Cultural Bureaucracy during the Cold War: Institutions, Networks, and Practices

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

This panel looks at different ways in which culture has been utilized as a tool of diplomacy. It focuses on the diplomatic efforts of the Soviet Union, post-revolutionary China, and People’s Poland within the broader context of international and intercultural exchanges. By interrogating the reception of theatrical performances, the making of industrial exhibitions, and the national intervention in the world heritage agenda, this panel presents lesser-studied aspects of cultural diplomacy of the socialist states as a form of liberation from Cold War binaries.

Sub Unit

• History: 1945-1990

Chair

• Louis H. Porter, Texas State U

Papers

• The Soft Power of a Not-So-Soft Regime?: The Making of Industrial Exhibitions in Socialist Poland - Katarzyna Jezowska, U of New South Wales (Australia)

• The Polish Origins of World Heritage: Poland's Cultural Bureaucracy and the Remaking of UNESCO - Kyrill Kunakhovich, U of Virginia

Discussant

• Rachel Applebaum, Tufts U