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Episode #28: Can Postsocialism be Colonial?

Episode #28: Can Postsocialism be Colonial?

InterSpaces vor 2 Monaten

with Birgit Glorius, Helma Lutz and Andreas Vasilache

0:00

58:34

It is easy to understand or frame the end of socialism or
communism as a direct transition towards democracy. But like most
things in life, that does not go nearly far enough to understand
the multi-faceted upheavals and consequences of such a radical
change. If we think about states and regions like Ukraine,
Uzbekistan, Poland or even East Germany, there is often
terminology involved like “keeping up” (with the West for
example), or “backwardness”.

This sounds a lot like colonial key-/’buzz’words and results in
the question: Can Postsocialism be colonial? That is the very
interesting main question of the Resident Group “Postcolonial and
Postsocialist Interdependencies Across Borders” that worked at
ZiF from April to July 2026.

Three fellows (two of them convenors) of the group are guests in
this episode: Human Geographer Birgit Glorius, sociologist Helma
Lutz and political scientist Andreas Vasilache.

Links

Prof. Dr. Birgit Glorius (TU Chemnitz)

Prof. Dr. em. Helma Lutz (JGU Frankfurt)

Prof. Dr. Andreas Vasilache (Bielefeld University)

Publikationen

Anna Amelina, Verena Molitor, Jana Schäfer, Andreas Vasilache
& Tatiana Zimenkova (Ed., 2026): Vulnerable (Im)mobilities
Between Imperial Legacies and Colonial Logics of War. Mobilities
(21.1).

We are grateful for the intro by Niklas Schönfeld, for the voice
recordings of Molina Panzner and Erica Shires and for the podcast
cover by Corinna Mehl.

If you have any questions, feedback or suggestions, you can email
the ZiF communications team at zif-info@uni-bielefeld.de or get
in touch via Instagram at @zif_bielefeld.