Workshop: The Cold War between the “Second” and the “Third” World: The Socialist Bloc and Latin America
Date: 24 June 2024
Venue: Institute of Contemporary History of the Czech Academy of Sciences (Ústav pro soudobé dějiny Akademie věd ČR), Vlašská 355/9, 118 00 Malá Strana, Prague 1
Conveners: Dr. Kateřina Březinová, Iberoamerican Center of Metropolitan University Prague (MUP) & Dr. Hana Bortlová-Vondráková, Institute of Contemporary History of the Czech Academy of Sciences (ÚSD AV ČR)
Registration: attendance by prior registration only: registration.mup.cz
Research on the Cold War was long concentrated on confrontations between the superpowers. Since the end of the millennium, however, there has been increasing interest in previously overlooked actors and issues. As a result, the last two decades have been especially prolific in introducing debates that take a deeper look into so-called “Second” and “Third” World engagements, as well as South-South interactions. As Sudha Rajagopalan observed, they point towards the existence of alternative practices of worlding, equally shaped by global and local, national and personal experiences.
The aim of this international workshop is to share the state of the art in Cold War research with a particular focus on the interactions between Socialist bloc countries and their counterparts in Latin America before and after 1989. Overcoming a tendency for a rather monolithic assessment of the Soviet era in the Global South, we explore the multivalence of these interactions including transnational networks, cultural, technical, and solidarity actors, individuals and collectives. The workshop proudly includes and showcases the expertise of distinguished researchers from the field of contemporary history, cultural history, as well as international relations. Their interventions explore Cold War geographies of conflict and cooperation, ruptures and continuities, as well as voids in the ways Cold War history has been remembered.
Contact: katerina.brezinova@mup.cz, bortlova@usd.cas.cz