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A review by cgreenstein
Dancing Bears: True Stories of People Held Captive to Old Ways of Life in Newly Free Societies by Witold Szabłowski
informative
sad
slow-paced
The first half is pretty full of discriminatory stereotypes and carelessly pejorative language about Roma, and while if that happened only in direct quotes from interviewees, then it would be a potentially worthwhile presentation of real-world sentiment, it unfortunately is also present in the author's own descriptions and commentary, which in turn serves as an uncontextualized and uncontested endorsement/validation of this anti-Roma racism.
The second half, however, was mostly interviews with people in a whole host of largely post-communist countries, and it was fascinating. I'm considering assigning short excerpts in classes to help students understand some of the aspects of post-communist life and nostalgia that they have no knowledge of or framework for understanding. The interview chapters in the second half of the book happen country by country, and they're quite short, so I think that could work.
The second half, however, was mostly interviews with people in a whole host of largely post-communist countries, and it was fascinating. I'm considering assigning short excerpts in classes to help students understand some of the aspects of post-communist life and nostalgia that they have no knowledge of or framework for understanding. The interview chapters in the second half of the book happen country by country, and they're quite short, so I think that could work.
Content Warnings
Lots of anti-Roma racism