called Roads not Taken, or: Things Could Have Turned out Differently opened at the Historical Museum in Berlin. The exhibition explores alternative scenarios for key moments in recent German history, with a focus on the year 1989. Visitors are presented with a question: What if the mass demonstrations taking place across the GDR during 1989 had ended differently?

Over three decades after the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, we see a noticeable interest in uncovering futures that could have been possible during perestroika and the early 1990s, questioning the perception of our current time as ‘inevitable’.

Project goals

After several decades of a growing disconnect between communist utopia and lived reality, the introduction of perestroika politics in the mid-1980s reignited debates about the future across Central and Eastern Europe. Although we typically frame the history of perestroika with defined start and end dates, it is important to remember the uncertainty about its outcome at the time. This created opportunities for envisioning various potential futures. In this project, I ask how cultural actors, such as writers, cultural theorists, and other social commentators, helped to shape societal discussions on how to move forward.

The main goals of this project are to:

deepen our understanding of the concepts, stories, and theoretical reflections that cultural actors used to interpret a rapidly changing world at the end of the Cold War;
draw on these insights to create more openness in debates on how to navigate our crisis-ridden present.

Russia and Eastern Germany

In this project, I examine (Soviet) Russia and the GDR/Eastern Germany comparatively in order to gain a better sense of the spectrum of futures envisioned across Central and Eastern Europe from the mid-1980s onwards. My research materials encompass fiction, cultural theory, and essays focusing on various social and political questions. I am currently compiling a corpus of relevant primary sources, which involves archival research at the Berlin State Library, the Federal Foundation for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Germany in Berlin, and the Open Society Archives in Budapest.

Want to know more?

If you are interested in the project, feel free to get in touch. I regularly share updates from my research in talks and in the podcast Utopie en prikkeldraad (in Dutch), co-created with dr. Marika Keblusek and Maura Martens (MA), which focuses on literature, art, and culture from the GDR.