The East / Central Europe Research Group at the Department of Anthropology, Copenhagen University, is a group of teachers and students who have done (or are planning) fieldwork in the post-socialist societies from East Germany to Mongolia, from the Siberian Arctic to Central Asia.

The Research Group holds informal meetings about once a month, where we discuss ongoing projects, recount fieldwork experiences etc. The group also arranges regular lectures on the anthropology of postsocialism.

The Group's purpose is to strengthen and stimulate research in this field. It participates in a wider, international network: The Nordic and East / Central European Network for Qualitative Social Research (NECEN), consisting of Nordic and East / Central European students and researchers working in the region.

Since 2004, the Group has shared a secretariat with NECEN, which is at present located in room 18.0.20 at CSS (Center for Sundhed og Samfund), Øster Farimagsgade 5, Entrance E (Copenhagen).

By-laws - Foreningens vedtægter

Annual Report 2002 - Annual Report 2003

The "Østgruppe" in Copenhagen was started by Steven Sampson in the mid-1990's. It comprised, at its height, about 10 students, one of whom has since gone on to complete a Ph.D. at the Institute. In 1997, it hosted the Second Nordic Conference on the Anthropology of Post-Socialism for MA students and Ph.D.'s with about 30 participants. After a short period of inactivity, the Group was reconstituted in 1999 and renamed the "East / Central Europe Research Group". In April 2002, the Group organized the Fourth Nordic Conference on the Anthropology of Post-Socialism in Copenhagen, with about 40 participants from all over the Nordic and East / Central European area. (Click here for more details on the Nordic Conferences.)

Several teachers at the institute have been or are directly involved with the region. Steven Sampson (now at Lund University), who has done extensive work in Romania, and later on aid projects, especially in the Balkans, originally started the ECEG in the mid-1990's. Jonathan Schwartz (retired 2003) has worked in the Balkans for many years, taught regional courses concerned with the Balkans, and supervised student and research projects in the area. Åke Norborg (retired 2003) has conducted research and held regional courses on the post-communist societies with emphasis on the Baltic states, and was instrumental in establishing cooperation and network activity between the anthropological institutes in Copenhagen, Lund and Vilnius (see below).

In 1999, Finn Sivert Nielsen was brought in from Tromsø (Norway) with the purpose of keeping up work on the region at the Institute. In 2003, Morten Axel Pedersen joined the Institute's staff and the group. Today, Pedersen and Nielsen share responsibility for coordinating ECEG's work and giving courses with relevance for the East / Central European region.