Membership and Routine Activities:

ECEG consists of students, Ph.D.'s and teachers at the Institute of Anthropology in Copenhagen, who are involved in research in and about the former socialist countries in Eurasia, including former East Germany and Mongolia. In 2003, ECEG acquired many new members from within and outside the Institute; we now have 60 registered members. Throughout the year, we have held regular meetings to discuss academic questions or work on practical tasks related to ECEG's other activities. During the fall semester, an independent association of anthropologists working in East / Central Europe was formed by members of the ECEG.

Teaching and Guest Lecturers:

Spring semester: 2-module, introductory course on the anthropology of Europe, half of which was concerned with East / Central Europe; teachers: Finn Sivert Nielsen and Jeppe Linnet; homepage: http://mac18.anthro.ku.dk/~sivert/courses/2003-1_Europa/regionalkursus.htm. 1-module course: "'Wild Capitalism' and Political Culture in the Post-Socialist World"; teacher: Morten Axel Pedersen; homepage: http://mac18.anthro.ku.dk/~sivert/courses/2003-1_Pol-Kult/.

Fall semester: 3-week intensive course on the anthropology of East / Central Europe for the "Østersø consultant program", managed by the Center for Baltic Studies, Øresund University and NetCom Kursus A/S. Teachers: Maja Hojer, Dorte Bjerregaard Jensen, Finn Sivert Nielsen, Kari Helene Partapuoli, Vibe Hjelholdt Pedersen, Anders Sejerøe, Linas Svolkinas.

Guest lecturers: Tova Höjdestrand (Stockholm), Niels Mygind (Copenhagen Business School).

MA's defended:

Vibe Hjelholdt Pedersen (thesis on family doctors in St. Petersburg, Russia). Katja Murray (thesis on the role of the media during the revolution in Belgrade, Serbia). Anders Sejerøe (thesis on a Danish agricultural aid project in the Smolenks region, Russia).

Ph.D.'s:

Kristin Rande completed fieldwork in Vilnius, on consumption patterns among Lithuanian nouveaux riches.

Conferences and Workshops:

Members of ECEG participated in: (1) "Western Aid and Advice in Russia and Eastern Europe: Effects and Side Effects" in Helsinki (V.H. Pedersen) (2) "Micro Perspectives on Post-Soviet Transformations" in Helsinki (D.B. Jensen, J.T. Linnet, F.S. Nielsen, K.H. Partapuoli, M.A. Pedersen, A. Sejerøe); (2) "The First Baltic Anthropology Conference: Defining Ourselves: Establishing Anthropology in the Baltics" in Vilnius (keynote lecture by F.S. Nielsen); (3) "Anthropology in Baltic-Nordic Space: Challenges and Prospects" in Riga (keynote lecture by F.S. Nielsen).

International Networks:

ECEG administers Socrates/Erasmus student/teacher exchange programs with the universities of Bucharest, Liubliana, Riga, Kaunas and Warszaw, and a NORFA-funded mini-network with the universities of Kaunas and Lund. We participated in the Helsinki-based network "Micro-Perspectives on Post-Soviet Transformations", until it was dissolved in April 2003. ECEG also administers the "Nordic and East/Central European Network for Qualitative Social Research" (see below).

Academic Positions:

The Department of Anthropology has two academic positions that focus on East / Central Europe: Finn Sivert Nielsen and Morten Axel Pedersen.

NECEN:

The network was formed in April 2002, during the Fourth Nordic Conference on the Anthropology of Post-Socialism.

The network's steering group has held two meetings in 2003, during which a formal charter was adopted (see: http://www.necen.org/public/about/charter), and plans were made for a network application (to be submitted in Spring 2004). NECEN has established a secretariat in Copenhagen, where intensive work on the network application is at present going on.

NECEN has played a key role in planning and organizing a joint MA program in anthropology in the three Baltic states. An organizational model has now been arrived at, and teaching will commence - in Kaunas, Lithuania - in September 2004 or February 2005. A parallel program will be initiated in Riga (Latvia), probably in 2005, and in Tallinn (Estonia) somewhat later.