Bard Globalization & International Affairs Program Presents

Coca-Cola Socialism: A Conversation with Radina Vučetić

Radina Vučetić will discuss her exciting new book, "Coca-Cola Socialism," in conversation with Aleksandar Bošković.

After falling out with the Eastern bloc, Yugoslavia's leader Tito turned to the United States for support, but only in certain ways. In the political sphere the distance between the two countries was carefully maintained, yet in the realms of culture and consumption the Yugoslav regime was definitely much more receptive to the American model. "Coca-Cola Socialism" addresses the link between cultural diplomacy, culture, consumer society and politics. Radina Vučetić explores how the Party used American culture in order to promote its own values and what life in this socialist and capitalist hybrid system looked like for ordinary people who lived in a country with communist ideology in a capitalist wrapping. Her book offers a careful reevaluation of the limits of appropriating the American dream and questions both an uncritical celebration of Yugoslavia’s openness and an exaggerated depiction of its authoritarianism.

Radina Vučetić is Associate Professor at the General Modern History Department of History at the University of Belgrade.

Aleksandar Bošković is Lecturer in Bosnian, Croatian & Serbian
Department of Slavic Languages, Columbia University.

This event is part of the James Chace lecture series and supported by Foreign Affairs.

---

For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].

Time: 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm EST/GMT-5

Location: Bard Globalization and International Affairs Program (BGIA) 108 W 39th St, New York, New York 10018

Subscribe: Save this Event: Subscribe / .ics File