In the meantime

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I'm sharing here fragments from an interview I gave for the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) – “The Lethargy of the Left Opens Space for Populist Protest Mobilisations” ( „Летаргията на лявото отваря място за популистки протестни мобилизации“ ), launched on the  Hristo Botev Programme – “Хоризонт до обед” , aired 14 March 2025 I was Interviewed by Yuliana Kornazheva on the protest repertoire in Bulgaria, and the rise of far-right movements in the context of a weakened left. Listen to the interview (in Bulgarian) . Below is an article published on BNRNews that summarises the main moments of the interview: "Усещането за задкулисие, рухналото доверие във върховенството на правото и корупцията са фрустрации, които продължават вече 35 години. Този извод прави социалният антрополог Роберта Колева от Центъра за изследване на демокрацията. Според нея така се обезсилва вярата в демократичните принципи, а тези фрустрации се канализират в различни типове недоволство и протест. Тя о...

To cite:  Koleva, R. 2024 . ‘The Bulgarian Berlin Wall Is Going Away Step by Step’: ‘Standby Transition’ and the Quest for ‘Europeanness’ and ‘Democracy’ in the Discourses Around the Dismantling of the Monument to the Soviet Army in Sofia . Anthropology. Journal for Sociocultural Anthropology, 11 (2), 47–79 Abstract: The article delves into the most recent debates around the dismantlement of the Monument to the Soviet Army in Sofia, initiated  in December 2023 amidst the Russian-led war in Ukraine . Drawing upon discourse analysis , ethnographic observations and in-depth interviews  with social actors engaged in this contestation, it analyses how different clusters of  arguments surrounding the memorial reflect broader social imaginaries concerning  “Europeanness”, “democracy” and the post-socialist “transition”, spurred by the  ongoing war in Ukraine. Despite the declaration that “there is nothing to ‘transit’ anymore”, 35 years after 1989 the Monument t...

  Broken Glass, Broken Class: Transformations of Work in Bulgaria, by Dimitra Kofti [Book Review] ## BOOK REVIEW Kofti, Dimitra. 2023. Broken Glass, Broken Class: Transformations of Work in Bulgaria. Oxford and New York: Berghahn Books. To Cite:  Koleva, R. 2024. Broken Glass, Broken Class: Transformations of Work in Bulgaria, by Dimitra Kofti [Book Review] .  Anthropology Journal for Sociocultural Anthropology, 11 (2), 127–133.  “Once we were unified; now we are like broken glass”. This remark, spoken by workers in Mladost, a Bulgarian glass factory, captures the sense of sharp transformation, fragmentation, and disillusionment at the heart of Dimitra Kofti’s Broken Glass, Broken Class: Transformations of Work in Bulgaria (2023). Based on a decade-long field study, partly stemming from the author’s doctoral research at University College London, this insightful ethnography closely examines the post-socialist transformations of the everyday politics of labour in Bulg...

  “Culture is the essential tool for making other” (Abu-Lughod 1996: 470)   Let's open a random introductory book about anthropology. It is almost certain that one of its first chapters will be named “What is Culture?” or “The Concept of Culture”. Whether built on evolutionistic presumptions (Tyler 1871), or later on cultural relativism (Boas 1940), anthropology has long been understood as the “science of culture”, that would help us understand the “others” and their ways of living (Crapo 2002: 2). As Monagam and Just put it, “there have probably been more anthropological definitions of 'culture' than there have been anthropologists.” (Monaghan & Just 2000: 35). However, as enduring as it is, the concept of culture has been equally debatable, drawing uncertainties about its relevance and potential dilemmas of using it. So much so that today the time has come to ask ourselves if we still need it.    Since the 1980s, there have been at least two ways in whi...

The blog is new and will fill up gradually. For now, I’m starting with a series of visual-diary posts produced as part of Vlad Naumescu’s CEU course Visual Anthropology and Ethnographic Filmmaking -  short reflections on ethnographic films and course readings.