IRSREC FVG

Call for papers

In questa pagina sono disponibili i Call for papers aperti per la rivista "Qualestoria"

The Image of the Eastern European Communist Woman in the Western European Mass Media

«Qualestoria», a journal of the IRSREC FVG (Regional Institute for the History of the Resistance and the Contemporary Age in Friuli Venezia Giulia), hosts contributions by Italian and foreign authors, promoting the publication of monographic and miscellaneous issues. The journal traditionally – but not exclusively – proposes topics related to the contemporary history of the Upper Adriatic and border areas, paying particular attention to the study and historiography of the countries of Central-Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

In the second half of the twentieth century, the role of women in society, albeit with different intensity and emphasis, was a constantly present theme in public discussion in Western Europe. The issues relating to political citizenship and the economic and social emancipation of women were the subject of a long and at times lively political-ideological debate. While modernity, transforming lifestyles and family profiles, changed the needs, demands and – overall – the social identity of women, the ideological conflicts of the Cold War nourished imagery useful for defining positive or negative reference models, depending on the political-cultural points of view. The image of women in Communist Europe was therefore variously declined, diffused and instrumentally propagandized in the Western mass media. There is no doubt that in the countries of the Soviet bloc women went through several phases with respect to their social role; just as there is no doubt that the diversity of the Eastern countries was fully reflected in the different socio-cultural identities assumed by women in individual national contexts. In other words, the differences between the Eastern European woman of the 1980s and that of the 1940s must be compared with the differences between the Russian woman and the Yugoslav woman, between the Hungarian woman and the Bulgarian woman, between the Romanian woman and the Albanian woman.

How, in the imagination of Western European societies, the evolutions and respective national specificities of the social identity of Eastern European women have been rendered represents the basic research question on which “Qualestoria” invites potential contributors to send an article proposal for a monographic issue of the journal. The point, in essence, is to understand how the national mass media have over time disseminated and conveyed to the disparate sectors of public opinion the image – or rather, the images – of the woman of Communist Europe. The point is ultimately to understand the political and cultural use that has been made of these representations also and above all in relation to the transformations of the role and identity of Western women in the second half of the twentieth century.

“Qualestoria” is therefore interested in evaluating proposals focused on the image and representation of women in Communist Europe in:
- newspapers, magazines, tabloids, memoirs;
- books, brochures, pamphlets;
- cinema, radio, television.

HOW TO SUBMIT AN ARTICLE

Authors may submit a proposal to participate in the monographic issue. The abstract, with a maximum length of 1500 characters (including spaces) must be sent to qualestoria@irsrecfvg.eu by 30 June 2025; acceptance or rejection of the proposal will be communicated by 7 July 2025.The deadline for submitting articles is 15 November 2025. Contributions will be published in issue 1/2026 of the journal. Abstracts and essays can be written in Italian, English and French. Essays will be subjected to an anonymous double-blind peer review; they should be between 40.000 and 60.000 characters (including spaces) and comply with the editorial rules and instructions for authors that will be provided. For any additional information, please write to: qualestoria@irsrecfvg.eu .

After the Wall: The Development of Far-Right Cultures in Northern and Central-Eastern Europe

The fall of the Berlin Wall marked a crucial turning point in the emergence and maturation of new and more aggressive far-right movements, which, unexpectedly free to operate outside the logic of opposing blocs, reemerged as a relevant phenomenon all over Europe. Furthermore, with the rise of far-right organisations in Western Europe and the lifting of the Iron Curtain, scholars turned their focus to the countries in the former Eastern side (Ignazi 2003, Mudde 2005, Stojarová 2012).

An important contribution to this growth stems from various factors, not only political and economic, but also cultural. Firstly, the consolidation of certain youth subcultures, such as the skinheads, has facilitated the creation of networks that enhance interaction and exchange among various organisations previously on the margins of global politics. Secondly, with the advent of social media, these phenomena have reached levels of recruitment and indoctrination never witnessed before. Lastly, the rapid expansion of various far-right subcultures into the much broader mainstream and, more generally, mass culture (Hainsworth 2000). In this regard, the European far right has capitalised on major political issues – such as the conflict between immigration and national identity, as well as anti-EU narratives – and has succeeded in building a new cultural framework that, prior to the end of the Cold War, was almost irrelevant, particularly in the Nordic countries. For instance, in Denmark and Norway, issues related to immigration – such as language problems, juvenile delinquency, unemployment, and dependence on social security – began to emerge in the political arena only from around 1990 (Svåsand 1998, Bjørklund and Andersen 2002).

