Back to the Postindustrial Future. Felix Ringel

      BACK TO THE POSTINDUSTRIAL FUTURE

      EASA Series Published in Association with the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) Series Editor: Aleksandar Bošković, University of Belgrade

      Social anthropology in Europe is growing, and the variety of work being done is expanding. This series is intended to present the best of the work produced by members of the EASA, both in monographs and in edited collections. The studies in this series describe societies, processes, and institutions around the world and are intended for both scholarly and student readership.

      For a full volume listing, please see back matter.

       BACK TO THE POSTINDUSTRIAL FUTURE

       An Ethnography of Germany’s Fastest-Shrinking City

       Felix Ringel

      First published in 2018 by

      Berghahn Books

      www.berghahnbooks.com © 2018, 2020 Felix Ringel First paperback edition published in 2020

      All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission of the publisher.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A C.I.P. cataloging record is available from the Library of Congress

      British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      ISBN 978-1-78533-798-7 hardback

      ISBN 978-1-78920-805-4 paperback

      ISBN 978-1-78533-799-4 ebook

       For my mother, Martina Ringel, who I take with me into the future

       Contents

       List of Illustrations

       Preface

       Acknowledgements

       Notes on Translations

       List of Abbreviations

       Introduction Anthropology and the Future: Notes from a Shrinking Fieldsite

       Chapter 1 ‘There Can Only Be One Narrative’: Postsocialism, Shrinkage and the Politics of Context in Hoyerswerda

       Chapter 2 Reasoning about the Past: Temporal Complexity in a City with No Future

       Chapter 3 ‘Hoyerswerda…?’ – ‘…Once Had a Future!’: Temporal Flexibility and the Politics of the Future

       Chapter 4 Enforced Futurism/Prescribed Hopes: Affective Politics and Pedagogies of the Future

       Chapter 5 Performing the Future: Endurance, Maintenance and Self-Formation in Times of Shrinkage

       Conclusion Coming to Terms with the Future/‘Zukunftsbewältigung’

       Bibliography

       Index

Illustrations

      All photographs are the author’s unless otherwise stated

       0.1 Excavator on remains of the ‘PaintBlock’ building, WK 10, winter 2009

       0.2 View from the Lausitz Tower in Neustadt’s city centre towards WK 10 (beige buildings, centre left), with the coal-fired power plant Schwarze Pumpe in the background (centre right)

       0.3 Anarchist graffito, KuFa building, Hoyerswerda, men’s toilet, 2009, ‘Utopias to Reality; Shit to Gold!!!’

       1.1 ‘ONE NARRATIVE’: ‘ArtBlock’ building, WK 10, Hoyerswerda Neustadt, August 2008

       1.2 Fake bell button panel, ‘PaintBlock’ building, summer 2008

       1.3 Side façade of the ‘PaintBlock’ building, artwork by local artists Richard Leue and Steven Proksch, summer 2009

       2.1 Repository, City Museum Hoyerswerda, 2008

       3.1 Façade, WK 5e, Hoyerswerda Neustadt, 2008

       3.2 The City’s Development Plan, vague visual version, O-Box, autumn 2008

       4.1 Graffito, WK 10, ‘I love you – Don’t go’, summer 2008

       5.1 Wishing scarf, Braugasse 1, Hoyerswerda Altstadt. ‘Those, who have an aim do have a future’

       5.2 Party flyer, ‘Coke, Puke, Communism II’, winter 2008

       6.1 Former Burger King branch, outside WK 10, autumn 2009

       6.2 Remains, ‘ArtBlock’ building (during its demolition), November 2008

       6.3 Artwork in ‘PaintBlock’ building, ‘That much construction for deconstruction’, summer 2009

Preface

      Ethnography in Hindsight

      Writing ethnography is akin to time-travelling: we are bound to a present that has already gone. Anthropological data is hence always out of date; its ‘best before’ date is reached at the end of fieldwork. But thought