The Politics of Authenticity: Countercultures and Radical Movements across the Iron Curtain, 1968-1989

Description

Following the convulsions of 1968, one element uniting many of the disparate social movements that arose across Europe was the pursuit of an elusive “authenticity” that could help activists to understand fundamental truths about themselves—their feelings, aspirations, sexualities, and disappointments. This volume offers a fascinating exploration of the politics of authenticity as they manifested themselves among such groups as Italian leftists, East German lesbian activists, and punks on both sides of the Iron Curtain. Together they show not only how authenticity came to define varied social contexts, but also how it helped to usher in the neoliberalism of a subsequent era. Acknowledgements Introduction Joachim C. Häberlen and Mark Keck-Szjabel Chapter 1. Revolution as a Quest for an Authentic Life: The 1960s and 1970s in Italy Angelo Ventrone Chapter 2. Authenticity through Transgression: Small Acts of Resentment in Post-1968 Czechoslovakia Barış Yörümez Chapter 3. The Political, Emotional, and Therapeutic: Narratives of Consciousness-Raising and Authenticity in the English Women’s Liberation Movement Kate Mahoney Chapter 4. A Genealogy of a Politics of Subjectivity: Guy Hocquenghem, Homosexuality, and the Radical Left in Post-1968 France Antoine Idier Chapter 5. New Feminism, Women’s Subjectivity, and Feminist Politics: Conceptual Transfers and Activist Inspirations in Yugoslavia in the 1970s and 1980s Zsófia Lóránd Chapter 6. Women’s Bodies and Feminist Subjectivities in West Germany Jane Freeland Chapter 7. The Rise of a New Consciousness: Lesbian Activism in East Germany in the 1980s Maria Bühner Chapter 8. The Italian Movement of 1977 and the Cultural Praxis of the Youthful Proletariat Danilo Mariscalco Chapter 9. The Struggle for the Minds of the Youth: The Securitate and Musical Countercultures in Communist Romania Manuela Marin Chapter 10. Punk Authenticity: Difference across the Iron Curtain Jeff Hayton Chapter 11. Humanitarianism on Stage: Live Aid and the Origins of Humanitarian Pop Music Benjamin Möckel Chapter 12. Embedded Abstractions: Authenticity, Aura, and Abject Domesticity in Hamburg’s Hafenstraße Jake P. Smith Afterword: Concluding Thoughts: Authenticity’s Visual Turn Sara Blaylock Index