Remains of the Soviet Past in Estonia

In conjunction with the 'Power Vertical: Politics and Aesthetics in the Global East' series, we are pleased to welcome Francisco Martínez to launch his new book 'Remains of the Soviet Past in Estonia'. In his book, Francisco Martínez brings together a number of sites of interest to explore the vanquishing of the Soviet legacy in Estonia: the railway bazaar in Tallinn; the Linnahall venue; Tallinn’s cityscape; Narva, a city that marks the border between the Russian Federation, NATO and the European Union; and the new Estonian National Museum. The anthropological study of all these places shows that national identity and historical representations can be constructed in relation to waste and disrepair too, demonstrating also how we can understand generational change in a material sense.

- Aet Annist, Senior researcher in anthropology, University of Tartu

- Andres Kurg, Professor of architectural history, Estonian Academy of Arts

- Liene Ozoliņa, Lecturer of sociology, LSE

- Patrick Laviolette, Editor in chief of the Anthropological Journal of European Cultures

Remains of the Soviet Past in Estonia is published by UCL Press. This event has been generously hosted by the UCL Institute for Advanced Studies and supported by the SSEES FRINGE centre.