The Institute for Minority Studies kindly invites you to the presentation and discussion of

 

Tatiana Safonova

(CEU, Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology)

Tacit Propaganda by Flowers: The State, Supply Chain Capitalism and Beautification of a Village in Hungary

 

The paper presents two cases: a flower nursery that is specialized in the production of annual flowers and a team of communal workers, who are obliged by the village administration to plant these flowers and take care of them. The flower nursery is operating as a reseller, in which workers are not only working but also absorb the risks taken by the big corporations that have privatized plants and monopolized the market of flower cuttings and seedlings. Communal workers are unemployed people that are obliged to work each day in the village to receive unemployment benefits, sums substantially lower than legally minimal wages. The metaphor of flowering countryside with annual flowers that make these villages look beautiful is used by state propaganda. The paper shows how the government exploits unemployed people and insecure entrepreneurs to expand richly blossoming flower beds and show them as a sign of its effective policy.

Discussants

CSURGÓ, Bernadett (Institute for Sociology)

PULAY, Gergely (Institute for Minority Studies)

VIGVÁRI, András (Centre for Economic and Regional Studies)

 

COVID INFO:

For those of you attending in person, please note, that wearing a facemask is mandatory in the building and during the event!

Online: ZOOM

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83620255176?pwd=MHJtVTZKUWY1dUJabUJYU3pveGpCdz09
Passcode: 102289

Date: 1 Februrary 2022, 11 a.m.

Venue: TK JTI Meeting Room (T.0.25.)