Socialist Internationalism and the Gritty Politics of the Particular - (Histories of Internationalism) (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

This collection takes a case study approach to enter into and explore spaces of 'Second-Third World' interaction during the Cold War. From the dining halls of a university, to hospital wards, construction sites, military barracks, pubs and more, the chapters drop the scale down from the global to the particular to better see, understand and interpret the complex nature of these spaces.

These ordinary spaces are examined to understand how they were conceived, constructed, shaped and reshaped by people over time. Many are physical places of encounter, while others are more abstract, embodying ideological goals. In exploring these spaces the contributors show how the Second and Third World actors understood them and connected them to ideas such as gender and space, the space of the nation, of the modern and of the self. Essentially, it seeks to unravel how these spaces between Second and Third Worlds worked, and what, if anything, was distinctive and consequential about them.

Second-Third World Spaces in the Cold War explores the ways in which these Second and Third World actors collaborated and clashed in these everyday spaces, and brings these multi-faceted, multi-actor histories to a vital centre ground.

Review Quotes

"This impressive new project sheds the tired binaries as it seeks to complicate the story of cold war encounters between the Second and Third worlds. I particularly appreciate the emphasis on cultural and social history through the exploration of the spaces that often remained unseen and unexamined, but which were in fact the sites of real human-to-human encounters. The contributors' attention to the mundane and the granular represents a welcome departure from the standard grand narratives of the Cold War. " --Maxim Matusevich, Department of History, Seton Hall University, USA

"This brilliantly edited volume invites readers right into the military units, work sites, dorm rooms, and other tense spaces where socialist internationalism unfolded, revealing a welter of unexpected consequences: Korean orphans studying Czech folk songs, Polish faculty teaching British economic theory to Ghanaian university students, Romanian women seeking abortions in Libya, and more." --Margaret Litvin, Associate Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature, Boston University, USA

"The volume is an outstanding contribution to the literature on global socialism, revisiting topics and questions that have for the most part been treated before, but doing it with proficiency and from an angle that is both refreshing and inspiring." --CEU Review of Books

"[These] were spaces populated by socialist elites who belonged to an international socialist cosmopolitan cadre. But did these spaces find resonance at the level of the everyday, in the life of the 'ordinary' socialist citizen? And if so, how? Such questions are likely to underpin further investigations within this field, efforts that will be indebted to volumes such as this." --Slavonic & East European Review

"A captivating and multifaceted read. It deftly dismantles the limitations of the binary Cold War paradigm and reveals that the geopolitical chessboard is much more complex and vaster than previously thought. The book is undoubtedly essential for scholars and enthusiasts of this historical period, but it also extends an invitation to a wider audience." --Journal of East Central European Studies

About the Author

Kristin Roth-Ey is Associate Professor of Modern Russian History at the UCL School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies, UK. She is the author of Moscow Prime Time: How the Soviet Union Built the Media Empire that Lost of the Cultural Cold War (2011). Her current research focuses on Soviet media and cultural diplomacy in the Third World during the Cold War.