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Socialist subjectivities : queering East Germany under Honecker / edited by Scott Harrison, Jeff Hayton and Katharine White.
- Format:
- Book
- Series:
- Social history, popular culture, and politics in Germany
- Social History, Popular Culture, and Politics in Germany
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Gay men--Germany (East)--Social conditions.
- Gay men.
- Lesbians--Germany (East)--Social conditions.
- Lesbians.
- Germany (East)--Social conditions.
- Germany (East).
- Germany (East)--History.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource ([vii], 336 pages : illustrations)
- Other Title:
- Queering East Germany under Honecker
- Place of Publication:
- Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, 2025.
- Summary:
- Socialist Subjectivities works within the logics of queer time to reanimate East German subjectivities in the 1970s and 1980s beyond the narrative of the German Democratic Republic's long march towards demise. While East Germany certainly ended in dissolution, not all East Germans experienced late socialism in a singular manner. Rather, even after a generation of building socialism, East Germans under Honecker continued to pursue a range of socialist presents and a multiplicity of socialist futures up to and beyond 1989. This edited volume utilizes queer temporalities to interrogate how individuals lived non-normative possibilities in a highly normative world. Whether one was an apparatchik, artist, or alcoholic, the everyday interactions, experiences, and rituals of late socialism proved crucial to establishing the conditions around which subjecthood was constructed. Despite stereotypes of apathy and inertia, East Germans lent a considerable dynamism to their society, and by generating a cacophony of opinions and a heterogeneity of ideas, they constantly transformed state socialism. By foregrounding socialist subjects and the iterative nature of socialism during these decades, this volume paints a richer portrait of East Germany--one that illuminates how East Germans imagined their futures in a society whose collapse they could not foresee.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 307-332).
- Description based on information from the publisher.
- ISBN:
- 9780472904969
- 0472904965
- Access Restriction:
- Unrestricted online access
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