Department of Anthropology | Miami University
164 Upham Hall Phone: 513-529-8399 Fax: 513-529-8396
Why Does the Communist Past Still Matter in Polish Conservation Policies?
Submitted by petersm2 on October 27, 2009 - 11:00pm
The Bialowieza Forest in northeastern Poland is a relic of primeval forest. Polish biologists and foresters argue over how to best use and protect the forest often conjuring and manipulating discourses about the communist past to support their arguments. On Wed., Oct. 28, University of Washington anthropologist, Eunice Blavascunas, explained to anthropology students why the communist past matters in the shape and form the forest has today.
The talk, entitled "The King's Forest and Everyman's Mushroom: The Elite, Populism, and the Communist Past in the Bialowieza Forest" was held in Prof. Neringa Klumbyte’s “Peoples and Cultures of Russia” class.
Eunice Blavascunas is a teaching fellow with the University of Washington's Program on the Environment. She has been following Bialowieza's forest politics for the last 15 years. She was visiting Miami as part of the Havighurst Center’s Young Scholar’s Program organized by Klumbyte.