Studying Peoples in the People's Democracies

Download or read book Studying Peoples in the People's Democracies written by Mihály Sárkány and published by LIT Verlag Münster. This book was released on 2005 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Under socialism the anthropological sciences developed under conflicting pressures: on the one hand Soviet influences, Marxist ideology and institutional changes, on the other the continued influence of national traditions and of the distinction between Volkskunde and Volkerkunde. The chapters bring out striking differences between the countries considered: the German Democratic Republic, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. They also draw attention to variation within countries, and between sub-branches of the discipline. Coverage extends from the Stalinist years to the end of the socialist era, and the topics range from folklore studies at home to fieldwork expeditions abroad.