Anait Sagoyan is a Berlin-based poet, writer and photographer. In her novel House of Paraffin, published 2021 in Russian, she tells the story of two people who grew up in two very different corners of the post-Soviet world. Their paths eventually cross in Berlin, where together they face their childhood memories and unhealed wounds of the past. The common theme of her novel and of her essay and photo series I dreamed of exoplanets deals
Democracy in the world today faces new challenges. Some of them, such as populism and a lack of democratic procedure, can be traced back to the collapse of the socialist world before 1989 and the subsequent transition out of communism. From April 26-28, 2021, the international conference «Rethinking the Democratic Future: Lessons from the 20th Century» was held in Vilnius, Lithuania, where these challenges of democracy were considered from the historical perspective of Central and
The role of women in conflict and transition societies is significant for a variety of reasons. Women are active agents of change and a driving force. In December 2020, the conference “A women’s revolution” took place, where we undertook an intensive, virtual journey around the world to understand the true dimension of the role of women in societies undergoing transition – especially with regard to successes, perspectives and outlooks for the future. Specifically, the role
Through the Lens of Transition has been a series of webinars held by Transition Dialogue over the course of May and June. We covered a range of topics, from the economy to public spaces, from education to media and the closing of borders, and have had the privilege of hearing from a wide variety of speakers, many of them experts in their field and all with interesting and thought-provoking experiences of their own surrounding the
For our final talk in our series “Through the Lens of Transition,” we discussed the topic of “Media Credibility in Incredible Times.” This talk was held on the 24th July, and our three speakers at this event were: Dörte Grimm, freelance author, children’s writer, director of documentaries and short films; Anna Litvinenko, researcher and teacher at the department of Communication Studies at Freie Universität Berlin, and researcher in the Emmy Noether Junior Research Group “Mediating
On the 25th June we hosted our fourth online event, “Through the Lens of Transition, “Education, Interrupted,” with three speakers: Alicja Pacewicz, a Polish economist, social and educational activist and co-founder of the Center for Citizenship Education with Class Foundation, and an expert of the Polish Ministry of National Education and the Central Examination Board; Caroline Hornstein-Tomić, a Research Advisor at the Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar in Croatia, specialising in high-skilled and return
Through the Lens of Transition, “The Transformation of the Public Space” was our third online event to take place in our new webinar format on the 12th of June. The speakers at this event were: Andrei Zavadski, researcher and communications scientist; Zhenya Kulyeba, urban activist, NGO «Misto Sad / Garden City”; and Gruia Badescu, urbanist, Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral fellow at the University of Konstanz. Our aim was to discuss the ways in which the
The second of our talks from Through the Lens of Transition, “The Virus in our Economies” took place online on 28th May. The speakers at this event were: Asta Ranonyte from the Open Lithuania Foundation, Head of Examination Department at the National Examination Centre of Lithuania; Vedrana Pribičević, Economist and lecturer at the Zagreb School of Economics and Management; and Victor Guzun, teacher, former politician and diplomat, formerly Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to
The first of our talks Through the Lens of Transition, “Closed Borders: Then and Now,” took place in our new online format on 14th May. We welcomed as speakers at this event: Alicja Pacewicz, economist, social and educational activist and co-founder of the Center for Citizenship Education in Warsaw; Alexander Morozov, political scientist, publicist, and co-director of the Boris Nemtsov Academic Centre for the Study of Russia in Prague; and Momchil Metodiev, editor-in-chief of the
In «Challenges of Transition in Eastern Europe: Lessons for Civic Education» eleven experts from Germany, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Croatia, Lithuania, Romania and Hungary share their observations on the biggest challenges and obstacles in dealing with the past of transition in democratic ways today. The compilation is based on the outcomes of a conference that took place in Sofia on 22nd-23rd of November in 2019. It entails contributions from Thomas Krüger, director of the German
The project «Transition Dialogue» gets off to a new start for the project cycle 2019-2020. More than 20 events are planned in Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, Latvia, Ukraine, Russia and Germany. experts from seven countries will analyse history textbooks on the periode of transition and give recommendations for civic education on methods and new approaches on the topic. More detailed information will follow here shortly!
Transition Dialogue — Konferenz in Sofia Am 22. und 23. November fand in Sofia eine Konferenz zur Vorbereitung der weiteren Arbeit zum Thema «Transition Dialogue» statt — eine Kooperation von Sofia Platform und DRA mit Unterstützung der Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (bpb). Von den Konferenzteilnehmern – Experten, Vertreter der Bildungseinrichtungen und NGOs – wurde erörtert, wie sich die oft traumatische Erlebnisse der Menschen aus den Transformationsjahren nach 1990 in den früheren sozialistischen Ländern Mittel-, Ost-
