Edward Said
wrote a very interesting book called Orientalism. I was reminded of this today as a delightfully middle class woman sought to purchase some Serbian language learning materials to converse with her (soon to be) daughter-in-law's parents. She was to travel to Beograd and stay with them, and was concerned that they would not have a bath or shower, that the food would be terrible and that it would be cold. She also stated that she would buy them a washing machine as these kinds of goods are very hard to come by.
Now, the point of this interlude is to query if (and indeed, how), Western European (especially British) perceptions of the former Soviet Bloc have changed and continue to change following the fall of Communism and the expansion of the EU. I have posted before about the Russian middle classes that have appeared in the last 7-8 years, and I note that many of the Central European nations are now home to shopping centres on an almost American scale. Although the exterior of many building have not changed, the interiors would, I'm sure, shame many inhabitants and businesses of this fair isle. So, as I know at least some of my readers have a wealth of experience in said Mittel-Ost Europa, what do you think?
Kazan was certainly a culture shock to me some 10 years ago now, but Moscow, Piter and Petrozavodsk less so. (Although whether this was due to higher material standards, or due to lower expectations, I don't know). Central Europe is now very much part of Europe - the languages and cultures may change, but Pizza Hut is all pervading, as are Ipods, digital cameras, nice airports, tarmacced roads, washing machines, etc. The notion of the launderette still has to take off, I believe, and takeaways are, I would imagine, lagging slightly behind, but what can you do?
Now, the point of this interlude is to query if (and indeed, how), Western European (especially British) perceptions of the former Soviet Bloc have changed and continue to change following the fall of Communism and the expansion of the EU. I have posted before about the Russian middle classes that have appeared in the last 7-8 years, and I note that many of the Central European nations are now home to shopping centres on an almost American scale. Although the exterior of many building have not changed, the interiors would, I'm sure, shame many inhabitants and businesses of this fair isle. So, as I know at least some of my readers have a wealth of experience in said Mittel-Ost Europa, what do you think?
Kazan was certainly a culture shock to me some 10 years ago now, but Moscow, Piter and Petrozavodsk less so. (Although whether this was due to higher material standards, or due to lower expectations, I don't know). Central Europe is now very much part of Europe - the languages and cultures may change, but Pizza Hut is all pervading, as are Ipods, digital cameras, nice airports, tarmacced roads, washing machines, etc. The notion of the launderette still has to take off, I believe, and takeaways are, I would imagine, lagging slightly behind, but what can you do?
posted by lukeski at 1:14 pm
4 Comments:
Yes, your woman might be in for a shock when she finds her relatives-in-law-to-be living in a fancy villa on the outskirts of Belgrade with broadband internet access and gadgets galore. Or maybe she'll be more pleased if they're living in a high-rise, even though I'd still bank on the other accoutrements of modernity being there.
Let's take the Russian (I mean mine, not the average one). His parents are fairly ordinary folk, and live in a standard Soviet flat in a standard Soviet provincial town. But they both have fairly ordinary jobs and now have every gadget that 'we' have. They have a laptop, internet access (OK, not broadband), mobiles, a washing-machine (not a clothes-blender, a real one), a car etc. etc. When I first went to Petrozavodsk, I was, admittedly, a bit shocked by the exterior of the flats, and the roads, but, once inside, it all looked standard enough. The only time poverty in Russia PROPERLY shocked me was when I visited a kommunalka in St. Petersburg. A terrifying shithole that Dosters himself might have been ashamed to write about.
But my fascination lies with the preconceptions of the British masses with regards to the east.
I remember my (unfounded) concerns prior to travelling to Petrozavodsk (although, again this may have been due to the fear of a repeat of Kazan).
Prior to Kazan I had no idea what to expect - all of my travel had been to the most developed parts of Western Europe and the US.
And how were your preconceptions of Petro given that you had experience of the east via Poland? And were they confirmed or confounded? And what about your dear mother before her first visit to Piter?
Well, my mother was HORRIFIED by Russia, and she only saw nice bits of St. Petersburg. But the poverty still shocked her. Grannies selling pairs of socks by the metro, for example. And she's not from a wealthy background.
I think I was pleasantly surprised by Petro. The residential bits are grim, of course, though Poland (and London) had prepared me for those. I think I was only really shocked at the ludicrous bureaucracy and how badly that makes things work.
But I'm sure western Europeans without a connection to the east are likely to have the same preconceptions they had in the late 1980s. Maybe there are some hazy thoughts of banditry and mafia capitalism, but I imagine most still think grim, grim, grim.
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