1989—the year the Berlin Wall fell—was a watershed in 20th century global history. More than a dozen anthropologists, historians, economists, geographers and political scientists gathered 29-31 October at Miami to discuss the continuing relevance of the event at a conference organized by anthropologist Neringa Klumbyte and sponsored by the Havighurst Center Russian and Post-Soviet Studies.
 

“Socialism did not die in 1989” said Dominic Boyer, an anthropologist from Rice University who gave the inaugural lecture. Rather, socialism, understood as the valorization of the human experience of social relations always exists in tension with liberalism, understood as the valorization of the human experience of autonomy.
He called for new ways of exploring contemporary socialist practices in the world since the collapse of the Soviet Union: "let’s move from postsocialist to neosocialist studies."

Another anthropologist, Eunice Blavascunas of the University of Washington, presented a paper entitled “Youthful Struggles and Time Lags in the Forested Belarusian/Polish Borderland” Saturday, Oct. 31st. Blavascunas also gave a separate talk to Miami anthropology students earlier in the week.

The interdisciplinary Havighurst Center for Russian & Post-Soviet Studies is devoted to joint research by Miami faculty with other scholars from Russia, Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and from other American universities; to service and learning activities that provide a greater understanding of this region for the student community; and to programs designed to foster interdisciplinary research on the most important questions relating to the future of this area. It was established with an endowment from Walter Havighurst, who taught English at Miami from 1928-1969.