Cosmopolitan Nationalism, Esperanto, and Consent in State-Socialist Eastern Europe: The Case of Bulgaria

• In Event: 3534 - Theory and Research in Global and Transnational Sociology

Abstract

In this study, I show how Eastern European cultural elites made sense of and not only accepted but also participated in building state socialism following World War II. I outline the discursive practices of Bulgarian Esperantists in 1946-1947 and trace their foundation in three discursive fields, communism, Esperanto, and Bulgarian society. The Esperanto movement, as the most institutionalized transnational social movement in the region during state socialism, is representative of the relations between the organized cultural elite and the state. Bulgaria, in turn, was selected because no widespread opposition to state-socialism was registered in the country prior to 1989. I find that Bulgarian Esperantists sided with the state-socialist project through advancing a form of cosmopolitan nationalism, a hybrid discourse creatively combining (1) socialist patriotism, (2) sensitivity to global developments—from war and nation-state relations to cultural achievements and progress—and to Bulgarians’ position in the world, and (3) locally resonant ethics of fellowship. Consent consisted of creating a symbolic bridge at the intersection of distinct discursive fields resulting in a field-circumscribed multivocality. Bulgarian Esperantists saw the world through a lumping lens: the international and the domestic arenas, politics, culture, and the economy, the public and the private spheres were all connected. Different audiences could read into Esperanto discourse something familiar. Bulgarian Esperantists were able to thrive under the new regime, reconnect with the global Esperanto movement, and recruit new members.

Author

• Ana Velitchkova, University of Mississippi