In more cultural and less political terms, the long period during which Europe was divided into blocs contributed to the accumulation of numerous currents that, following the fall of the Wall, not only emerged as the first major cultural framework of the post-war European far right, but also served as the historical legacy most politically and chronologically proximate to today’s movements. In this context, historians have only quite recently begun, albeit effectively, to address the subject of the European far-right from 1945 to 1989 (Mammone et al. 2012), and even less has been done since the fall of the Wall. Moreover, the field has been almost entirely dominated by political and social scientists (Eatwell 2004, Mudde and Eatwell 2004). The European far right, however, has now had a long history of commonality, enhanced by a wide array of exchanges across borders and intense cooperation that goes well beyond the strict confines of the nation-state (Mammone et al. 2012).

Our rationale here is to analyse post-Cold War far-right movements as a more complex phenomenon, not only composed of nostalgic references to the past and traditional political indoctrination, but also characterised by an articulated system of modern cultural tools such as music, literature, media, and entertainment. In other words, we would begin to understand how, for example, these movements started to engage with authors who were once ignored and to explore new works. On the one hand, the introduction, reinterpretation, and re-reading of authors and works not necessarily linked to the far-right realm have given rise to a highly articulated cultural repertoire that spans literature, philosophy, fantasy, and science fiction. For instance, in addition to the inevitable Julius Evola, Ezra Pound, Ernst Jünger, and, now not only in Italy, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, Jack London, Ray Bradbury, and even Jack Kerouac have been included.

On the other hand, the advent of new music subcultures such as black metal in the Nordic countries at the beginning of the 1990s not only enriched the far-right music scene, which had already been monopolised by Rock Against Communism (RAC), but also fostered its cultural and political alignment. A very similar phenomenon occurred in Eastern Europe, where the spread of far-right politically aligned festivals and concerts experienced significant growth, especially in Poland and Hungary. In this sense, the geographical choice to bring together two areas that are apparently distant even from a political and cultural perspective not only aligns with the primary research interests of the journal, but also aims to facilitate the comparison between Central-Eastern Europe and other areas, in this case, Northern Europe.

While these areas have distinct histories and cultures, the post-Cold War period has seen both regions grappling with similar issues that have provided fertile ground for the rise of new far-right movements. Among the issues with major impact are the relationship between immigration and national identity, as well as the European integration process. While countries in Central-Eastern Europe underwent transitions from communist regimes to democratic governments, Northern Europe – including Scandinavian countries – continued to develop their democratic systems in contrast to increasing xenophobia, racism, and various anti-immigration narratives. In this regard, countries of particular interest include Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary.

The editorial board of Qualestoria warmly invite scholars who engage with historical perspectives to submit article proposals that address one or more of the following thematic areas:

Media and Communication;
Youth Cultures;
Extreme Music Scenes;
Far-right and Intellectualism;
Dystopian Alternate History;
Far-right and Science Fiction;
Recreational Activities;
Football and Hooliganism;
Combat sport;
Movies, TV and web series based on far-right history.

HOW TO SUBMIT AN ARTICLE

The deadline for submitting articles is 15 February 2026.Contributions will be published in issue 2/2026 of the journal.

Abstracts and essays can be written in Italian, English and French. Essays will be subjected to an anonymous double-blind peer review; they should be between 40.000 and 60.000 characters (including spaces) and comply with the editorial rules and instructions for authors that will be provided.

For any additional information, please write to: qualestoria@irsrecfvg.eu .

REFERENCES

Bjørklund, T., J. G., Andersen, Anti-Immigration Parties in Denmark and Norway: The Progress Parties and the Danish People’s Party, in M. Schain, A. Zolberg, P. Hossay (eds.), Shadows over Europe: The Development and Impact of the Extreme Right in Western Europe, Palgrave Macmillan, New York 2002, pp. 107-136.

Hainsworth, P. (ed.), The politics of the extreme right: from the margins to the mainstream, Pinter, London - New York 2000.

Ignazi, P., The Development of the Extreme Right at the End of the Century, in P.H., Merkl, L., Weinberg (eds.), Right-Wing Extremism in the Twenty-First Century, Frank Cass Publishers, London - Portland 2002.

Mammone, A., E., Godin, B., Jenkins (eds.), Mapping the Extreme Right in Contemporary Europe. From Local to Transnational, Routledge, London - New York, 2012.

Mudde, C., The ideology of the extreme right, Manchester University Press, Manchester - New York, 2002.

Mudde, C., R., Eatwell, Western democracies and the new extreme right challenge, Routledge, London - New York, 2004.

Mudde, C., Racist extremism in Central and Eastern Europe, Routledge, London - New York, 2005.

Stojarová, V., The Extreme Right in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia, in A. Mammone, E. Godin, B. Jenkins (eds.), Mapping the Extreme Right in Contemporary Europe: From Local to Transnational, Routledge, London - New York, 2012.

Svåsand, L., Scandinavian Right-Wing Radicalism, in H.G. Betz and S. Immerfall (eds.), The New Politics of the Right: Neo Populist Parties and Movements in Established Democracies, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1998, pp. 77-93.