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
Introduction Anthropology and the Future: Notes from a Shrinking Fieldsite
Chapter 2 Reasoning about the Past: Temporal Complexity in a City with No 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’
Illustrations
All photographs are the author’s unless otherwise stated
0.1 Excavator on remains of the ‘PaintBlock’ building, WK 10, winter 2009
1.1 ‘ONE NARRATIVE’: ‘ArtBlock’ building, WK 10, Hoyerswerda Neustadt, August 2008
1.2 Fake bell button panel, ‘PaintBlock’ building, summer 2008
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