SNAKLAB Regensburg Southeastern Europe Research Seminars
June 12 | 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Dr Giana Georgescu (SSEES, London) will give a talk on
Child Ambassadors: International Youth Camps and Cultural Diplomacy in the Global Cold War (1960s-1980s)
Time: 4-6 pm
Venue: SG 214, Universität Regensburg
Abstract:
The presentation explores the widespread practice of international youth exchanges animated by internationalist ideals for insights into the role of cultural diplomacy during the late Cold War. To circumvent bipolar approaches to the Cold War in terms of US – Soviet competition, the analysis takes a ‘pericentric approach,’ focusing on a seemingly peripheral actor, the Romanian Pioneers, the children’s organization of the Romanian Communist Party during Nicolae Ceaușescu’s rule (1965-1989). The talk follows the thousands of twelve- to fourteen-year-old Romanian ambassadors who participated in (leftist) international children’s camps in the Soviet bloc and Western Europe from the 1960s to the 1980s. Examining interrelated East-East and East-West youth exchanges, it engages with debates within the history of childhood and youth, internationalism, cultural diplomacy and the Cold War.
Snacken with Balkans Snacks