Freedom versus Uncertainty after the Fall of Communism in Bulgaria: Approaching the Anthropology of Uncertainty

• In Event: Freedom, Hope, and Uncertainty in a Bulgarian Longue durée Perspective

Abstract

According to the dominant public discourse, the period of post-socialist transformation in Bulgaria aimed at creating a new political and economic order under the rules of liberal democracy and market economy. Freedom was associated with democracy, with restored civil and political rights, with the freedom of personal choice (about where to live, work, lifestyle - a freedom that was unthinkable before). At the same time, however, in the decades since the end of communism, new forms of insecurity, precarity in the present and uncertainty about the future have emerged. The clash between freedom and insecurity has become an important existential problem. In this paper, I will present the results of anthropological research on uncertainty conducted in recent years.

Author

• Ana Luleva, Inst of Ethnology & Folklore Studies BAS (Bulgaria)